Hardware Configurations (and Hello!)

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Hi,

I'm new to the forums.  Recently found Pluto when searching around for technologies such as this.  I am very excited to get started!

That said, I have a couple questions for you guys.  I will need to purchase a new system to act as my core.  I anticipate a very heavy media load on the system over time.

Current:  My house is wired with 10/100 in every room, I also have wireless, 5 "zones" with in-wall speakers, and X10 in numerous places.

That said, for the core... Can anyone recommend a configuration for me?  I read in the Equipment Recommendations that the Pluto Pro model has dual Intel Xeon processors, but what speed, FSB, etc., would be sufficient?  The system is also described with RAID 5... is 7200rpm reasonable, or would 10K or 15K make a difference?  2GB RAM sounds ok.  Per the network, is 10/100 adequate for multiple high-quality streams of video or is gigabit recommended?  I know audio streams are relatively small based on the codec (~64k - 80k for voice), but video can be quite the hog.

As you can probably tell by my questions, I sometimes have a tendency to go a little overboard and I'd rather spend cash on new devices for the system rather than its infrastructure.

I appreciate your input!  Thanks everyone!

-- Corey

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Here's the answer to the network/gigabit question, for anyone else interested...

http://plutohome.com/support/index.php?section=document&docID=177
(Click Choosing Locations)

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You can go to http://www.rackmountnet.com/ and they will sell you a server with pluto pre-installed--they build ours.  They can also give you the full specs.  There's no license fees, and their prices are about the same as self assembly, plus they will customize it for you, burn-in, etc.

We use SATA RAID, Seagate 7200rpm drives.  Audio, like you said, is miniscual--you can run it seems thousands of audio streams simultaneously.  DVD's are 7mb/s, so it's the real issue.  However a good h/w raid (we use 3Ware) splits the load across all 12 drives, so even with video we've never hit a limit either.

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I don't see a Pluto turnkey server listed anywhere on their site.  Do you need to contact them directly to discuss this type of solution?

I may consider this if the price is right -- I guess -- but I'm also very enticed by the idea of doing it all myself.  They should really list this (and any other applications they will install and test) on the site... how is anyone supposed to know?

Thanks for the reply!

-- Corey

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This is very new that they are shipping servers with Pluto preinstalled, I know they are working on a new web page, but it is not complete yet.  However you can contact them to get pricing and configuration.