Parts for ASUS P8H77-I Media Server

[phocion]

Here are the proposed parts for a multifunction computer for my living room. I need a parts check by the smart tonymacx86 crowd, this is kind of a weird one. The functions will be:

• Serving stored media (video, audio, etc.) to the TV and a bunch of other household electronics. I'm talking potentially north of 10 TB of stuff, backed up offsite.
• Some minor Internet serving
• Offloading of long-running computational tasks from my main computer
• Acting as a Blu-Ray player
• Retro gaming system via emulation and attached controllers

You might think I'm better off storing a NAS somewhere else to avoid the hard drive noise. My living room isn't particularly quiet as it is, and the TV doesn't get used all that much. The biggest challenge from the room is the temperature. It can get up to about 85F (29C). Not the best from a cooling perspective. I would still like to keep noise as low as achievable without real sacrifices, if I can.

You might also think that OS X isn't the best OS for these roles. I agree. But I like OS X, so that's what I want to use.

Motherboard: ASUS P8H77-I
CPU: Intel Core i7 3770K (already owned)
CPU cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
GPU: Intel HD4000 (integrated)
RAM: G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
SSD: SanDisk Extreme SATA 6Gb/s 120GB
HDD (x4): Western Digital Red WD30EFRX 3TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5"
Optical Drive: LG Electronics 14x Internal BDXL Blu-Ray Rewriter with Software WH14NS40
WiFi: TP-Link PCI Express WiFi Adapter (TL-WDN4800)
Bluetooth: Targus Bluetooth USB Adapter (ACB10US)
Power Supply: COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS-550-PCAR-E3 550W ATX12V
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (already owned)

The thing will be hooked up to my TV. The TV's VGA port if I can get away with it; otherwise HDMI.

Main questions I still have:

1) Would adding to/switching out the case fans be appropriate?
2) I hate having to use the sole PCIe slot for WiFi, but I absolutely cannot sacrifice connection speed for this machine. Is there any USB solution that can compete?

Some notes about the components:

Motherboard: It's mini-ITX, has the six SATA ports I need, and people have already gotten it working (mostly) with OS X. With a modded BIOS I should be able to get power management.

CPU: I realize that the 3770k is likely overkill for this device, especially since I doubt that I will overclock the processor. The reason I own this chip is that I was able to get it at half the current retail price through a friend.

GPU: HD4000 should be fine for the purposes of this machine. The most stress that will be put on the graphics is driving 1080p videos (which the HD4000 can do), and emulating old console and arcade games (which does not utilize hardware acceleration).

RAM: Low profile so as to hopefully not conflict with any present or future CPU coolers.

SSD: Mountain Lion boot and applications drive.

HDD: Four of these. I've got a Seagate 3TB and I'm not super happy with the head parking noise it makes unless you tinker with it and disable the drive's power management. So I'm trying the WD Reds, which are supposedly made for 24/7 operation. Speed is not tremendously important for these drives, which will just be holding various types of media.

Optical: Bit of a test to see if I can get this Blu-Ray drive working in OS X, using third party software of course. Worst case scenario, I rip it out and put it in my Windows machine.

Power Supply: It's a bit tricky to find a PSU that can easily fit this case, link up to 6+ SATA devices, and doesn't have some kind of other fatal flaw.

 

[phocion]

Guess I was a bit long-winded in my initial post, but this is the last bump before I go ahead and buy the parts.

 

[Going Bald]

1) Would adding to/switching out the case fans be appropriate?

only if you want to reduce fan noise

2) I hate having to use the sole PCIe slot for WiFi, but I absolutely cannot sacrifice connection speed for this machine. Is there any USB solution that can compete?

There are a couple of Sitecom USB WiFi adapters listed on the WiKi.

Some notes about the components:

Motherboard: It's mini-ITX, has the six SATA ports I need, and people have already gotten it working (mostly) with OS X. With a modded BIOS I should be able to get power management.

You do realize the audio is not supported which means no audio over HDMI, don't you?

 

[phocion]

You do realize the audio is not supported which means no audio over HDMI, don't you?

I realize that the non-native audio will be a pain in the butt with this motherboard, but it seems like there are a number of ways I can attempt to skin that cat. I figure the worst case scenario is having to just go out and get a USB audio adapter. I can live with that, since otherwise it seems like the mobo I need.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Sitecoms.

 

[alans17]

I realize that the non-native audio will be a pain in the butt with this motherboard, but it seems like there are a number of ways I can attempt to skin that cat. I figure the worst case scenario is having to just go out and get a USB audio adapter. I can live with that, since otherwise it seems like the mobo I need.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Sitecoms.

As long as you're aware that USB audio will not provide you with audio over HDMI. For that, you would need working integrated audio.

 

[Going Bald]

I realize that the non-native audio will be a pain in the butt with this motherboard, but it seems like there are a number of ways I can attempt to skin that cat. I figure the worst case scenario is having to just go out and get a USB audio adapter. I can live with that, since otherwise it seems like the mobo I need.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Sitecoms.

If you can afford the extra $100 (and by the time you buy USB audio dongle and USB Wifi dongle you will have spent that much) the P8Z77-I is a much superior board. Replace the onboard Broadcom WiFi mini-PCIE with an Atheros AR9280 ($15 on ebay) and you have a board that will work well for you.
I can tell you now that, with the modified BIOS flashed to the board, thanks to toleda, with an edited DSDT I have audio over HDMI and sleep works.

 

[phocion]

Unfortunately the Z77 board has two fewer internal SATA ports than the H77 one, so I'd also have to spring for a card to give me the six needed ports. I'll have to price everything out and see what makes sense.

 

[alans17]

Unfortunately the Z77 board has two fewer internal SATA ports than the H77 one, so I'd also have to spring for a card to give me the six needed ports. I'll have to price everything out and see what makes sense.

For what it's worth, OS X really is a poor choice for managing a bunch of drives. :-S

 

[alans17]

Also, why do you prefer VGA over HDMI?

 

[phocion]

Also, why do you prefer VGA over HDMI?

Only to free up an HDMI port on the TV for another input. I doubt any other TV peripheral I have would use VGA. I'm aware that a digital signal is superior, but it might not matter all that much for my uses, and I'm probably going to have to run audio separately from the video signal anyway.