Micro-PC Build help

Pho3nix

Pho3nix

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Hi all,

Have a HP N40L micro-server but looking for something with a little more grunt. Pref a micro-pc with an i5 processor or something of the sort. Think the AMD integrated stuff would be great but have absolutly no knowledge behind this so if anyone could post example builds, looking at R5k max or more depending on the setup. Don't need a screen, just the box

OR

Is it possible to upgrade the HP micro-server at all? My biggest issue is the CPU speed is a bottleneck when I'm trans-coding content on Plex.

Would appreciate your input :)
 
You cannot upgrade the HP Microserver's CPU.

Can't you use a dedicated graphics card for the transcoding instead?
 
The CFI can work. For R5k, I'd suggest something like this:

AMD Trinity A10-5700 @ R1447
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX @ R949
Kingston Hyper-X Blu DDR3-1866 4GB @ R375
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced @ R419
GIGABYTE PoweRock 300W @ R327
Total: R3517

From there you can add on whatever you need. It's not going to be as flexible as the Microserver if you make use of all the drive slots in there already, but its many times more powerful. If you feel like playing the odd game, that's an option too. You can use the CFI chassis as well, but that limits you to one 3.5" drive and I don't know what your plans are for expansion. If you're going to use this in conjunction with the Microserver, get the CFI, use a small SSD or USB for booting and try get the machine to be quiet using an aftermarket cooler.

Pada said:
Can't you use a dedicated graphics card for the transcoding instead?
Click to expand...

Pada's also got the right idea. Use something cheap like a GT630 and grab one of the free video converters available online that use CUDA or DXVA (Freemake Video Converter).
 
Last edited:
Okay I'm a total n00b at this, but if you're transcoding, wouldn't it be a good idea to upgrade the graphics card? Because AFAIK, it uses the GPU if its faster and your CPU won't be the bottleneck anymore
 
AcidRaZor said:
Okay I'm a total n00b at this, but if you're transcoding, wouldn't it be a good idea to upgrade the graphics card? Because AFAIK, it uses the GPU if its faster and your CPU won't be the bottleneck anymore
Click to expand...

Pada said:
You cannot upgrade the HP Microserver's CPU.

Can't you use a dedicated graphics card for the transcoding instead?
Click to expand...

That would work perfectly for xmbc but Plex uses the CPU to transcode files that can't be played natively on the target device.
No graphics card transcoding abilities at all :(
 
NAG - Wesley said:
The CFI can work. For R5k, I'd suggest something like this:

AMD Trinity A10-5700 @ R1447
ASRock FM2A75M-ITX @ R949
Kingston Hyper-X Blu DDR3-1866 4GB @ R375
Cooler Master Elite 120 Advanced @ R419
GIGABYTE PoweRock 300W @ R327
Total: R3517

From there you can add on whatever you need. It's not going to be as flexible as the Microserver if you make use of all the drive slots in there already, but its many times more powerful. If you feel like playing the odd game, that's an option too. You can use the CFI chassis as well, but that limits you to one 3.5" drive and I don't know what your plans are for expansion. If you're going to use this in conjunction with the Microserver, get the CFI, use a small SSD or USB for booting and try get the machine to be quiet using an aftermarket cooler.

Pada's also got the right idea. Use something cheap like a GT630 and grab one of the free video converters available online that use CUDA or DXVA (Freemake Video Converter).
Click to expand...


Thanks mate, will try see if the motherboard and CPU can be sourced elsewhere but this looks like a kick-ass system.
Thank you :)
Going to use a 120g SSD I have lying around for the boot drive and use the HP as a storage server.
 
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