Motherboard recommendation for HTPC / Homer server

N

nickednamed

Hi guys,

I've been toying with FreeBSD for a few weeks [till my old laptop died] and i simply love it! For me the ports system, the documentation, the community support, ZFS and the system itself are excellent.

I would like to build a home server / basic HTPC, and have it running FreeBSD, not Linux.

I'm currently looking for an appropriate motherboard [seems the best place to start!]

The main functions of the system will be as follows [in no particular order]:

1. Wireless AP [with typical router functionality eg DHCP, QoS, traffic control, etc]
2. print server
3. file server [mostly documents, pdf's, mp3s, films and photos]
4. file backup [mostly small files like photos and documents]
5. play videos on TV [not necessarily HD, although it would be a bonus]
6. torrent client
7. general desktop usage [on monitor - mostly documents and images]

It will have to provide services for up to 6 clients, running both *nix and windows.

The server itself should be / have:

1. silent
2. low power
3. ZFS
4. One disk / SD card for OS and one larger disk for data [should be enough for us]
5. plenty of ram
6. able to play video on TV while providing other services


I'm only asking for a recommendation because the mini-itx motherboards i was considering don't have great support in FreeBSD:

I have read that Intel GMA3150 doesn't work on FreeBSD and that AMD Fusion is generally poorly supported on linux and *BSDs [so not sure if the extra cost makes sense].


Does anyone know of a motherboard that would suit my needs?
 
After further investigation, i've read that the GMA3150 will work with vesa drivers.

Is anyone out there using a GMA3150 with VESA drivers? Would that be adequate for my needs?

Or perhaps someone has got their GMA3150 working well with some other drivers im not aware of?
 
After much scouring around I have come across a board which is inexpensive: Intel D525MW

Links:Intel website and A review


I would be very grateful if anyone could answer one of the following questions about it:

Does running an Intel GMA 3150 with VESA drivers provide adequate performance for casual desktop use?

How about for watching DVDrips?

Is 4GB RAM enough to run my setup with ZFS?

Will SATA 3.0Gb/s suffice for such a setup?

Can anyone recommend a good PCI / mini PCIe wireless card for providing wireless AP on FreeBSD?
 
Hi nickednamed,

The Intel D525MW is a very modest motherboard. No USB 3, no SATA 3, no eSATA, 1.8 GHz CPU, one PCI slot, maximum 4 GB memory. There is virtually no headroom. Are you comfortable with that?

I don't run ZFS, but everything I have read suggests that some headroom in the memory department (beyond 4 GB) is wise.

If you want HD video (and Blueray), make the decision before you settle on hardware. e.g. I don't think that the Intel Atom system could render HD video. To do this satisfactorily with a CPU alone (i.e. no help from the GPU using an API like MythTV uses with Nvidea cards), you would need something like a 3.2 GHz Phemon II.

I don't have any information on mini PCIe cards. The TP-LINK TL-WN951N card works with FreeBSD and would fit in the PCI slot of your system, but runs at 54 Mbits/sec (I don't think that any of the 802.11N cards work at 300 Mbits/sec on FreeBSD yet).

Cheers,

--
Phil
 
Thank you for your input Phil.

I think I would be comfortable with all that. It will be headless most of the time, and as I said earlier, one large hard drive should suffice for my needs.

Although, like you, I have read about the RAM needs of ZFS and wonder if 4GB would be enough. :-/

After looking at the prices of HD capable motherboards [ION, Zacate, etc] I have decided that I won't be playing HD content. I'm sure it's great, but I enjoy my regular videos just fine anyway.

Although I did come across a Mini PCIe BCM970012 Broadcom HD Decoder for less than 10quid, which sounds interesting. I will have to find out if it is supported in FreeBSD [I read it is in Linux].

EDIT: Is it possible to display HD content through VGA connector? I'm reading conflicting things.

Thank you for the PCI card recommendation. I will check it out.


So again, if anyone has experience with the Intel GMA 3150 using VESA drivers on FreedBSD, I would love to know how it performs.

And if anyone has experience using ZFS for a similar setup, I would appreciate any input.

Thanks.
 
For anyone interested, I have been unable to find FreeBSD drivers for the Broadcom HD decoders [BCM70012 and BCM70015]

Please correct me if anyone knows better. :)
 
I'd steer clear of any Intel graphics, especially the on-board ones. Support is not too good and performance even worse. I currently have a Windows laptop hooked up to my TV. The laptop has a core2duo and Intel GMA graphics. This works nice for 'normal' operations but running XBMC will make both cores use 25% CPU all the time. Even when it's just showing XBMC's menu.

As it's going to be an HTPC you'd want it to be as quiet as possible. Look for mainboards that have a CPU on them with a passive cooler. I'd also suggest using an NVidia graphicscard, preferably also passively cooled. As long as it's a GeForce 8 series or higher you'll be able to use VDPAU.
 
Thanks for the heads up!

I've been looking at a number of passively cooled motherboards recently and would prefer not to pay for an ION based system [expensive], although I'm sure they work well and are fairly well supported in FreeBSD.

I have been looking at the Asus E35M1-M recently. But i've been reading conflicting things regarding FreeBSD support.

Is it true that there is no hardware 2D or 3D acceleration for Fusion based boards?

http://freebsd.1045724.n5.nabble.com/AMD-E-350-td4083860.html

If a discreet PCIe GeForce 8+ card is the way to go, could you recommend a dual-core, low power, passively cooled board which doesn't come with ION / Fusion chips [other than the previously mentioned Intel D525MW due to the fact it doesn't have PCIe]?
 
Hi,

This is heading back to the HTPC issues, which will start to dominate once you follow the trail.

The short summary is that you probably want VDPAU for rendering TV, which requires a modern PCIe Nvidia card. If you get a GT430, the sound is integrated onto the HDMI connector, and will work with all modern TV sets without the need for a separate sound system (most Sony Bravia TV sets, for instance, won't take digital video on the HDMI, and separate analog sound from your standard sound card). The GT430 won't play games terribly well, but it will render TV well (and VDPAU will save you vast amounts of CPU cycles doing that).

I have to admit that I have not found a GT430 with passive cooling, though most are low profile. I suspect that the power draw for this level of graphics grunt just needs a fan. The Asus one does have a "dust-proof" fan.

Faced with those facts, I went with a Phemon II CPU, because they are excellent value (and also because they have hardware instruction set for virtualisation).

I know that takes you away from the highly integrated passively cooled boards. Sorry, they almost always have Radeon graphics, and you need Nvidia for VDPAU, and you need Nvidia GT430 for integrated sound on the HDMI cable.

I live with the noise of the fans...

Cheers,

--
Phil
 
I have a similar system running an Asus AT3IONT-I, and pretty happy with it. Its only downside is the single PCI slot. I can play hd content using XMBC with next to no extra cpu usage. Running all services while watch HD movies my load is around .10 to .20. I picked it up off ebay as an open item for $100.
 
Thanks guys!

After all your advice and much searching around, I have decided to go with the following setup, and will hopefully be able to give anyone who is interested an update when it's up and running.

It will be HD capable, and provide enough expansion for years, i should think.

Motherboard: ASUS E35M1-M
RAM: 8GB DDR3
OS Disk: Kingston SSDNow S100 16GB
Data Disk: Not sure, probably a 2.5" 1TB drive will suffice for now.
GFX: ZOTAC GeForce 210 Synergy Edition 512MB
WiFi Card: TP-Link TL-WN350GD

So thanks again guys.
 
ASUS E35M1-M has AMD Radeon graphics, and everybody (including helpful posters above) seem to say only NVIDIA works with hardware acceleration (not AMD/ATI or Intel). Meaning this system should be heavily loaded if trying to play HD video, most probably overloaded. Did you ever build this system?
 
Sorry for the late reply.

I replied to a similar question in private and I mixed up the two posts.

No, I didn't build the system: I was given an old-ish Pentium PC with Nvidia graphics and it has been doing the job just fine so I never "upgraded".

I'm sure it costs me a little more in terms of power consumption, but it is very quiet and considering the money I've saved by not buying new hardware, I think that only the environment is paying for it. :)

Sorry I can't be more help.
 
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