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Pick the Right Kodi Box (UPDATED FEB 2015)
Ditto on the thanks, and ditto on the request for some updates.

Most of the Zotac machines are no longer available, though it looks like newegg has a pretty good deal on the ZBOXHD-ID34BR this week, so I'm probably going to grab one.

My little Acer Revo 1600 has been stellar for XBMC Live, but it's NLA, too, else I'd get another.
Any reason we're going all 2TB drive recommendations instead of some of the 3 or 4 TB recommendations? I know this was written a couple years back so I'm curious if any of this has changed...
IMHO, 3TB is the sweet spot right now. They tend to go on sale more than the 4TB drives and when they do, they can be had under $100.
Why is this still stickied? It's been 2 years since it was last touched and the info is kind of out of date. People now say NOT to use WD Greens, since they will attempt to spin down at every possible opportunity, instead get the Reds as they are simply built for a NAS going into hibernation mode.

Just buy a NAS. They're getting cheaper every day.
I have had greens, blues, reds and blacks and none have failed or made much difference in my server.
(2013-08-30, 21:41)Budwyzer Wrote: Why is this still stickied? It's been 2 years since it was last touched and the info is kind of out of date. People now say NOT to use WD Greens, since they will attempt to spin down at every possible opportunity, instead get the Reds as they are simply built for a NAS going into hibernation mode.

Just buy a NAS. They're getting cheaper every day.

Agree on the RED part but prefer to build a server than have a NAS. I'm not limited to upgradability if I go that path.

(2013-08-30, 22:04)Harro Wrote: I have had greens, blues, reds and blacks and none have failed or made much difference in my server.


Well then you're a very lucky boy. I've had 3 3TB greens fail this year. In the end on the 4th time [2 were the warranty replacements!] WD gave me a RED.

REDs are fantastic. Put them on SATA3 slots and you'll get 130-140MB/s file transfer rates between drives all day long.

Worth the expense? Hell yeah!


Just don't buy 3TB GREENs for 24/7 server use!
Modded MK1 NUC - CLICK ----- NUC Wiki - CLICK

Bay Trail NUC FTW!

I've donated, have you?

Hi All,
im new to this forum,
im a big fan of htpc's but always used it the easy way,

i have used a 2009 mac mini as an htpc till now.
in 2012 i have build an Unraid Nas server mainly to manage my downloads and streaming.
the unraid runs plex server, sickbeard, couchpotato, and sabnzbd
the unraid:
Ram:16GB
CPU: Intel Xeon Quad-Core E3-1230V2
Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O
Storage: 18 TB
it has been stable for the last year and it streams my media to 5 devices on local or wan in HD with out a problem.

now i have noticed that my mac mini is getting very slow and sluggish it doesn't Handle HD as good as my roku 3 or any other device.

i plan to build a new replacement with these parts:
motherboard: GA-Z77N-WIFI (gigabyte) any
ram: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (CML16GX3M2A1600C10)
PSU: 500 or 600 watt modular
SSD: 240 GB (boot disk)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770
CASE: BitFenix Mini-ITX Tower Case
Graphic card: GTX 660TI or 650TI ( i want the best but not overkill)

im open for any suggestions and advice, i dont mind using any os (Mac/Hackintosh, Windows) or even dual boot, and also im open to use any software which will give me the best result
any other options or parts recommendations are welcome

what i want now is to build a system that can play blue-ray, full HD , and 3D capable,
im not interested in tv tuner because i dont think my provider will have any support for it

i hope this machine to survive at least 2-4 years before any upgrades again, budget is not a problem up to 3000 dollars

i look forward to hear from you

Regards,

Ammar
My older WD Greens lasted many years but moving forward I prefer the Seagate NAS and WD Red drives since they are purpose-built for server/NAS use and everything I've read shows it's not just marketing fluff.
(2013-09-03, 09:54)ammar577 Wrote: Hi All,
im new to this forum,
im a big fan of htpc's but always used it the easy way,

i have used a 2009 mac mini as an htpc till now.
in 2012 i have build an Unraid Nas server mainly to manage my downloads and streaming.
the unraid runs plex server, sickbeard, couchpotato, and sabnzbd
the unraid:
Ram:16GB
CPU: Intel Xeon Quad-Core E3-1230V2
Motherboard: SUPERMICRO MBD-X9SCM-F-O
Storage: 18 TB
it has been stable for the last year and it streams my media to 5 devices on local or wan in HD with out a problem.

now i have noticed that my mac mini is getting very slow and sluggish it doesn't Handle HD as good as my roku 3 or any other device.

i plan to build a new replacement with these parts:
motherboard: GA-Z77N-WIFI (gigabyte) any
ram: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (CML16GX3M2A1600C10)
PSU: 500 or 600 watt modular
SSD: 240 GB (boot disk)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770
CASE: BitFenix Mini-ITX Tower Case
Graphic card: GTX 660TI or 650TI ( i want the best but not overkill)

im open for any suggestions and advice, i dont mind using any os (Mac/Hackintosh, Windows) or even dual boot, and also im open to use any software which will give me the best result
any other options or parts recommendations are welcome

what i want now is to build a system that can play blue-ray, full HD , and 3D capable,
im not interested in tv tuner because i dont think my provider will have any support for it

i hope this machine to survive at least 2-4 years before any upgrades again, budget is not a problem up to 3000 dollars

i look forward to hear from you

Regards,

Ammar

Your proposed HTPC build is overkill and way over spec'd. Look at some of the other threads for cheap small and low power consumption builds.

You don't need such a fast CPU or a dedicated graphics card
(2013-08-30, 21:41)Budwyzer Wrote: People now say NOT to use WD Greens, since they will attempt to spin down at every possible opportunity, instead get the Reds as they are simply built for a NAS going into hibernation mode.
I've read that the Greens can be altered to disable the auto spin down, search around. But I'd never buy one. I like reading reviews before I purchase something, and all the bad reviews on NewEgg about the Greens scare the crap out of me.

The original Samsung 2TB drives were the bomb! Before Seagate took over.

But I still trust in Western Digital. I've purchased hundreds of WD Blue drives for laptops and desktops throughout the years, mainly 320GB and 500GB, and only had between 5 and 10 that failed and had to come back to the shop. I'm confident when I put a WD Blue drive in a customer's computer today.

I tell you, what I do see fail and come in the shop all the time lately are the Seagate 1 & 1.5 TB drives. They seem to form bad sectors within 1 to 3 years of service. I see them mostly in HPs and some other OEM brands.

I used to purchase Seagate years ago, but after a rash of bad drives, I finally found a stable brand. The Seagate laptop drives seem to suck more than any other, even more than their desktop drives.

Toshiba drives are the next in line of failures. Then probably Hitachi, Fujitsu, then Western Digital.

Of course all hard drives have their failures. I just like picking the models that have the least.
It would be nice if this sticky is updated to today's hardware!!!!
(2013-08-31, 19:14)jammyb Wrote:
(2013-08-30, 21:41)Budwyzer Wrote: Why is this still stickied? It's been 2 years since it was last touched and the info is kind of out of date. People now say NOT to use WD Greens, since they will attempt to spin down at every possible opportunity, instead get the Reds as they are simply built for a NAS going into hibernation mode.

Just buy a NAS. They're getting cheaper every day.

Agree on the RED part but prefer to build a server than have a NAS. I'm not limited to upgradability if I go that path.

(2013-08-30, 22:04)Harro Wrote: I have had greens, blues, reds and blacks and none have failed or made much difference in my server.


Well then you're a very lucky boy. I've had 3 3TB greens fail this year. In the end on the 4th time [2 were the warranty replacements!] WD gave me a RED.

REDs are fantastic. Put them on SATA3 slots and you'll get 130-140MB/s file transfer rates between drives all day long.

Worth the expense? Hell yeah!


Just don't buy 3TB GREENs for 24/7 server use!

I would just like to reiterate what he said, I have17 WD Red 3 TB drives and they are absolutely fantastic! I wouldn't even consider buying anything else for a NAS/Server unless it was the 4TB version. I have a few greens installed in a WHS PC from many years ago before the reds came out, and of the 20 drives in that PC - 9 are WD green, 3 are Blue, and 8 are Seagate due to a friend owing me money and purchasing them on newegg interest free as payment to me..3 of the seagates died but all the WD including the green are humming along. Now I don't know the model of seagate drives off the top of my head, nor would I ever recommend putting a green drive in a NAS/Server but it is what it is.

WD Red is the definitive way to go in my opinion.
i need some knowledge and advice here.
I am getting ready to build a server running WHS
I am looking to have full home A/V with
4 rasberry pi's
I htpc
sound to garage and to back patio

question

will rasberry pi be able to play movies from the WHS server
will more than one system be able to play at one time
can this be done
(2013-11-01, 16:24)husky55 Wrote: It would be nice if this sticky is updated to today's hardware!!!!

Agreed my OP is out of date. Some of the advice is OK (I STILL think ssds are the way to go) but the hardware isn't.

I would love some recommendations for an update.

(2014-01-26, 18:57)poofyhairguy Wrote:
(2013-11-01, 16:24)husky55 Wrote: It would be nice if this sticky is updated to today's hardware!!!!

Agreed my OP is out of date. Some of the advice is OK (I STILL think ssds are the way to go) but the hardware isn't.

I would love some recommendations for an update.
Include a fan-less section?

Planing to replace my existing setup with a fan-less one but totally have no clue where to start Wink
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