Question : Problem: Suggestions for Low Power Media Center PC/server with no video display required on box

Hi,

I have been running MS Media Center for many years now, my 'home server' current setup is Vista Ultimate on custom built P4/prescott 3ghz, 2gig ram, gigabyte mobo, 2 HDD, 1 ODD, dual DVB-t tuner and various quiet fans from Zalman etc plus a 600w PSU.   I have been reasonably happy with it apart from power consumption and noise (it is a prescott processor afterall, and Im looking for silence).

With the new media center extenders hitting the market soon (i already use two xbox 360's) i am thinking about rebuilding my 'home server' so that it does not actually act as a media center directly at all, but simply acts as a device which receieves the extenders remote desktop connections, manages the tuners, and is a glorified NAS.

With this build I am looking for MINIMUM power usage and as close to silence as I can get.

Here is where I am looking for advice....

1) CPU/MOBO
I think i have narrowed down my mobo/cpu to either a Intel Core 2 Duo, a Pentium M or a completley different Via chipset.  Best power performance seems to be with the Via, but I have concerns about Vista Ultimate on say a 1 or 1.5ghz mini-itx setup.   Does it matter though, it wont actually be doing any video on the box itself?

2) Storage
 I would like a small box but equally I have 2 3.5" HDD which I would prefer to reuse....even though I am prepared for somebody to advise me to ditch and use 2.5" instead.

3) PSU
Anybody have any experience of using external power bricks with various ATX, BTX, Mini ITX mobos...and some thoughts on rating for my setup would be handy.

All I want this box to do is store, have tuners, and receieve upto 5 Media Center extender remote desktop connections.  Reliablility must come first....but after that suggestions most welcome!

Answer : Problem: Suggestions for Low Power Media Center PC/server with no video display required on box

I certainly agree the mini-ITX systems are very nice systems => but for the use described here I think a Core 2 is a much better choice.   And they're nowhere near as expensive to operate as suggested above.    An E6750 has a TDP of 65w ... and doesn't draw near that at lower CPU utilizations.   A typical operating draw of a full-configured system using an E6750 without a high-end graphics card is in the 130-150 watt range.   And if the system is set to go to an S3 standby state when not in use the draw will drop to about 10w.    A 600w power supply does not draw 600w from the utility company unless the system is demanding it ==> if the system is using 150w, then that's all the PSU draws (actually it's a bit more, depending on the efficiency of the power supply -> that's why I suggested a high-efficiency Seasonic).

Even if the system is left on 24/7 and never goes to standby, 150w x 24 hrs x 30 days is only 108kw, which at the current US average of $0.11/kwh would cost $11.88/month for electricity.   And if it was in standby mode for much of the time it would cost much less.

Further, if the hard drives are internal to the system on IDE or SATA controllers, they will "listen" to the Windows spindown commands [i.e. they will spin down when not in use and notably reduce their power consumption].   Almost all external USB drives that use power bricks run 100% of the time unless you turn them off --> they do NOT respond to spindown commands from Windows.   So you may very well use more power for the drives with a mini-ITX solution than with a dedicated box.

As noted above, however, it's really a matter of personal preference.   I simply think that a dedicated box with enough room for the storage you want is preferable to a small box that will require external storage devices.    And you'd certainly have many more options in terms of any processing you may eventually elect to do on the video files (e.g. compress them to Divx for long-term archiving with much lower storage requirements) with the horsepower of a Core 2 :-)