[chbartel]

So I'm at IT guy with 6 pc's at home, 2 on triple 24" monitors. I decided to see if I could put together a really cheap XBMC media box that works for under $200. Here is what I did:

Bought a Dell Optiplex 560(dual core duo 3ghz) SFF with 2 gig memory and 300gig hard drive on ebay for $140 shipped. It is used, but is a great little workhorse.
Bought a ASUS HD5450 for $35(and now has a great rebate from Newegg). Bought an Asus USB wireless adapter for $20ish at Newegg.

I already had a 3TB external USB drive on one of my other pc's, so using that for my media.

I bought a physical remote to use with system, but I love the Android based app better for controlling it.

Dropped in Win 7 64 bit on the Optiplex and sat below my cable box downstairs. I'm running everything wireless to my pc upstairs with the 3TB USB drive. So far no stuttering, no problems at all no matter what media I have tried playing. I know others are using RAID type setups, but I am going a different approach on this. You can get 3TB external USB drives for around $100 if you look around, I'm paranoid about keeping everything in a RAID type setup(or even UNraid), if something serious happened to it, I'm losing everything, fire, stolen, etc. I prefer to keep several external 3TB drives and just duplicate/backup my data every night to another system...That way I can have everything in two physically different locations if I want.

I guess if my system expanded to more then 9TB's, maybe I would just create two separate UNraid systems and backup every month and carry second server to separate physical location..what is everyone doing with regards to serious backup off site?

I would use Mozy, but I guess my unlimited plan is no longer unlimited next year, hahaha!