Setting up a new LMCE system

[faulknerm]

Evening all 

I'm planning on implementing a LMCE system in my home, and would appreciate some advice.

Basically, I'm not sure whether I would be best using a hybrid core system or separate core with a media director system in the lounge...

The 2 systems I have available are as follows -

Media Centre type low profile case
Gigabyte GA-M68SM-S2L
2GB DDR2 800
Athlon 64 x2 4200+
500GB Maxtor HDD
LG BD/HDDVD drive

and

HP Proliant ML110 G5 Server
Dual Core Xeon 3065
1GB
250GB
DVDRW

Obviously the components can be jiggled about a bit as necessary - if I go for the hybrid for example I'll probably use both HDDs in it, if I have a separate core then I'd put the 500GB drive into that etc.

Not sure what would be the best setup in terms of performance though?

Cheers

[colinjones]

A dedicated core is rarely necessary for performance - this is usually only done if you want to use a noisy system for the core. 2GB is probably overkill. Video chipset is the most important piece. Then sound. Then your NICs (you need 2 on the core, yes?) Personally, I would situate my media on a separate machine from LMCE. If you have a general PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) put a big drive in that and share it out.

[faulknerm]

A dedicated core is rarely necessary for performance - this is usually only done if you want to use a noisy system for the core. 2GB is probably overkill. Video chipset is the most important piece. Then sound. Then your NICs (you need 2 on the core, yes?) Personally, I would situate my media on a separate machine from LMCE. If you have a general PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) put a big drive in that and share it out.

Thanks for your feedback.

There's no noise issue with the "media centre" system I have, so probably not worth setting up a dedicated core...just means I can use the HP server for something else.

In terms of the RAM, I've got it sat there doing nothing so it might as well be in the system, even if it doesn't make much difference - at least it's there if I need it.

Will the GeForce 7025 chipset be sufficient do you reckon? For sound, I was thinking of using the onboard S/PDIF output straight to my AV amp.

When it comes to the NICs, can I use the onboard NIC for one of them and just add a dedicated card for the other, or do I need 2 dedicated cards?

As you reckon it would be best to keep the media separate, I can just store it on my main file server.

Cheers,

[colinjones]

All sounds good. I have used the 7050PV which is similar just faster, so I don't think you will have any problems with that chipset. Your audio approach is right. No, just so long as you have 2 compatible NICs ... Intel's seem good.

Have fun.