my mini itx htpc/server

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mark19891989
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 am
Location: UK

my mini itx htpc/server

Post by mark19891989 » Wed Mar 24, 2010 1:10 pm

just thought i would share my new htpc/server with you lot.


this is the build that inspired this one viewtopic.php?t=57944 my case is the same style as his , but its a couple of inches taller.

the main use for this is as a torrent slave and a htpc, server duties come in 2nd

Edit: pictures are up now a few posts below /edit

i chose the Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX-I-E socket 775 over the atom ion board because i already had socket 775 cpu, and its nice to have abit more grunt when its needed such as encoding videos etc, aslo the idle power of this board + e5200 isnt much more then a similar atom/ion build

Software:
ubuntu 9.10
xbmc
rtorrent
flexget: for auto download of tv shows from rss feeds
nfs server: for my laptop,desktop and my older sisters ubuntu nettop (acer revo)
ssh server: used for remote admin, and socks proxy.
samba server: for my little sisters mac, and windows desktop
ushare server : for streaming to the xbox360, rarley used, but its nice to have
daap server: for itunes, rarley used, but also nice to have.

Parts:
Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX-I-E (i never installed the wifi board)
Intel E5200*
mini ninja heat sink*
4gb ddr2 800*
2*samsung 1.5tb f2 3.5" drives*
Pico PSU 150xt* + dell Da2 220w power block*
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174463 case
ipazzport hand held keyboard and track pad*
2*Artic cooling 8025 pwm fans both as exaust*

*things i already had from the original server, so its just a new motherboard and case really :P

Cost (when i brought the parts):
motherboard: £100
CPU: £50
RAM: £40
HDD: £70 each
Case: £35
Heat sink: £25
Pico PSU: £30 + £20 for the block
Remote: £30

Total: £470 ... ouch , i didnt relize i had spent that much lol, i wish parts here were the same price as in the usa, you lucky people


Power Usage:
Idle sittign at openbox desktop: 33-35w
running xbmc but not playing anything: 40w
playing 1080p video xbmc : 40-41w
playing 1080p video xbmc and running mprime: 72-75w

the 200w power block is abit over kill, but i already had it

all power usage measuerd from plug

i could of saved power if i didnt have 2 full sized drives in there, but they dont make laptop hard drives big enough.

has any one else noticed xbmc increasing power usage, even when just sitting at its home page, it cant take 5w of power for it to display an rss feed can it? any one knows a way to get the 5w less then it will be cool, as the pc is on 24h torrenting and unless im playin somthing then i have xbmc running for fast access.

noise:
idle: both fans spinning slow, inaudable
playing 1080p video in xbmc: both fans spinning slow inaudable
playing 1080p video in xbmc and mprime: fans spin at 50-60% speed, are quiet, but can be heard 1m away, if you listen for them.

i did try running the system fanless, playing a 1080p video and running mprime, the cpu was ok running at 50C but the chip set temp hit 99C and the pc powerd it self off, i think if you fitted a bigger hear sink on the chipset/igpu then fanless operation would probably be possible

the 3.5" hard drives are screwed in the a cadge from an old case, and mounted on polystyrine (spelling?) at the front of the case so i cannot hear them unless there starting up.


i was impressed with the case, for the price and size, the case was roomey inside, and very easy to work with, it practacly swallowed the mini ninja heat sink, and would probably take a full sized ninja if you wasnt going to have a optical drive (or had a optical drive that wasnt as deep as the place holder im using now, need to order an sata optical drive soon)

thanks for reading, any feed back or questions feel free to reply :)
Last edited by mark19891989 on Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:08 pm, edited 3 times in total.

ces
Posts: 3395
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:06 pm
Location: US

Re: my mini itx htpc/server

Post by ces » Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:17 pm

mark19891989 wrote: Pico PSU 150xt* + dell Da2 power block*
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/174463 case
That is my Microfly Case (and also the same chasis as the Aprevia qPack and Qpack2 as well as BGears cube and Raidmax has a derivative as well.

If I am right,

You can install a Thermalright HR-01 plus full height cpu cooler sideways. All you need to do is cut the rolled sheet metal support through to its internal oval (if you look inside the case you will see what I mean)

You can then reverse the 120mm case exhaust fan. That is the only fan you will need. You don't need the front 80mm fan.

The description doesn't talk about the 120mm fan in the back. Does it not have one?

Here is what the Aprevia Qpack 2 looks like


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


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGall ... r%20Supply

mark19891989
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 am
Location: UK

Post by mark19891989 » Wed Mar 24, 2010 2:37 pm

the case you have linked to looks alot bigger then mine,my one doesnt have a 120mm fan hole at the back, just a gap where the original mini itx psu used to be, and a few holes directly bellow that, i have both the 80mm fans at the back as exaust, so the vents on the sides, and at the front let air in.

my case is the same foot print as the post i linked earlier viewtopic.php?t=57944

sorry for the lack of pics, my sister is the only 1 with a camera in the house and its flat, shes a photography student with a dead camera lol

mark19891989
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 am
Location: UK

Post by mark19891989 » Thu Mar 25, 2010 6:43 am

I stole my sisters camera whilsts she was at college to take some pics :)

sory for the bad quality, but even with a £400 dslr i still take shitty photos lol

i have put links up because they are huge!

in these pics i have replaced the 2 80mm fans with a 92mm fan

the thick black wire goin in the right side at the back is the power cable from the da2 block, it just fitted thru 1 of the holes alredy on the case, i have put a cabel tie to stop the cable frm getting pulled out.

Pics:

http://marko1989.no-ip.org/pics/htpc/DSC_0002.jpg
http://marko1989.no-ip.org/pics/htpc/DSC_0003.jpg
http://marko1989.no-ip.org/pics/htpc/DSC_0004.jpg
http://marko1989.no-ip.org/pics/htpc/DSC_0005.jpg
http://marko1989.no-ip.org/pics/htpc/DSC_0006.jpg

edit: i have just started hosting my own pics rather then using photo bucket, any dead links, let me know
Last edited by mark19891989 on Sat Jul 17, 2010 9:00 am, edited 5 times in total.

Jay_S
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Posts: 715
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Location: Milwaukee, WI

Post by Jay_S » Thu Mar 25, 2010 7:46 am

mark19891989 wrote:i have put links up because they are huge!
Ubuntu still come with GIMP? Image -> Scale Image. Resize to something like 1024px wide, and keep the aspect ratio "link" in place. Save as 80-85% quality jpeg's, and you won't have 1.2MB images.
mark19891989 wrote:has any one else noticed xbmc increasing power usage, even when just sitting at its home page, it cant take 5w of power for it to display an rss feed can it?
Enable debug mode in XBMC. How you enable it depends on the skin you're running. Probably like this: Settings -> System -> "Enable Debug Logging"

This will display real-time FPS, RAM and CPU% counters. Very handy. I used to get video stuttering while browsing my library in "cover flow" mode with the Aeon Stark skin. With debug mode enabled, I noticed I was only getting 20-30 fps while browsing. The fix was switching my v-sync setting to "enabled during video playback" only. No more stuttering.

I think it has to do with how v-sync works (ie, copy from back buffer). Quoting from this excellent explanation of v-sync:
with double-buffered VSync, the framerate can only be equal to a discrete set of values equal to Refresh / N where N is some positive integer. That means if you're talking about 60Hz refresh rate, the only framerates you can get are 60, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, etc etc. You can see the big gap between 60 and 30 there. Any framerate between 60 and 30 your video card would normally put out would get dropped to 30.
So, without v-sync menu & library navigation is WAY smooth. But one of my CPU cores would jump to 100%. I don't know if XBMC solved this - I haven't been using it for a while - but this might be the source of your extra power consumption.

mark19891989
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 am
Location: UK

Post by mark19891989 » Sat Mar 27, 2010 6:53 am

Jay_S wrote:
mark19891989 wrote:i have put links up because they are huge!
Ubuntu still come with GIMP? Image -> Scale Image. Resize to something like 1024px wide, and keep the aspect ratio "link" in place. Save as 80-85% quality jpeg's, and you won't have 1.2MB images.
mark19891989 wrote:has any one else noticed xbmc increasing power usage, even when just sitting at its home page, it cant take 5w of power for it to display an rss feed can it?
Enable debug mode in XBMC. How you enable it depends on the skin you're running. Probably like this: Settings -> System -> "Enable Debug Logging"

This will display real-time FPS, RAM and CPU% counters. Very handy. I used to get video stuttering while browsing my library in "cover flow" mode with the Aeon Stark skin. With debug mode enabled, I noticed I was only getting 20-30 fps while browsing. The fix was switching my v-sync setting to "enabled during video playback" only. No more stuttering.

I think it has to do with how v-sync works (ie, copy from back buffer). Quoting from this excellent explanation of v-sync:
with double-buffered VSync, the framerate can only be equal to a discrete set of values equal to Refresh / N where N is some positive integer. That means if you're talking about 60Hz refresh rate, the only framerates you can get are 60, 30, 20, 15, 12, 10, etc etc. You can see the big gap between 60 and 30 there. Any framerate between 60 and 30 your video card would normally put out would get dropped to 30.
So, without v-sync menu & library navigation is WAY smooth. But one of my CPU cores would jump to 100%. I don't know if XBMC solved this - I haven't been using it for a while - but this might be the source of your extra power consumption.
i have tried altering the vsync settings, but the power usage is the same.

when at the home screen of xbmc the fps is 99 , when playing a video it drops down to about 25fbs dpending on the video.


i have ran mprime over night so see what temps i will get...so far is been 15 hours

core0 :53C
core1 :53C
chipset: 79C
SDA: 23C
SDB: 23C

i have blocked the side intake vents, so the only place for air to enter the case is the front vent near the hdds.

any one know of any linux software that will load the gpu?
Last edited by mark19891989 on Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

Davideo2006
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2008 2:22 pm
Location: Canada

Post by Davideo2006 » Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:14 am

mark19891989,
I like that case, it gives you some extra height to put stuff in and extra room for airflow.. Good choice.

Davideo 2006

mark19891989
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue May 26, 2009 10:37 am
Location: UK

Post by mark19891989 » Sun Jun 06, 2010 12:23 am

Davideo2006 wrote:mark19891989,
I like that case, it gives you some extra height to put stuff in and extra room for airflow.. Good choice.

Davideo 2006

thanks, sorry about the very late reply, not checked this site in a while .

i was impresed with the case considering it only cost about £35,

since the pics, i have changed the way i mount the hdds, i use the original hdd bracket, which hangs from below the cd drive, with strips of macano comming from the screws of the first drive to hold the other drive, i have worked out that i could fit 4 drives (i tested with out them running) but there would be no room between, so heat might be a problem, but 3 drives would fit easily.

i dont know why they didnt make the hdd mount suitable for 2 or 3 drives to begin with, there is plenty of space to do so.

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