mATX Server Build

[trini0]

I'm looking to share my TV watching experience to the rest of the household, with a client/server setup.
At the moment, I watch SD TV via DirectTV, and OTA HD.
I'll be using my current PC as a SageClient, and soon (maybe 1 - 2 months), add 2 extenders into the mix in other rooms.

Parts list ->

Ever Case R7230B-M30
ASUS M2A-VM Socket AM2
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+
1 GB DDR2 Ram (Already Have)
AVerMedia AverTV M780 Combo PCIe
40G Hard Drive (Already have)
Sony NEC Optiarc Black Slim Combo Drive
Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Low Profile
IOGEAR GUC232A USB1.1 to Serial
USB TV Translator

When I do eventually add the extenders, I will be adding another M780 card, giving me a total of 2 SD/2 HD sources to record from.
There is no recording drive in this case. I plan to record to a storage server, hence the need for the extra dedicated nic.
Also I'm hoping that the HDExtenders are out, when I'm ready to purchase extenders.

What are your thoughts on this parts list.
Thanks

[mikesm]

Originally Posted by trini0

I'm looking to share my TV watching experience to the rest of the household, with a client/server setup.
At the moment, I watch SD TV via DirectTV, and OTA HD.
I'll be using my current PC as a SageClient, and soon (maybe 1 - 2 months), add 2 extenders into the mix in other rooms.

Parts list ->

Ever Case R7230B-M30
ASUS M2A-VM Socket AM2
1.8 GHz Athlon64 (Already Have)
CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB (2 x 256MB)
AVerMedia AverTV M780 Combo PCIe
40G Hard Drive (Already have)
Sony NEC Optiarc Black Slim Combo Drive
Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/100/1000Mbps PCI Low Profile
IOGEAR GUC232A USB1.1 to Serial
USB TV Translator

When I do eventually add the extenders, I will be adding another M780 card, giving me a total of 2 SD/2 HD sources to record from.
There is no recording drive in this case. I plan to record to a storage server, hence the need for the extra dedicated nic.
Also I'm hoping that the HDExtenders are out, when I'm ready to purchase extenders.

What are your thoughts on this parts list.
Thanks

I'm not sure what is motivating your parts selection. For a server, you typically want lots of PCI slots for tuner cards, expansion, etc... This is not consistent with an MATX form factor. I would certainly go for a MB that had 3 or 4 PCI slots, and at least two PCIE slots. MATX boards tend to be lousy overclokers on top of it. You can get an very expensive PCIE video card, so not going with onboard video is not an expensive issue.

I think 512 MB is not adequate. Ram today is inexpensive (there was a post on fatwallet for 2 GB of PC-4200 DDR2 ram for $29 after rebate), so no point in scrimping.

You do NOT want a PCI NIC. The PCI bus can be a bottleneck, so an integrated gigabit ethernet NIC that is PCIE connected will offload lots of traffic from the PCI bus, esp. important if you are building a server with network attached storage. A good ATX MB will have one built in in any case, and probably an RS232 port if you select carefully, so no need for an outboard USB adapter.

Thanks,
Mike

[trini0]

Thanks for replying.

Originally Posted by mikesm

I'm not sure what is motivating your parts selection. For a server, you typically want lots of PCI slots for tuner cards, expansion, etc... This is not consistent with an MATX form factor. I would certainly go for a MB that had 3 or 4 PCI slots, and at least two PCIE slots. MATX boards tend to be lousy overclokers on top of it. You can get an very expensive PCIE video card, so not going with onboard video is not an expensive issue.

The motivation behind the build, is to construct a light weight (inexpensive) PC that will act as a Sage Server servicing a maximum of 3 clients. The box will do nothing else.
With the choice of using 2 AverTV M780 cards (capable of recording 4 sources) I didn't see the need for lots of unused PCI slots. I'm not a fan of overclocking, so no need there.
I also had in mind for this to be purely a server, so no need for mid to high end video card. Unless I'm troubleshooting Sage playback. But I do not envision that happening in a server/client setup.

Originally Posted by mikesm

I think 512 MB is not adequate. Ram today is inexpensive (there was a post on fatwallet for 2 GB of PC-4200 DDR2 ram for $29 after rebate), so no point in scrimping.

I came about this figure, from my experience with using Sage on my own PC. When Sage is just recording, memory usage is usually next to minimal. But it was only a guess, and I can revise the amount. As far as 2GB sticks for $29, give me a link, I can use another 4GB in my VM box.

Originally Posted by mikesm

You do NOT want a PCI NIC. The PCI bus can be a bottleneck, so an integrated gigabit ethernet NIC that is PCIE connected will offload lots of traffic from the PCI bus, esp. important if you are building a server with network attached storage.

Im not quite following you here. Yes I do agree that the PCI bus is a bottleneck, if other devices are fighting for bandwidth. But Im under the impression, that the PCI nic would be the only device that would be using the PCI bus to any high degree in my proposed configuration. Im assuming that the onboard nic doesn't live on the PCI bus. If it does, then yes, my proposal wouldn't make sense.
Let me see if I can dig up any information on the motherboard architecture.

Originally Posted by mikesm

and probably an RS232 port if you select carefully, so no need for an outboard USB adapter

The purpose of the USB adapter is for the DirectTV STB. Im going to start with one STB, then later on when I add extenders, I'll bring in another STB into the mix. Its an effort to keep connections uniformed.

So feel free to respond to my comments.
Let me see if I can find any information on which bus the integrated nic lives on.

[trini0]

Originally Posted by trini0

Im not quite following you here. Yes I do agree that the PCI bus is a bottleneck, if other devices are fighting for bandwidth. But Im under the impression, that the PCI nic would be the only device that would be using the PCI bus to any high degree in my proposed configuration. Im assuming that the onboard nic doesn't live on the PCI bus. If it does, then yes, my proposal wouldn't make sense.
Let me see if I can dig up any information on the motherboard architecture.

Well I couldn't find any documentation on the AMD/ATI 690 chipset on amd.com.
But I did find a few hardware sites that backup my original assumption, that the onboard nic doesn't live on the PCI bus. According to what I've found, it lives on the PCI-e bus
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/ind...1&limitstart=1
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...690g_chipset/1

So if I continue to use a SATA drive, that leaves the PCI bus pretty much uncontested for the addon nic to flood the pipe at or near what it is capable of (1Gb/s)
I can't think of anything else that would get its way, and create a traffic jam on the PCI bus.

In the meantime, I found an unrelated home for the cpu on my list.
So I'll add one of AMD's dual core processors in its place.
Also upped the memory to 1GB.

[jprine01]

Originally Posted by trini0

As far as 2GB sticks for $29, give me a link, I can use another 4GB in my VM box.

32bit Windows has a 3GB Limitation (Technically 3.5, and .5 gets assigned to the kernel


What is the reason for the PCI NIC anyway? The onboard PCIe Gigabit is not enough? You said your only using it for sage server why do you need 2 NIC's?

[jprine01]

Oops missed the part about using a external file server, I think one gigabit may be enough. While recording 2 HD streams over network (HDHR) and playing back streams to MediaMVP or another PC Task Manger says my gigabit is only using about 5% bandwidth on the server.

But i'm not recording to external storage so I dont know how much that will use.

[trini0]

Originally Posted by jprine01

32bit Windows has a 3GB Limitation (Technically 3.5, and .5 gets assigned to the kernel

The VM (Virtual Machine using VMWare) box is running 64bit Ubuntu Edgy Eft. Currently have 6 GB Ram on there, looking to max it out at 8 GB soon.
VMs are a wonderful thing

[trini0]

Originally Posted by jprine01

Oops missed the part about using a external file server, I think one gigabit may be enough. While recording 2 HD streams over network (HDHR) and playing back streams to MediaMVP or another PC Task Manger says my gigabit is only using about 5% bandwidth on the server.

But i'm not recording to external storage so I dont know how much that will use.

The dedicated GbE nic will be talking to the Storage network via the iSCSI protocol.
That in itself, is going to consume alot of bandwidth, hence the dedicated pipe for it.
Yes its overkill, but its mainly for my lab. I'm just making the Sage server utilize it.

[jpimlott]

I believe the sage client will pull direct from the NAS and only use the SAGE server for setup. The only traffic on the headless sage server would what is recorded. I have simular arrangement now. I use an ATOM 330 chipset for a sage server and playon. An UNRAID server for a NAS and server clients. Working great so far. The HDPRV is finally stable and records without lockups.

John

[Fuzzy]

As I've mentioned elsewhere, if you already have a system that HAS to be on 24/7 (or at least available 24/7) in the Sage Server, why use a separate storage server? In my eyes, it'd be far simpler/cheaper to simply combine them. Adding storage is trivial on ANY system, be it the Sage Server or otherwise.

[david1234]

The recommendation for 2gb minimum is a good one. I know that my box running just sage and comskip with 1 extender runs right at 1gb in most of the time. with memory being as cheap as it is, I'd bump it to 2gb just to have a little but of extra overhead.