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So here's the situation...the last place I lived in, my roommate had a SABnzbd + Sickbeard + XMBC + Raspberry pi type setup. He had a gaming rig upstairs that doubled as NAS, raspberry pi downstairs hooked up to the other TV for watching everything. It was a decent setup, but had some issues (slow, occasional stutters, etc). Awesome compared to cable, but I want to improve on it.
I'd like to do something similar but better. I won't be playing any PC games, so I don't need as beefy a NAS setup. I just want to know what my options are for having a NAS in my bedroom scanning Usenet for movies, TV shows, etc., and something in the living room to stream everything to that TV.
I haven't kept up on chipsets for a couple years, but I'd imagine the new quad cores are more than sufficient for 4k onboard video, let alone 1080p. TV in the living room currently is 120hz 1080p, but it'd be nice to have something that can support 4k for future upgrades. I want the smallest, quietest build possible for the NAS, but also want a minimum 1-2 TB of storage. I want it to run smoothly and quickly with no stuttering, even if I decide to watch something in the bedroom while my roommate watches something else in the living room. So not sure how much RAM it would need, but I'd be fine with 16gb. This may be going inside an entertainment center, so it will need to run cool as well - ventilation in the enclosed space will be minimal - plus the sun tends to shine through the windows in the evenings directly onto the cabinet (from the side, doesn't reflect off the screen fortunately).
So, in short here's what I think I'll need:
I figure I should be able to build this for <$300-$400. Not going to be overclocking and want to keep this pretty basic but efficient.
As for the living room, I'm told there are better/easier options than a Raspberry Pi and a Pi would be a waste for this as it's capable of so much more than just streaming movies and TV shows to a TV in another room off a NAS. Wasn't told what those options were however, and $35 is pretty cheap. Again, whatever I get will need to have HDMI, ethernet, and maybe wireless, and I want it to be fast enough to stream with no stuttering or hiccups at 1080p minimum.
What say you denizens of Calguns?
I'd like to do something similar but better. I won't be playing any PC games, so I don't need as beefy a NAS setup. I just want to know what my options are for having a NAS in my bedroom scanning Usenet for movies, TV shows, etc., and something in the living room to stream everything to that TV.
I haven't kept up on chipsets for a couple years, but I'd imagine the new quad cores are more than sufficient for 4k onboard video, let alone 1080p. TV in the living room currently is 120hz 1080p, but it'd be nice to have something that can support 4k for future upgrades. I want the smallest, quietest build possible for the NAS, but also want a minimum 1-2 TB of storage. I want it to run smoothly and quickly with no stuttering, even if I decide to watch something in the bedroom while my roommate watches something else in the living room. So not sure how much RAM it would need, but I'd be fine with 16gb. This may be going inside an entertainment center, so it will need to run cool as well - ventilation in the enclosed space will be minimal - plus the sun tends to shine through the windows in the evenings directly onto the cabinet (from the side, doesn't reflect off the screen fortunately).
So, in short here's what I think I'll need:
- Mini-ITX mobo with built in HDMI, optical outputs, built in ethernet, built in wifi (apartment is hardwired + wifi enabled, I like redundancy, and unfortunately only one hardwire is actually run per room so if I decide I need to move the computer I'll need wifi).
- Intel i3 or i5 (i7 = overkill for sure, not sure if i5 would be overkill for what I need)
- 8 or 16gb of RAM (16 overkill? Dunno. I think it'd be a good amount for both padding current needs + futureproofing build)
- Case
- Pico PSU, or whatever comes with a case. Shouldn't need much.
I figure I should be able to build this for <$300-$400. Not going to be overclocking and want to keep this pretty basic but efficient.
As for the living room, I'm told there are better/easier options than a Raspberry Pi and a Pi would be a waste for this as it's capable of so much more than just streaming movies and TV shows to a TV in another room off a NAS. Wasn't told what those options were however, and $35 is pretty cheap. Again, whatever I get will need to have HDMI, ethernet, and maybe wireless, and I want it to be fast enough to stream with no stuttering or hiccups at 1080p minimum.
What say you denizens of Calguns?
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