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Introducing my HP Microserver N36L / N40L / N54L using WHS2011 + XBMC - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: Introducing my HP Microserver N36L / N40L / N54L using WHS2011 + XBMC (/showthread.php?tid=104372)

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- cable_guy - 2011-12-20

damn sorry I have no clue about Windows. Only advice I can give is to check that hardware acceleration is working by checking settings for that in XBMC, and checking what your CPU is doing when playing HD video.


- Jooopa - 2011-12-21

pglover19 Wrote:OS = Windows Home Server 2011
XBMC = Full install of XBMC for Windows
Graphic Card = HIS HD6450

I have almoust the same setup. If it is passive graphic card, check temperature. My HD5450 temperature was over 70c and then 1080p movies doesn't work fine. Arctic Silver 5 solved the problem Smile Now temperature is 65c.


- pglover19 - 2011-12-21

Jooopa Wrote:I have almoust the same setup. If it is passive graphic card, check temperature. My HD5450 temperature was over 70c and then 1080p movies doesn't work fine. Arctic Silver 5 solved the problem Smile Now temperature is 65c.

Please explain the arctic silver 5 thermal compound.. Did you remove the CPU and apply the arctic silver 5 thermal compound? Additionally, what program are you using to check the temperature?


- Jooopa - 2011-12-21

pglover19 Wrote:Please explain the arctic silver 5 thermal compound.. Did you remove the CPU and apply the arctic silver 5 thermal compound? Additionally, what program are you using to check the temperature?

I use Ati CCC overclock layer, here is a temperature section. And yes I remove the HD5450 passive cooler and apply the arctic silver 5 thermal compound. SpeedFan also displays the temperatures.


- pglover19 - 2011-12-21

Jooopa Wrote:I use Ati CCC overclock layer, here is a temperature section. And yes I remove the HD5450 passive cooler and apply the arctic silver 5 thermal compound. SpeedFan also displays the temperatures.

Thanks for the information.. If this continues, I will try your recommendation...


- cable_guy - 2011-12-26

Hi guys I cracked open my Microserver today, tried a 1080p video on XBMC live and it played perfectly, although both cores were running high, one at 96%, and one at 77%, although VDPAU hardware acceleration was enabled, any ideas why the GPU doesn't appear to be taking the strain please?


- stringy - 2012-01-05

On the N40L do you need to change settings in the BIOS in order to get it to boot from a USB stick?


- cronin - 2012-01-10

Hi guys.. I just ordered N40L yesterday and I'm looking into setting it up as HTPC with XBMC. I'm currently using MediaPortal with Moving Pictures and TV Series plugins on my desktop that's also being used as HTPC. I installed XBMC on it last night and I like it, but I'll have to do some tweaking on it of course.

I have Denon AVR-2112CI receiver in which I have HDMI cable plugged in from my PC and N40L will have HDMI cable going from it into this receiver as well. I read many things on AVS Forums about ATI cards having problems with Denon receivers so I'm looking into getting nVidia GeForce 210 (ASUS EN210 SILENT/DI/1GD3/V2(LP) GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 Low Profile Ready Video Card
) instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121422.

Would you guys recommend this card? Also, would 4GB of ECC ram be sufficient for XBMC + Sick Beard + sabNZBD on Windows machine or should I go with 8GB of non-ECC ram?

Thanks


- northern_star - 2012-01-12

Great build Qlink!

I have just placed an order for a N40L after reading this.

I have one question though, I would love to install a dual DVD-S2 card into it but realise it has to be a low profile half length card. Has anyone fitted one into a microserver?


- baldmosher - 2012-01-12

cable_guy Wrote:Hi guys I cracked open my Microserver today, tried a 1080p video on XBMC live and it played perfectly, although both cores were running high, one at 96%, and one at 77%, although VDPAU hardware acceleration was enabled, any ideas why the GPU doesn't appear to be taking the strain please?
Is it any different if you turn on DXVA2 in XBMC settings? Admittedly I've not checked to see how my CPU is doing but I'm assuming it's fine as I definitely noticed a difference in quality with DXVA2 enabled.

And of course I'm assuming that you do actually have a GPU card installed.


- baldmosher - 2012-01-12

stringy Wrote:On the N40L do you need to change settings in the BIOS in order to get it to boot from a USB stick?
Naturally you have to set the boot order so that USB is before any other HDD with OS installed, and I think also enable boot from USB (although mine was enabled by default).

Mine booted from the motherboard USB socket, but I've not tried it again since I installed Win7 on the HDD. I will try again though as I'm going back to ESXi this weekend when I replace my HDD with SSD


- baldmosher - 2012-01-12

cronin Wrote:Would you guys recommend this card? Also, would 4GB of ECC ram be sufficient for XBMC + Sick Beard + sabNZBD on Windows machine or should I go with 8GB of non-ECC ram?
Unless you're running a pro server farm or messing around with massively complex floating point calculations for a living (and you're not) ECC is a massive waste of money.

8GB non-ECC is only £26 in the UK including 20% sales tax.... might as well shove all 8GB in there now and be done with it. Apparently the N40L chipset will handle dual channel RAM (I have not confirmed this) so you should also see a speed boost compared with 1 stick and non-ECC is about 5% faster anyway.

I put a MSI GT520 in there... very few issues so far. I could have gone down the G210 route but opted against it in favour of DX11. There should be enough ventilation in the case for a fanless card but I picked one with a fan as the Microserver is in a cupboard so silence isn't an issue for me. It's hard to tell the source of the noise in such a small case, but I seem to get much worse noise from my older HDDs (which I'm dumping this week) and the high-pitched PSU fan (which I might replace with a pico), and I suspect the 120mm case fan is a bit noisy too. Something is producing a low but rhythmical whirr that undulates every couple of seconds and I suspect the case fan is to blame. silentpcreview has a guide to replacing it but it's not simple. I could probably bodge a larger fan onto the GT520 but that would make removal of the motherboard even more difficult than it already is.


- QLink - 2012-01-13

northern_star Wrote:I have one question though, I would love to install a dual DVD-S2 card into it but realise it has to be a low profile half length card. Has anyone fitted one into a microserver?

i haven't tried it myself, but i found this post:

"For those wondering about tuner cards in the n36l, the hvr-2250 is excellent.
Hauppauge Computer Works : WinTV-HVR-2250
I use it with media center and the recorded quality and reception is excellent.
It's one of the only tuners that is dual and does any combination of digital, analog, and fm. I tried the hdhomerun but the quality and playback were inferior. I was gonna use it to just add 2 digital tuners but it wasn't worth keeping. I have the 2250 in the pci-e x1 port and an hd6450 in the x16."

so it should work ...

maybe one of these will fit also in the N36L/N40L:

Link
Link


fan speed question - pampalini09 - 2012-01-14

QLink Wrote:"TheBay" from avforums.com has released an uptodate mod bios and added some nice features.

"
19/10/2011
Updated BIOS
Added FAN Option (Not sure what this does exactly, but have a play)
Simplified AHCI/IDE Setting:
Removed - AHCI Menu for configuration/drive status
- IDE Menu configuration/drive status


30/09/2011

Microserver AHCI BIOS O41072911

Added
- AHCI Support for SATA ports 4/5 (Ports start at 0)
- AHCI Menu for configuration/drive status
- IDE Menu configuration/drive status (for those who use IDE mode)
"

i already flashed it and it works really nice Smile
now i can boot the server although i turned the case fan down to 500rpm.

And how did you do that? I mean the fan speed control to 500rpm. I use the same firmware but don't have an option like that. My fan speed is around 1000rpm constantly and very noisy. (and maybe unnecessary, because the disks are totally cold inside)


- QLink - 2012-01-15

i replaced the original case fan with a Scythe PWM fan rated for 1900 RPM, equipped with a manual speed control. (link)