Intel or AMD for Media Server

Mars

Mars

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Due to my genius today I managed to fry the mobo in my media server (among other things), so I am on the hunt for a new mobo and chip.

I'm thinking this:

GIGABYTE® 890FXA-UD5:
AMD 890FX Chipset - Socket AM3, 5200MT/s HyperTransport - Supports: AMD Athlon™ II & AMD Phenom™ II
4x DDR3-1800 Slots (Dual Channel), 6x SATA3, 2x SATA2, 2x eSATA/USB Combo, 1xATA133 & FDD, 14xUSB 2.0, 2xUSB 3.0, 3xIEEE1394
4x PCI Express x16 (2x 16/2x 8), 2x PCI Express x1, 1x PCI Slots, Dual Realtek Gigabit LAN, 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Ultra Durable 3 Features: 2oz Copper PCB, 50,000 Hour Solid Capacitors, Ferrite Core Chokes, Low RDS(ON) Mosfets
Dual BIOS™, Dynamic Energy Saver 2, EasyTune, Gigabyte Smart6, ATI Crossfire Support, AutoGreen, XHD, 3x USB Power
Auto Unlock (CPU Core Unlocker), Overclock Alert, Debug LED, Onboard Switches, AMD OverDrive, HybridSilentPipe 2
Click to expand...

With
AMD® Phenom™II X4-965 - 3.40GHz Quad Core, Socket AM3, 8MB, HyperTransport Bus, 45nm, AMD64 Support, 3 Year Warranty
Click to expand...

Or
GIGABYTE® X58A-USB3:
X58 & ICH10 Chipset - Socket LGA1366, QPI Interface Up to 6.4GT/s - Supports: Core i7 LGA1366 Processors
6x DDR3-2000+ Slots (Tri Channel), 6x SATA RAID (RAID 0, 1 & JBOD), 1x ATA133 & FDD, 12xUSB 2.0, 2xUSB 3.0,
3x PCI Express x16 (2x16/1x4), 3x PCI Express x1, 1x PCI Slots, Realtek Gigabit LAN, 7.1 Channel HD Audio, Optical & SPDIF Ports
Ultra Durable 3 Features: 2oz Copper PCB, 50,000 Hour Solid Capacitors, Ferrite Core Chokes, Low RDS(ON) Mosfets
Dual BIOS™, Dynamic Energy Saver 2, EasyTune, Gigabyte Smart6, ATI Crossfire & nVidia SLI Support, AutoGreen, XHD, 3x USB Power
Precision Overvoltage, Overclock Alert, TempAlert, Overvoltage Alert, QuickBoost Support, On/Off Charge
Click to expand...

with

Intel® Core™ i7 870 - 2.93GHz Quad Core, Socket 1156, 8MB L3, DMI Bus, 32nm, x64 Support, Intel VT, Intel HT, Turbo Boost, 3 Year
Click to expand...

I'll probably add a basic GFX card to either:
GIGABYTE® ATI® Radeon HD4650 - 1GB GDDR2, 128-Bit Memory Bus, PCI Express 2.0, 1x D-SUB, 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, HDCP Compliant
Core: 650MHz / Memory: 1400MHz, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL, ATI® AVIVO & Powerplay, ATI Crossfire - Win Vista / 7 Certified
Click to expand...

The intel combo will cost about R1500 more than the AMD combo. Is it worth it for a media server?

Also: I have been told that I can put a PCIE x4 device into a PCIE x8/16 slot without a problem. Is this true?
 
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Why not either buy Sandy Bridge and swap the mobo when the new ones are released or wait a little while.

It really is way better than any of the above.

And yes, your q about PCIe is correct
 
Why do you need such a fast CPU for media server? I'd use something like a Celeron D430 with a cheap Gigabyte or Asus socket 775 board. The server must be able to transfer files across a network, not encode them.
 
Overkill for a media server imo. I assuming its gonna do max 1080 streaming, right? For that a C2D and a 3850 *should* be fine. I'd save cash & go expensive on the storage side.

Sandybridges you'll have to be careful...you'll prob want to utilize all the SATA ports, so make sure you get a fixed one.

I'd go the intel route since they run cooler in my experience (& hence potentially quieter) which is ideal for a media server.

vinodh said:
Why do you need such a fast CPU for media server? I'd use something like a Celeron D430 with a cheap Gigabyte or Asus socket 775 board. The server must be able to transfer files across a network, not encode them.
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You're thinking of a file server. He wants a media server. A Celeron will not stream video well.
 
HavocXphere said:
Overkill for a media server imo. I assuming its gonna do max 1080 streaming, right? For that a C2D and a 3850 *should* be fine. I'd save cash & go expensive on the storage side.

Sandybridges you'll have to be careful...you'll prob want to utilize all the SATA ports, so make sure you get a fixed one.

I'd go the intel route since they run cooler in my experience (& hence potentially quieter) which is ideal for a media server.


You're thinking of a file server. He wants a media server. A Celeron will not stream video well.
Click to expand...


I suppose I could drop the spec on the cpu's, but the main reasons for going for those boards is the amount of PCIE x4+ slots and USB 3. I have 2 PCIe x4 raid cards to go in there as well as the gfx card. The onboard raid sata ports are also attractive. Noise is not really an issue since its in another room.

Also we often have multiple streams from the media server at one time. The Core 2 Duo we had in there used to struggle with 2 x 720p streams at the same time.
 
I'm using a old P4 to stream HD videos over my home network and it works fine. It's running Windows Home Server V1 and even streams via an Xbox to a tv in my bedroom. I've never tried streaming two HD movies at the same time, though.
 
Um, lol, you missed the fact that the 870 is socket 1156.

Also, man, how many drives you sticking in that thing?
 
Madman88 said:
So go for a low end chip and overclock it?
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No not if you're doing multiple streams. You won't be able to OC it enough.

Madman88 said:
Also we often have multiple streams from the media server at one time. The Core 2 Duo we had in there used to struggle with 2 x 720p streams at the same time.
Click to expand...
That doesn't sound right. I've got a C2D 6550 + 3850 atm and I can play 4x 720 BDRips simultaneously without lag. Those are x264, which is hw accelerated. You've got a bottleneck there somewhere I reckon....difficult to say though without knowing specifics. If you're using a different codec or bitrate etc then it could give issues much sooner than 4x streams.
 
Rudimental said:
Um, lol, you missed the fact that the 870 is socket 1156.

Also, man, how many drives you sticking in that thing?
Click to expand...

:p lol

I have 10 drives in it right now, but only 6 are running due to a stunning lack of pcie x4+ ports on my mobo.
I plan to add another 4 by the end of the year.

HavocXphere said:
No not if you're doing multiple streams. You won't be able to OC it enough.


That doesn't sound right. I've got a C2D 6550 + 3850 atm and I can play 4x 720 BDRips simultaneously without lag. Those are x264, which is hw accelerated. You've got a bottleneck there somewhere I reckon....difficult to say though without knowing specifics. If you're using a different codec or bitrate etc then it could give issues much sooner than 4x streams.
Click to expand...

That old board had been struck by lighting a few times. One of the Sata ports was dead and it was on its third nic.
I have a e6750 2.66 chip, so I'm sure that could handle then, if I could get a board for that chip with 8 sata ports, 3 pcie x4+ ports and usb 3 I would just use the same chip. I don't think such a thing exists tho.
 
So I've been looking around for a LGA775 mobo that will meet my needs instead of buying the whole setup.
The best I can find is this: http://www.sybaritic.co.za/store/product_info.php?cPath=81_226&products_id=17027

intel S3210SHLC Snow Hill LC - LGA775 single cpu server board ; intel Quad-core / Core2 / Core2-extreme / Pentium D , 1333/1066/800fsb , intel 3210 with PXH-V chipset , 4x dual channel DDR2-800 , 6 x s-ata2 with raid 0/1//0+1/5/10 , 1x parallel ata133 ; on-board 32mb VGA + dual gigabit lan ; 2x pci, 1 x pci-e 16x, 1xpci-e 4x, 2 x pci-e 8x , atx
Click to expand...

The downers here are only 6 sata ports, no USB 3.
It does have four PCIe x4+ slots tho, so once I have put my two raid cards in I could put in an eSata card and a USB 3 card later.

What makes me nervous is the fact that its a server board. I have never worked with server stuff. Am I missing something?
Also I think that at the end of the day I might end up spending close to what the original setup would have cost, is it worth it to rather have a "server" mobo?

Another thing that confuses me is a little lower it says :
Processor Support Multi-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 3200 and 3000 series
Click to expand...
 
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I'd get a Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3-2100T (35W TDP) or Core i5-2500T (45W TDP)

Both are low power parts and very well suited to a Media Center.
 
Gnome said:
I'd get a Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3-2100T (35W TDP) or Core i5-2500T (45W TDP)

Both are low power parts and very well suited to a Media Center.
Click to expand...

Yea, the issue is not with the chip, its with the motherboards that are available for the chip.

This Mobo comes close, being at minimum on PCIe slot short. Especially if I want to add USB 3
GIGABYTE® P55-UD3L: P55 Chipset - Socket LGA1156, 2.5GT/s DMI Bus - Supports: Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 in LGA1156 Packages
4x DDR3-2000+ Slots (Dual Channel), 8x SATA2 Ports 1x ATA133, 1x FDD, Up To 12x USB 2.0 (4x By Cable)
2x PCI Express x16(1x16/1x4), 1x PCI Express x1, 4x PCI Slots, Onboard Realtek Gigabit LAN, Up To 7.1 Channel HD Audio
Ultra Durable 3 Features: 2oz Copper PCB, 50,000 Hour Solid Capacitors, GIGABYTE Dual BIOS
Dual BIOS™, Dynamic Energy Saver 2, EasyTune, Gigabyte Smart6, ATI Crossfire Support, AutoGreen, On/Off Charge
Click to expand...

<Edit> its actually 2short since there is no onboard gfx, I will be using the 16x slot for that.
 
Wouldn't it be a lot easier just to get something like that low-end SB with a SATA card with a port multiplier and then connect via eSATA to a DAS?
 
Port multipliers are incredibly poorly supported, they are expensive and unavailable in SA.

@OP: Do you need more than 6 SATA ports? What kind of RAID cards are you using anyway and what kind of RAID are you running?
 
Yea, Port Multipliers are very hard to find and I may as well buy the core i7 and board for the price of them.

The only boards that I can find that are ideal are i7 boards... Guess I will go with those. Seems a waste in my media server tho.
 
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