The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC - The Something Awful Forums

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > The HTPC Thread - Dont buy an HTPC

10-8: Oct 2, 2003; Level 14 Bureaucrat

Girdle Wax posted:

Also you can get QAM tuners for your PC which will let you record unencrypted HD on cable networks

Can someone recommend a good QAM tuner card for PC? This is what has been holding me back from setting up an HD HTPC.

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10-8: Oct 2, 2003; Level 14 Bureaucrat

wolfbiker posted:

Can the Zotac AD10/12 do simultaneous dual video output via HDMI and display port?

Another question, this time regarding Plex and buying a new mobo and CPU.

I'm looking to make the switch from XBMC to Plex and need to upgrade my ancient mobo/CPU to something a little more modern that can handle transcoding. At most it would be doing two MAYBE three 1080p streams at once, but three is the worst case scenario. Typically just one at a time. My only requirements are that the CPU be relatively low power if possible since my server is on 24/7. If the motherboard has 10 SATA ports that would be great. Thank you for any recommendations. While I'm comfortable building my own computer and installing all the parts myself I'm clueless when it comes to what parts to buy.

Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 i3 for $219. Comes with everything except disks and it doesn't cheap out on the parts (ECC RAM, etc.). Has 5 SATA ports built in and you can throw in a SATA PCI-E card for the rest. I'm using it to stream multiple Plex transcodes. It's dead quiet and uses very little power at idle. You won't be able to build anything close to this for $219. The processor alone costs about $100 by itself.

http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkServer-70A4000HUX-i3-4130-Computer/dp/B00F6EK9J2/

Go check out the Amazon reviews. Half the people who've purchased it are using it for Plex.

10-8 fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Dec 4, 2014

# ¿ Dec 3, 2014 23:57

10-8: Oct 2, 2003; Level 14 Bureaucrat

Heners_UK posted:

While we are on the subject, is the Xeon version for an extra $100 a good idea, especially if I want to virtualize all of this?

The Xeon supports VT-d and the i3 doesn't, so if you're going to do virtualization that may be important. I don't know how important VT-d is in real world usage. I see mixed opinions online.

The Xeon uses more energy (84W max vs. 54W max for the i3) and single thread performance is nearly identical so it basically comes down to whether you need the extra cores and the VT-d support.

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 19:26

10-8: Oct 2, 2003; Level 14 Bureaucrat

Krailor posted:

Absolutely, plus you get the fancy HDD hot-swap trays in the TS440.

The TS440 loses the two DisplayPorts and has only VGA so if you aren't running it headless keep that in mind. Other than that the TS440 is great if it's in your budget.

Edit: also the TS440 doesn't include the hard drive caddies so include those in your budget comparison.

10-8 fucked around with this message at 19:36 on Dec 4, 2014

# ¿ Dec 4, 2014 19:33

10-8: Oct 2, 2003; Level 14 Bureaucrat

Heners_UK posted:

Actually, I was thinking of this one:

Lenovo ThinkServer TS140 70A4001LUX 5U Tower Server (3.2 GHz Intel Xeon E3-1225 v3 Processor, 4 GB ECC RAM, No HDD, DVD-ROM, No OS) Black
by Lenovo
Link: http://amzn.com/B00FE29IWK

If it's in your budget I doubt you'd regret it. I wanted to keep my server as cheap as possible so I stuck with the i3 but I would probably have gotten the Xeon with the TS140 chassis if money was no object. Essentially the only downside is the greater energy usage. If you don't care about the slightly higher energy bill and the $100 up front cost, go for it.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 01:11

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