What About This Hardware?

[tmiranda]

I'm looking to upgrade my Sage server am considering the following hardware. I've got a copy of Win7 and a 64GB Kingston SSD that I plan on using as a boot drive. I use all extenders, placeshifters and clients so the server doesn't need any special graphics.

I need to get the SATA controller because I have 6 SATA drives that I plan to migrate over to the new server.

I have a HVR-2250 and an old Hauppauge PCI card for capture.

Anybody see obvious problems before I pull the trigger?


MSI H67MA-E35 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
Model #:H67MA-E35 (B3)
$99.99
. .
MASSCOOL PCI-e 4 port SATA2 (SIL3132 Chip) Model XWT-PCIE10
Model #:XWT-PCIE10
$19.99
. .
Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52400
Model #:BX80623I52400
$189.99
. .
PNY Optima 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model MD8192KD3-1333
Model #:MD8192KD3-1333
$84.99
. .
ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A4/BLK/B/GEN
$15.99

[jptheripper]

As long as you only need two more internal ports, you should be fine. That 4 port card is 2 internal/2 external.

[KeithAbbott]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

ASUS Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A4/BLK/B/GEN
$15.99

I'm surprised to see an IDE drive, instead of a sata drive. Maybe so you can keep a sata port freed up for one of your six hard drives? In any event, are you sure you even need a DVD drive any more? I've been doing the Windows installation from a usb thumb drive, and it works quite well. Nothing else that I have on my server requires a DVD drive, just one less component to have to deal with, and it would consume a little less energy as well...

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by jptheripper

As long as you only need two more internal ports, you should be fine. That 4 port card is 2 internal/2 external.

Yes, only need 2.

[RetroBox]

I assume you will be installing Window 7 64-bit given that you will use 8 gigs of RAM. FWIW, I am running a quad-core with 4 gigs as the server that I also use to watch shows + 2 extenders with no issues... I'm not sure if all the "headaches" associated with 64-bit are still relevant, but the dealbreaker for me was losing the firewire channel changing ability. I'm sure you considered this already but wanted to offer it just in case.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by RetroBox

I assume you will be installing Window 7 64-bit given that you will use 8 gigs of RAM. FWIW, I am running a quad-core with 4 gigs as the server that I also use to watch shows + 2 extenders with no issues... I'm not sure if all the "headaches" associated with 64-bit are still relevant, but the dealbreaker for me was losing the firewire channel changing ability. I'm sure you considered this already but wanted to offer it just in case.

Yes, I'm going to attempt to use 64 bit version. I think all the devices I plan on using have the appropriate drivers (fingers crossed.)

[SomeWhatLost]

Sage Server: ASUS/Intel C2D based system w/4GB RAM. WinXP Home, Hauppauge PVR 150, Hauppauge HVR-2250 and an HDHR. Runs headless. Accessed via VNC when necessary.
Two HD-300 Extenders, 1 HD-100 Extender and one MVP Extender.

it seems your current server is more than adequate, but if you insist on upgrading anyway, why not something like this:
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard
a super duper Xeon of some speed/flavor
a couple AOC-SASLP-MV8's supports 8 drives each... 16 on cards, + 6 on board SATA, x 2 TB drives should get you an adequate amount of space for recordings... well maybe just barely enough room...

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by SomeWhatLost

it seems your current server is more than adequate, but if you insist on upgrading anyway, why not something like this:
SUPERMICRO MBD-X8SIA-F-O LGA 1156 Intel 3420 ATX Intel Xeon X3400/L3400 series Server Motherboard
a super duper Xeon of some speed/flavor
a couple AOC-SASLP-MV8's supports 8 drives each... 16 on cards, + 6 on board SATA, x 2 TB drives should get you an adequate amount of space for recordings... well maybe just barely enough room...

Yes, my Sage server is just fine, but another of my systems is not so I will do some switching. But the system above does look rather nice

[davephan]

I recommend the Crucial 128 gig SSD. The ratings are very good. I'm using it on my general purpose computer. I run Windows 7 64-bit on the general purpose computer. The SSD made a big difference in the speed. I might get one for the SageTV computer someday.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148348

If you don't have Window 7 yet, check Amazon. I got a 3 pack family upgrade for about $120. It included both 32-bit and 64-bit DVDs. The upgrade can be installed with a 'clean' install.

You might think about this Supermicro system board. It has KVM over you LAN. The other Supermicro system board mentioned eariler has more slots, but costs more. This is the system board recommended for unRAID systems. The on-board video is a nice idea for your system board of either of these Supermicro boards; it saves money on a mainly headless computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813182211

Here's an 8 port sata adapter if you need to add more drives. If you double up on them you could add 16 more drives, plus your on-board drives. You need to add two $20 cables to the cost of the card for 8 drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816101358

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816116097

The 3+ gig quad-core is a good idea for a SageTV computer if you use Comskip.


Dave

[razrsharpe]

Originally Posted by davephan

You might think about this Supermicro system board. It has KVM over you LAN. The other Supermicro system board mentioned eariler has more slots, but costs more. This is the system board recommended for unRAID systems. The on-board video is a nice idea for your system board of either of these Supermicro boards; it saves money on a mainly headless computer.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813182211

Here's an 8 port sata adapter if you need to add more drives. If you double up on them you could add 16 more drives, plus your on-board drives. You need to add two $20 cables to the cost of the card for 8 drives.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816101358

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816116097

I like that supermicro board you posted ... supermicro makes nice stuff... i have one of their older boards for my q6600 and let me tell you it is stable

oh and for all those hdd's you are going to collect here's a really nice case to put them all in
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-090-_-Product

[tmiranda]

Nice hardware but way too rough on the wallet.

[reggie14]

I've been thinking about getting some new hardware for my server. My main complaint is that there are limited options for motherboards that support the integrated graphics features on Sandy Bridge processors. Basically they're all micro ATX boards, meaning they have limited PCI(-e) slots, SATA connectors, etc. The only larger board that I've seen that supports the Sandy Bridge video is the GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3. I'm leaning that way, if its ever back in stock.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by reggie14

I've been thinking about getting some new hardware for my server. My main complaint is that there are limited options for motherboards that support the integrated graphics features on Sandy Bridge processors. Basically they're all micro ATX boards, meaning they have limited PCI(-e) slots, SATA connectors, etc. The only larger board that I've seen that supports the Sandy Bridge video is the GIGABYTE GA-H67A-UD3H-B3. I'm leaning that way, if its ever back in stock.

That's what I saw as well. I think that Sandy Bridge is so new that there simply aren't that many options out there. Many of the mobos are for "enthusiasts" who are interested in overclocking, and that's the last thing I want to do on my Sage server.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

That's what I saw as well. I think that Sandy Bridge is so new that there simply aren't that many options out there. Many of the mobos are for "enthusiasts" who are interested in overclocking, and that's the last thing I want to do on my Sage server.

I think the overclocking issue is tangential, but certainly a lot of the Sandy Bridge boards are for enthusiasts, since for the most part those are the only people that buy boards retail anyway.

It shouldn't be a huge surprise that the ATX boards don't support Sandy Bridge video. The idea is probably that anyone that wants all the expansion options of a full ATX board will want to use a high-powered discrete graphics card, probably two of them in SLI mode.

People that are willing to use onboard video are probably willing to use onboard everything else too. So, Micro ATX probably makes sense for them. Even people putting together regular home servers probably don't need a Sandy Bridge CPU or a full ATX board. So, I think we're in a category almost all our own. We want pretty high-powered servers with lots of expansion capabilities.

Presumably we'll see SuperMicro put out a server-oriented LGA1155 board. But, as you saw above, their boards are often a little pricey. We'll see more options as Sandy Bridge is out longer but I suspect there will always be a very small number of full ATX boards with onboard video.

[BarkOLounger]

I see from you signature that the old Hauppauge card you want to use is the 150. That won't work on a 64 OS with more than 4 GB of RAM. You can see the note on the Hauppauge web site at http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor...rt_pvr150.html

I recently went through this with my 500. They aren't ever going to fix it or make it work on 64 bit OS with more than 4 GB of RAM.

It's not a deal breaker i guess, but if you need that 3rd tuner you will have to get another one.

[Taddeusz]

Intel branded motherboards are great for those who aren't interested in overclocking. Great boards with good features and low prices compared with the enthusiast boards.

I have an Intel DP35DP and a DG43NB. Both are great boards. Not sure about newer Sandy Bridge boards though.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by BarkOLounger

I see from you signature that the old Hauppauge card you want to use is the 150. That won't work on a 64 OS with more than 4 GB of RAM. You can see the note on the Hauppauge web site at http://www.hauppauge.com/site/suppor...rt_pvr150.html

I recently went through this with my 500. They aren't ever going to fix it or make it work on 64 bit OS with more than 4 GB of RAM.

It's not a deal breaker i guess, but if you need that 3rd tuner you will have to get another one.

I was afraid of that

I'll probably just upgrade the current system to Win7 on an SSD to see how that goes. It's certainly cheaper since I already have the SSD and Win7 Home Premium.

[BarkOLounger]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I was afraid of that

I'll probably just upgrade the current system to Win7 on an SSD to see how that goes. It's certainly cheaper since I already have the SSD and Win7 Home Premium.

It also sort of makes it pointless to get 8 GB of RAM on a system. I know for me, that the priority would be look for an alternative that allowed x64 bit OS and maybe sell the old card on Ebay or something.

I'm not sure what your circumstances are, but they did say that the 1600 is a single tuner card that's PCI that will work in x64 with over 4 GB of RAM.

They also told me when i called that they would let me trade my card in for a discount on a 2250. They would sell me the 2250 for 89.99 (that included 10 dollars for shipping and handling) but i had to pay to ship my old card into them as an exchange (under 5 buck through the post office). So that's a dual tuner card for about $95 bucks. I'm just getting mine installed so i'm not sure how good it is, but i've had pretty decent luck with Hauppauge stuff over the years.

I decided against trading mine in because i could buy a 2250 on newegg for 108.00 with free shipping and keep my 500 (even though i may never be able to use it, i hated to send it back for a $20 net). But I got the impression they would offer that deal to anyone calling to complain about the 4 GB problem on the 150 or 500.

[firenice]

Originally Posted by tmiranda

I'll probably just upgrade the current system to Win7 on an SSD to see how that goes. It's certainly cheaper since I already have the SSD and Win7 Home Premium.

tmir

I've been running a win7 32 bit client from a ssd for about 9 months. It would run great on a server for sage. The problem with 64 bit is that most all software won't take advantage of the additional RAM therefor negating the cost incurred.

I use WHS with a dual core and sage never misses a beat.

Mike

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by firenice

The problem with 64 bit is that most all software won't take advantage of the additional RAM therefor negating the cost incurred.

While this is true it also means that you can run more 32-bit programs on a 64-bit system.