The main goal is to try and keep the build cost of the living room backend server close to £700 (similar to the the annual cost of my current cable TV package and set top boxes), whilst striking a balance between power (for gaming), low noise and power efficiency as machine will be on 24/7. The bedroom PCs are to be less than £100 each, so probably Raspberry Pis running XMBC.
I'm looking forward to more geeking out on the research, build, and setting up of such a system.
So far, I have the following hardware connected to my living room TV:
- Case: ATX tower case, £0 (recycled)
- Storage: An old Western Digital SATA1 160 GB HDD, £0 (recycled)
- Motherboard: MSI 990FXA-GD65, £57.98
- CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz Socket AM3+, £80.99
- RAM: 8GB Kingston low-profile (so Scythe heatsink fits) RAM, £60
- PSU: Corsair CX600M, £52.96
- Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 650 N650-1GD5/OCV1, £51.98
- CPU Cooling: Scythe Mugen IV, £37.11
This is a working system, but not the final build. I am outstanding a TV tuner to be able to receive Freeview broadcasts, SSD on which to install the OS (Ubuntu) and Steam files to ensure system is spritely, larger HDD to store media (music, films, TV), and some peripherals such as a wireless keyboard.
- TV Tuner: TBS 6285 T2 PCIe card, £125.00
- SSD: Crucial M550 250GB, £107.94
- HDD: WD Caviar Green 2TB, £65.00
- Wireless Keyboard: Logitech K400, £29
Total price should be not far off £668.00
In it's current form (i.e. without SSD) Ubuntu and Steam are rapid, even with the motherboard set to ECO mode.
The Scythe Mugen IV was money well spent, as it is virtually silent - the noise that the stock AMD cooler made was really loud!
The machine now emits just a low hum, which is imperceptible when sat more than a few feet away from the case.
I should be in receipt of my TBS 6285 tuner card very soon; once I have I will post a progress update on setting up MythTV as a backend and XBMC as a frontend.
