Cheapy server/PC
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:48 am
Hey, ive just registered to these forums but despite that, ive been stalking about these forums for quite a while.
Im just curious about getting a small print/media server setup in the house, and have been looking about some small/fanless systems for a while.
The basic requirments are that it needs to be cheap, cool, energy efficient and mostly quiet. It will probably be running a linux distribution and will be plugged into various HDDs (mostly external) which I will share over the network. The linux system will also act as a headless torrent machine (vnc because im a sucker for GUIs) as well as a subsonic server which will stream FLACs and MP3s and occasionally transcode a few FLAC files as well as video files. Theyre mostly VOB/MKV/MP4 with most of them below 480p. There are a few 1080p / 720p videos here and there.
It also needs to run a windows virtual machine for light weight tasks such as office applications and MSN (I prefer to use them over libre office and pidgin, because for some reason pidgin has a habit of deleting contacts)
Would the following system be able to transcode the non HD files at a suitable rate, to stream them over a home network (I.E., above 30 frames/sec)?
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/#techinfo
Does anybody have any recommendations as to other systems ? It doesnt really need to be small, it just needs to be cheap, relatively silent, have a lot of ports and be powerful to do the tasks assigned above.
My current desktop is a Asrock ion330 which currently does all these tasks, but using it for these services, as well as my normal desktop PC strains the poor little atom system a bit : P
Thanks for your time and advice in advance
Im just curious about getting a small print/media server setup in the house, and have been looking about some small/fanless systems for a while.
The basic requirments are that it needs to be cheap, cool, energy efficient and mostly quiet. It will probably be running a linux distribution and will be plugged into various HDDs (mostly external) which I will share over the network. The linux system will also act as a headless torrent machine (vnc because im a sucker for GUIs) as well as a subsonic server which will stream FLACs and MP3s and occasionally transcode a few FLAC files as well as video files. Theyre mostly VOB/MKV/MP4 with most of them below 480p. There are a few 1080p / 720p videos here and there.
It also needs to run a windows virtual machine for light weight tasks such as office applications and MSN (I prefer to use them over libre office and pidgin, because for some reason pidgin has a habit of deleting contacts)
Would the following system be able to transcode the non HD files at a suitable rate, to stream them over a home network (I.E., above 30 frames/sec)?
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/fit-pc/fit-pc3-info/#techinfo
Does anybody have any recommendations as to other systems ? It doesnt really need to be small, it just needs to be cheap, relatively silent, have a lot of ports and be powerful to do the tasks assigned above.
My current desktop is a Asrock ion330 which currently does all these tasks, but using it for these services, as well as my normal desktop PC strains the poor little atom system a bit : P
Thanks for your time and advice in advance