[Busenheimer]

This is my first attempt at building a computer so I'd like some critique/feedback.

This will be a dedicated backend only. I have three remote XBMC front ends all connected via Gigabit. My tuner is a HDHomerun Prime with Comcast. I only record a couple shows. It's mostly used for streaming TV. I will be using commercial flagging. All my A/V gear resides in a 19" rack which is why my choice of case...

Here is the hardware I picked out.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Motherboard: Biostar H61MGC Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($24.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Other: Norco RPC-230 ($69.99)
Other: Intel Celeron G1610 2.6 Ghz Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 55w ($49.99)
Total: $344.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-08 21:50 EST-0500)

I have question about the CPU cooler. Since this case has fans do I still need one? If so can I get some suggestions? I was looking at low profile coolers, but still not sure they will fit in a 2U case.

Also, what kind of performance can I expect out of this?

Am I missing anything :-)

[User 57826]

If you are building a dedicated backend, I would suggest a bit better CPU. If you are trying to save power, may I suggest a i3-2120T or for a little bit more money, a little bit more power with a i3-2125

I will also say that you might want to look at 8GB of ram for your backend, I have 4GB (max) and I am constantly going into swap.

[Busenheimer]

Thanks for the reply.

That really surprises me. I was under the impression that the backend doesn't require much of a CPU. I was only going with a dual core Celeron because the Mythbuntu FAQ has for a recommended system: a 2.0 Ghz x86 or x86_64 dual core processor and 2GB of RAM. I more than meet that. I could see how an i3 would help me with commercial flagging, but it seems a bit overkill. Then again I know very little about building PC's. Why do you recommend such a powerful CPU?

Did everything else look okay? I'm worried about compatibility of all the bits. Particularly if the stock CPU cooler will fit in that case :-)

http://www.mythbuntu.org/support

[User 57826]

I guess I was wrong, that Celeron should be ok; as you state you only will record a few shows. The synthetic benchmarks seem pretty close to my Q8200. How many of your frontends are going to have LiveTV? Will you be adding a future HDHR?

Just for reference, here is my current setup.

FE | Basement (XBMCbuntu):
Pentium M 2.26GHz
2GB DDR2 533
80GB 2.5" SATA HD
Antec Fusion v1 case
PC Power 500w Power Supply
nVidia 430 GT w/ Zalman VNF100
54" Panasonic Plasma @ 1080

FE | Upstairs (XBMCbuntu):
Pentium D 3.2GHz
2GB DDR2 800
250GB 3.5" SATA HD
Dell GX620
nVidia 430 GT
42" Panasonic Plasma @ 1080

FE | Kids Room (OpenElec):
Raspberry Pi
8GB SD
27" Sony CRT @ 480

BE | MythTV Server (Mythbuntu):
Core 2 Quad q8200
4GB DDR2 800
40GB SSD (Boot)
1TB [RAID 10 4x500GB] (Recording)
HDHR Prime
HDHR ATSC

I do have a file/media server as well that holds all the media for the house. I eventually want to merge the MythTV backend and the file server into 1 box.

[deadite66]

You don't need much CPU as long as you don't transcode, recording and playback (H/W acceleration capable) don't use a lot.

I have a dual core 1.8Ghz Atom ION2 machine and it works very well for me, network and HD speed will be more important if you have a separate frontend.

[Busenheimer]

So I should upgrade my MOBO to support sata III to take advantage of the RED drives speed? Currently this MOBO supports SATA II.

Does having the OS run on a SSD make a difference other than boot time?

[efolse]

The biggest enemy I have had is heat and heat on the hard drives. You should expect to have a new hard drive every couple of years. I pulled mine out of the case and use an external drive (sata). I have a small 40 gig inside the case for just the OS and bootup. All data from the backend is on the external drive. The SSD is useful for the commercial tagging (which xbmc honors). Afterwards I would have the backend move it to the external drive via a script.

[Busenheimer]

I did this build except I swapped out the processor for a G540. It seems to be working fine. Channel changes are slow. I'm thinking of making the OS drive a SSD to speed things up. The WR Red isn't really designed for hosting an OS me thinks... Also need to get on Gigabit. My frontend is streaming over power line adapters. Overall, pretty satisfied.

[efolse]

In Mythtv world slow changing channels is often because of problems with the tv tuner getting a lock. Start to think of the card as receiving data and putting it on a disk. Once the enough data is there it will display the picture. If enough data does not get there within a certain time It will report a problem. Sometimes while waiting for that disk you might want to change the channel and it is just tied up trying to get the disk going. It will error out reporting dropping too many frames or whatever. So, here is what you do. in mythbuntu at the command prompt to get Kaffeine type

sudo apt-get update

You will be prompted for your sudo password

sudo apt-get install kaffeine

You will be prompted for a yes or no, answer y

then at the command prompt (and it does not need to be local to the machine but should be on a very fast connection to the machine.) type kaffeine at a time when mythweb says you are not recording. Select 5 (for tv) T (for Television) C for channel setup. select the band being used (astc in the US broadcast) and scan. save the scan.

Then go one by one to each of the channels. Move the antenna around do the voodoo dance whatever. What happens here is we can see if the problem is in mythtv or is it because of a hardware problem with your card. In general with hardware in mythtv, you want to get it functioning outside of mythtv if possible then inside mythtv. If there is one channel you can not get reliably, go into mythweb. On the top of the screen, there is a wrench or something click on it and find the channel screen. Either delete the channel or more likely more the priority on that channel to the very lowest setting so the scheduler will not use it. We have a few channels around here that can not be picked up in the summer and I move it down for the season and back to normal when it cools off. I usually do not run anything on the machine with the backend since the advent of laptops so I turn off x with sudo service lightdm stop (alt F2 will get you at a command prompt so you can log in and type sudo ervice lightdm start to bring back the x server and usually at alt f7 to put you in the graphic screen.) google azap for the long details for how to do the tuning via a command line. It took me about a day to first get the hang of using azap. tzap, etc.,