[mythtv-users] Advice on a low power server/backend?

[Brian Wood]

On Apr 24, 2008, at 12:12 AM, lindsay.mathieson wrote:

> Hi all - planning on building a low power quiet server, it
> will be on 24/7 and I'm concerned re not just power
> consumption but the damn thing overheating and burning the
> house down :)
>
> It will be used as a myth backend (3 DVB tuners), but also
> as a mail and file server - light weight duties, only two
> accounts on the mail server.
>
> So I'm looking at:
> VIA MM3500 Motherboard
> VIA C7 1.5GHz CPU, VIA CN896/VT8237A Chipset, Integrated
> VGA, PCI Express x16, SATA, LAN, 8-Ch Audio, Micro-ATX, 2 x
> DDR2 (MAX 2GB), 1 x PCI Slot, 4 x USB2.0
>
> 2GB Kingston RAM
>
> 1 PCI WinFast T1000
> 1 USB Dual Tuner LifeView TV Walker
>
> 250GB Notebook SATA II Drive
>
> Case - Antec maybe?
>
> No monitor etc - Headless.
>
> The VIA is cheap (AU$100) and I'm presuming quiet and low
> power. But I could easily get a Athlon64 LE-1600 2200 and a
> cheap mother board for a little more - perhaps that would be
> better?

In the past, at least, there have been problems with VIA mobo  
chipsets. In particular with the DMA implementation, something  
critical to a Myth backend. I'm not sure if this is still a problem or  
not.

>
>
> Would I be pushing it to run a MythBackend and a mail server
> on this? from what I've observed mythbackend requires very
> little CPU to record, even multiple simultaneous programs.
> I would be running commercial detection as well though.

You're right that a backend doesn't need much CPU, with the possible  
exception of commflagging and transcoding if you are in a hurry for  
results. You can nice the commflagg if you don't mind waiting of course.

What a backend does need is good disk I/O. While VIA may have  
corrected some of their problems, any failing in the DMA would be a  
problem. Also, laptop type drives are very slow, so you are  
compromising in two areas very important to a backend. That doesn't  
mean ti wouldn't work, just something to be aware of.

As for a mail server not needing much horsepower, that's true if  
you're only moving mail, but modern mail servers need to do virus and  
spam filtering, which can induce high loads for brief periods. I think  
if you were recording 3 streams on the B/E and serving a stream ot two  
to a frontend, while checking a couple of mails for spam and viruses,  
you would probably peak out the system and perhaps wind up with  
glitches in the recordings.

If it were me I'd go with the AMD, and go with full-sized hard drives.  
If you wanted to spring for a solid-state drive that would be greener,  
but costlier.

> I guess it would *really* be pushing it to add a VirtualBox
> session running XP :)

Yes. Why on earth would you want to anyway :-)

beww