[eskro]

11€ for 230MB/s read speed is a sweet deal, eSkRo approved!!

try this for your price checks --> http://www.google.de/products

[Choque]

Hehe
I'm using this site here http://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/ Used it for many stuff already and it's really reliable

[eskro]

ok lets see how reliable
tell me the prices of your hardware choice!

[Choque]

Ok, here they come

Case: Lian Li PC-C37A Muse silber, Alu (110,97€
Board: Gigabyte GA-G41MT-D3, G41 (44,82€
CPU: Intel Celeron Dual-Core E3400, 2x 2.60GHz, boxed (35,58€
GPU: EVGA GeForce GT 430, 1GB DDR3, VGA, DVI, HDMI (54,86€ (Still not sure though if there's a difference between the EVGA and the Sparkle GT 430)
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 380, 380W ATX 2.2 (45,85€
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM DIMM Kit 4GB PC3-8500U CL7 (DDR3-1066) (34,11€
HDD: Kingston SSDNow S100 16GB, 2.5", SATA II (43,56€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€

There you go

€dit: Right now I'm thinking about the Zacate solution...Of course I'd have to go with Windows + XBMC instead of OpenELEC but since there are already people who confirmed it's possible to run H264 high bitrate MKVs with ~15% CPU usage under XBMC on Ubuntu 10.10 and since there will be people looking further into this subject, I guess the Zacate might be a nice option. I thought about this setup particulary

Board/CPU/GPU: ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe, A50M (PC3-8500U DDR3) (90-MIBER0-G0UBY0WZ) (126,08€ (I love this GIANT passiv cooler Check the picture out below)
Case: Lian Li PC-C37A Muse silber, Alu (110,97€
RAM: Kingston HyperX blu. DIMM 4GB PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-27 (DDR3-1600) (KHX1600C9AD3B1K2/4G) (38,76€
HDD: Corsair Nova V32, 32GB, 2.5", SATA II (CSSD-V32GB2) (62,31€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€

The only question would be which PSU to use for this setup

[eskro]

wait, Choque, did u include shipping cost there?

[Choque]

Na, prices are without shipping. Since I'll prolly buy the whole stuff scattered over 2 vendors. Also, check out the edit I made to my last post

[eskro]

i prefer these:

Case: Lian Li PC-C37A Muse silber, Alu (110,97€)
Board: Gigabyte GA-G41MT-D3, G41 (44,82€)
CPU: Intel Celeron Dual-Core E3400, 2x 2.60GHz, boxed (35,58€)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GT 430, 1GB DDR3, VGA, DVI, HDMI (54,86€) (Still not sure though if there's a difference between the EVGA and the Sparkle GT 430)
PSU: Antec EarthWatts 380, 380W ATX 2.2 (45,85€)
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM DIMM Kit 4GB PC3-8500U CL7 (DDR3-1066) (34,11€)
HDD: Kingston SSDNow S100 16GB, 2.5", SATA II (43,56€)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II (64,96€)

hands down, works with Linux, Windows, you name it, it'll work!!

[Choque]

Yea I prefered this setup too. The advantages of the Zacate are that it drains way less power and is dead silent. Dunno about my other setup in these categories

[eskro]

well of course if you want a %100 silent HTPC, a ZACATE build will suit you best....

YOu will hear the FANS spinning in the Intel Celeron E3400 build but,
your the only one who knows if it'll bother you or not,,,

i know i have fans in my HTPC, set to low speed, and they r quiet and im happy...

[infinityteg]

I would be a little weary about stacking the PC on the reciever or the reciever on the PC. I have the silverstone GD04 case and the Integra DTR50.2 (which is Onkyo's custom installation line of equipment)
It is recomended to have 50mm space above the receiver for cooling which would limit you on putting the pc on the receiver. With the weight of the receiver im not going to put my receive on top of my HTPC.

[Choque]

You got a good point there infinityeg. So I'll put them beside each other.
Also, I fell in love with the Silverstone SST-ML03B Milo. I mean, a small case which fits 3x3,5 Zoll + 1x2,5 Zoll for around 60€?! The other case I'd have in mind would be the Lian Li PC-C50B but that's around 140€. Though I guess you could get some serious heat problems in the small Silverstone case...

[eskro]

i wouldnt worry about heat,,,
that case Support up to four 80mm fans....

[Choque]

So I'm now at the point where I think...screw it! I'll get an unRAID server too. As for the parts I'm using what's suggested in this thread. Since right now 4TB is enough space for me, I'll build the 3 Drive microServer which is later expandable to the 4 and 6 Drive version. Considering this, I'll go directly with a case that'll fit 2x3-in-2 HDD cages.
So right now it would look like this

Mobo: ZOTAC GF6100-E-E
CPU: AMD Sempron 140
RAM: Kingston 2GB DDR2 800
PSU: CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 CMPSU-430CX 430W
Case: Sharkoon Avenger Economy Edition
Hot Swap Drive Bays: 3-in-2 HDD Cage (which I'll get from a co-worker)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 2000GB, 64MB Cache, SATA II

The only problem is the Mobo (that's why I colored it red) as it's not available here in germany and newegg.com doesn't ship to germany. So anyone got a good replacement for the Zotac mobo?

[eskro]

what about the ASRock 880GM-LE 54,50 € ??

Hot Swap Drive Bays are cute, but waste of money in my opinion...

[Choque]

Wow, thanks eskro! That's even better than the Zotac one cause it already got 6 SATA ports which would mean I don't have to get a SATA Expansion Card when upgrading the server. I'll just throw in a Kingston ValueRAM DIMM 2GB PC3-10667U CL9 (DDR3-1333) instead of the Kingston 2GB DDR2 800 and I should be good!
As long as it's able to boot from USB