Best CPU for a new Sage Server.

[stroths]

I would suggest the Core2Duo e4300 due to its relative low price and huge overclocking ability at stock voltage (or close to it). With the proper motherboard, you can easily run the 1.8GHz 4300 at 3GHz at stock voltage. I am currently doing this on 2 of my pc's and they are rock solid even under heavy load. One has a Gigabyte 965p-DS3 motherboard and the other a 965p-S3.

My Sagetv server has a cheap motherboard that won't overclock well, but there is a mod you can do to the CPU itself (search BSEL mod 4300 on google) that will bump the processor up to a 2.4GHz on stock voltage on almost any motherboard. I have done this on my Dad's new Dell I setup for him as well as on several cheap ECS motherboards. My sageserver is running the cheap ECS with this mod and has been rock solid as well.

[valnar]

Without overclocking, I would not buy anything lower than E6600 today for HTPC use. Even those are slated to be discontinued soon in favor of the 1333Mhz FSB chips.

-Robert

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by valnar

Without overclocking, I would not buy anything lower than E6600 today for HTPC use. Even those are slated to be discontinued soon in favor of the 1333Mhz FSB chips.

-Robert

2.4GHZ on a core2duo (or quad) seems to be the sweet spot for transcoding to high quality on the MVP's which equates to a E6600 without overclocking. My e4300 overclocked to 2.4 handles transcoding nicely.

[ybrew]

My wife's complaining that her PC is too slow, having problems etc.

And I'm complaining that my server is running out of disk space and I want to start using HD.

And I'd also like to 'occassionaly' game on the server. Generally this would happen in the early mornings when the server is pretty much sitting idle.

so I think I've decided on the following:
DG965 intel board
E6600 c2duo
2 gig PC2 6400 RAM
4 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 500g drives (read posts here, like the 5 year warranty of seagate)
(3 drives for recordings, 1 drive for OS, pics library, music library and movie library (divx))
GeForce 7600GT PCI Express Card (wanna do some gaming - flight sim @ 119")
Zalman 600W PowerSupply

I'll reuse my existing ATX case (coolermaster) and I have a gyration keyboard & mouse. I'll also reuse my DVD Rom Drive.

My wife will get my hand-me down server. I might start building this as early as next week (probably next weekend).

[valnar]

Originally Posted by ybrew

so I think I've decided on the following:
DG965 intel board
E6600 c2duo
2 gig PC2 6400 RAM
4 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 500g drives (read posts here, like the 5 year warranty of seagate)
(3 drives for recordings, 1 drive for OS, pics library, music library and movie library (divx))
GeForce 7600GT PCI Express Card (wanna do some gaming - flight sim @ 119")
Zalman 600W PowerSupply

All excellent choices except I question the "old" 7600GT for HD use. Was that a typo? A 8600GT or GTS (with HDCP) would be a better choice.

Robert

[ybrew]

Paul Beers suggested the 7600GT. I'm real close to my ceiling budget too.
I can't imagine the 7600GT would have a problem with HD, in that system. And to be honest, that system will be in the same room with a cable HD-DVR box. HD will be streamed to MVPs much more frequently than it will be watched via that card.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by ybrew

Paul Beers suggested the 7600GT. I'm real close to my ceiling budget too.
I can't imagine the 7600GT would have a problem with HD, in that system. And to be honest, that system will be in the same room with a cable HD-DVR box. HD will be streamed to MVPs much more frequently than it will be watched via that card.

You want the 8500GT, 8600GT or 8600GTS anyway. It would not make sense to buy the older generation as it doesn't have all the hardware assist for HD. Prices should be close to the same.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977

Robert

[ybrew]

I think you're right.
i'm gonna compromise slightly.

I'm near budget already. I may just decide to forgo the video for now and use onboard - initially. Honestly the only thing I'll really be missing as a result of the video omission for now is gaming, and that's so low on my priority list.

So the above list with onboard video (as per my initial plan).
I'll need to look at the disk prices again. Maybe I'll change some 500s for some 750s. I am SICK of managing disk space!

Edit... nah. I'll stick with the 500s. I'm still doubling my storage space. 1.5TB ought to hold me over for a bit.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by valnar

You want the 8500GT, 8600GT or 8600GTS anyway. It would not make sense to buy the older generation as it doesn't have all the hardware assist for HD. Prices should be close to the same.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977

Robert

It isn't the price that concerns me, it is the lack of fully working Windows Xp drivers right now. I wouldn't buy an 8600 or 8500 for a few months until the driver issues have worked their way out.

Let's also not forget that they removed the Mpeg2 decoder to make way for the H.264 support.

[ybrew]

Got the 7600GT.

Everything's ordered. Now the wait begins

[ybrew]

Turns out the Video card is a non-issue.
The media room does have cable runs, but they're too far away. I have a channel master amp in the closet and pushing one run through that to the cable DVR box is adequate. Pushing more than one run, splitting runs in the media room, or pushing a non-amp'd run and putting the amp in the media room - all result in unwatchable pics.

I could almost put an amp in the closet and an amp in the media room, but I think that would just introduce more problems.

So new server will be located in the closet where the old server is. Bascially this means on-board video is fine. This is also sorta a good thing. since I won't play games on the server, stability should be better. (think positive)

I guess if I really do want a gaming system in my media room, the answer is simply to build one at a future date.