intel d865perl beefy enough for mediaserver?

I have been using an intel d865perl Pentium 4 3.0 Gb processor with 4 gb of ram (although since it's only 32 bit it only uses 3) and two 1.5 tb hd's. I'm wondering if my inability to fastforward HD video on my ps3 or stream video to ipad with Air Video is because of the older architecture or if I should be looking at another issue.

I run Linux Mint 10 (basically ubuntu 10.10), sab, sickbeard and samba running on it.

I'm thinking about switching to XBMC as right now I'm using this machine to stream video to my ps3 via ps3 media server. Which is where I get the errors when I fastforward.

Also, ps3 is connected via wired Cat5E and GigE router.

Any thoughts?

Um, the idea of a Pentium 4 doing Air Video blows my mind. I have a quad core doing Air Video transcoding for me to get performance that I can stand.

With a $1500 budget what kind of system should I be looking at for my media server setup? Just thinking about using Ubuntu, sab, sickbeard etc on it.

First thing to decide:

Do you want a rack mount case with external drives?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

If not (you want a regular mediaserver tower) then consider the Antec 1200:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Tell me what case you like better and we will start from there.

Regular media server tower.

This mobo is legendary for its Linux support:

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?p=MB...32d814719b

Here is a Air Video ready CPU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Really good quad. Add some RAM I trust:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...-_-Product

Also add any basic PCIe GPU and you have quite the media server.

If I had a little extra cash to spend is there any benefit going with a 6 core?

Not really. A decent quad (as in one I have that is weaker than the one I linked) can transcode the meanest videos in my library on the fly easily.

Put the money into storage.