Aaron Ledger

[swoon]

Like Michael said, you could go with the Core i3. Another cheaper option if you’re on a strict budget is the new Pentium parts like the G620 I linked. You give up a little performance and some of the SandyBridge features, but it would probably work fine for your needs. There is a G620T that is also a 35W TDP part.

If you have the money, spring for the i3-2100 or i3-2100t.

I don’t have any experience with FreeNAS.

[swoon]

I haven’t bought in 5 or 6 years. When I did buy, I purchased everything from Deep Surplus. You may have more luck shopping around now, but back then, CAT6 was quite a bit more expensive in a lot of places though Deep Surplus was reasonably priced.

[swoon]

[quote=dbocce3]

Aaron,

Thank you for your reply. I checked out the MB you recommended and it seems great. What do you think of MB’s that support AMD chips? I feel like I could get one cheaper than what I could get an Intel chip/board.

 

Here is what I was thinking. Any suggestions or remarks are more than welcomed.

MB: ASRock 880GM-LE

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250e

[/quote]

Well, the difference between the parts you linked and the H61 board plus a G620 is about $28. For that additional money, you get a board with much better specs. The Intel NIC alone is worth it. In addition, you’re getting most likely better power consumption, additional PCIe slot, SATA III and USB3 ports and better graphics.

[swoon]

Yeah, I have a huge spool of CAT6 solid (non-shielded) I bought about 6 years ago. I can attest that it is harder to work with than stranded, but I think it is more durable especially for pulling cable.

Ditto on the connectors. Everything should be CAT6. No use in pulling CAT6 only to use lower-quality connectors.

Make sure to pull extra enough cable, even if you don’t think you’ll need it 😉

I pulled 2x CAT6 (one used for phone and one for data) to each wall plate and I’ve had to go back and pull more.

[swoon]

For a server motherboard like you are planning, take a look at the Intel BOXDH61BEB3. I’m planning to use this board myself for WHS 2011 build. It should offer low power usage (as Intel-branded are generally great for this), it has 6 on-board SATA (2 SATA III), Intel NIC, 16x PCIe and 2x 1x PCIe, 2x USB3 and 2x USB2.

You could probably either go i3 or Sandy Bridge Pentium for the CPU.

Why are you going with a 650W supply? You’ll be more power-efficient with something much smaller.

[swoon]

Unfortunately the 10% off for Windows doesn’t seem to apply to WHS 2011.

Some of the other codes look like they could come in handy like 10% off Intel motherboards and 15% off memory.

[swoon]

Updated: Amazon price up: $299 Shipped; Buy.com price down: $265 + $7 Shipping.

[swoon]

Nice deal if you want one of the other titles. It looks like the version of BttF with the DeLorean is now sold out. The regular trilogy is still available.

[swoon]

Updated Buy.com price which rose to $270 and Amazon Marketplace which rose to $273.

[swoon]

[quote=PAPutzback]

Two questions.

How simple is it to put it in WHS 2011 and share the tuners out via the network.

And will it run in a PCIe 16 slot?

[/quote]

And if you do have any troubles, just comment in the Guide that Michael linked and we can try to work through them.

[swoon]

No problem. One thing to keep in mind about the StartResources.dll file is that on occasion, the file will get restored back to default and a new dSM directory will be created. It happens so infrequently that it’s no big deal for me to rename the new file. When the file does go back to default, WMC will display the menus in their default locations.

I believe it happens during some sort of guide update. To give an idea of the frequency, it has only occurred once after the initial week when I last installed Windows 7 to my primary HTPC last November.

[swoon]

For more official info regarding the new Ceton partners and promo, read the latest news.

[swoon]

I use MCS. I’ve never used it to theme WMC because I like the standard theme myself. I do utilize the tool for modifying the menus. It should be pretty straightforward when you use MCS for modifying the menu. One thing that you have to do to make the change is open up Windows Explorer and navigate to the following hidden folder: C:ProgramDataMicrosofteHomePackagesMCEClientUX

In that directory, you will find one or more directories with the prefix dSM. Underneath any directory with that prefix, a file named StartResources.dll exists. Rename the file to StartResources.bak and create a blank text file named StartResources.dll. Rename the file under all dSM directories.

[swoon]

[quote=oliverredfox]

Buy.com has them for $264.  http://www.buy.com/prod/ceton-infinitv-4/q/loc/111/221525094.html  The list price is $299 on there, so either they got confused on pricing or list price has dropped by $100. 

http://www.erwincomputers.com/ceton-infinitv-4-ceton-corp-5100-01-dct04in.html has them for $256, I’ve never heard of them but seem to have solid reviews on Google’s ratings

So it looks like a big old price drop all around.  Nice find irev210.

[/quote]

Wow, $256 shipped!!! This is exciting to see. We’re going to have a lot more CableCARD users very soon.

[swoon]

Have you installed drivers from the manufacturers? For example, if your board has Realtek NIC and audio chip, have you gone to Realtek and downloaded/installed the latest available drivers? Chipset drivers from Intel? etc.

Have you verified the RAM is good? You can run a test by clicking start and typing “mdsched” into the search box.

I had standby issues with a Vertex 2 drive when using Intel storage drivers. You may want to verify you are using the Microsoft Standard AHCI drivers. It also could have been my particular drive which I had to RMA for other reasons as well.

[Author]

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