FreeBSD for NAS/HTPC?

L

Levitys

Hello everyone!

I am in the process of putting together a machine that will have a huge amount of HDD space and play HD Movies. When this thing began I was only trying to build a NAS but it has morphed into HTPC/NAS.

So, here is my dilemma: I was originally just going to use FreeNAS for its ease of use (newbie) and ZFS file system. But now that I want it to play 1080p to my TV I need to figure something else out.

Is FreeBSD the answer? (God, I hope so) If not, suggestions?

Here is a list of my components:

• AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz
• Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power
• ASUS M4A88T-M LE AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX
• 6x 2TB Hitachi HDD
• 2x 4GB 240-PIN DIMM 512MX72 DDR3 PC3-10600 ECC

Thanks guys :D
 
Levitys said:
Here is a list of my components:

• AMD Phenom II X2 560 Black Edition Callisto 3.3GHz
• Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power
• ASUS M4A88T-M LE AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX
• 6x 2TB Hitachi HDD
• 2x 4GB 240-PIN DIMM 512MX72 DDR3 PC3-10600 ECC
Click to expand...

Be aware that to get decent hardware-accelerated graphics in FreeBSD you'll need an Nvidia graphics card (and you do want that for high quality HD stuff).
 
SirDice said:
Not too long ago multimedia/xbmc got added. That should make a nice base for a HTPC.
Click to expand...

My experience from testing xbmc on a few machines is mixed. Generally, ripped or recorded video works excellent. Playing audio (mp3, flac, etc) might work if you're lucky. Playing DVDs or audio CDs didn't work on any of the three machines I tested. Xbmc also works more or less as a frontend for MythTV, but would occasionally hang or freeze when watching live tv.
 
Be aware that to get decent hardware-accelerated graphics in FreeBSD you'll need an Nvidia graphics card (and you do want that for high quality HD stuff).
Click to expand...

My motherboard has an on-board ATI Radeon HD 4250. Shouldn't this be enough to watch HD stuff? Also, will FreeBSD do the trick or do you guys think there is a better option out there? If so please share. ZFS is important to me.
 
Levitys said:
My motherboard has an on-board ATI Radeon HD 4250. Shouldn't this be enough to watch HD stuff?
Click to expand...

Probably. Since you've already got it, it's easy to test. Free, too.
 
Should probably be enough. I have one of the integrated SB740(?) chips and that works. To find out exactly which one check out my thread where I attempted to get HDMI audio to work.
 
I am running a HTPC on a AMD Athlon X2 4800+ with a Geforce 6200. I can play HD stuff fine over the network.

I did run into problems with xbmc though, xbmc appearently applies a lot of spiffy graphical effects, which seem to require more from the system than actually playing HD content ... :-/

My solution: Log in with ssh, xinit, export DISPLAY, mplayer :)

In any case, if you're *only* going to use your system as a HTPC/movie storage, then I would say your current setup is a bit overpowered.
Personally, I would choose a AMD Fusion system such as the Asus E35M1-M Pro. These are energy-effecient CPU's with strong graphical capabilities. I don't know how well the AMD fusion APU's run on FreeBSD though.

Your power supply is also way to powerful. Remember, a 650W power supply is designed to operate at about 550-650W. When you use significantly less power (Like the ~300W your original setup will take) the power supply efficiency will go down fast. Your 80%+ efficiency power supply may actually run as low as 50%!

You may also want to consider getting 3TB hard drives. WD offers 3TB GP drives for ~€120. I haven't checked the 3TB drives out yet since they're fairly new. So I can't offer any advice here.
 
The HD 4250 is plenty capable, but the radeon driver isn't.

You could either switch to Linux and use the FGLRX driver, losing ZFS.
Or you could get a cheap Nvidia card.
 
Carpetsmoker said:
I did run into problems with xbmc though, xbmc appearently applies a lot of spiffy graphical effects, which seem to require more from the system than actually playing HD content ... :-/
Click to expand...

What about MythTV?

Carpetsmoker said:
Your power supply is also way to powerful. Remember, a 650W power supply is designed to operate at about 550-650W.
Click to expand...
Not true mate, 100W power supply would have highest efficency at about 50% of its use, so at 50W usage, soe for 600W PSU the 'best case' is about 300W usage, the 'sweet spot' is about 40-60% power draw from the PSU's power.

also check http://80plus.org for details.

efficiency6_by_Phaedrus2401.jpg

efficiency3_by_Phaedrus2401.jpg
 
Thank you to everyone who posted here.
I appreciate your help :D

Update:
I installed FreeNAS to a USB and have been using it for a week now and everything runs great! Only thing.....I'm tired of the WDTV and want to stream line.
I am going to try running XBMCubuntu from a USB drive and get rid of the WDTV.

I am happy with FreeNAS but It just seems like there would be so much more available with Ubuntu like browsing the web on my TV ;)

What do you guys think?
 
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