MaximumPC 2006 03

Do you have thousands

of MP3s and hundreds

of movies on your hard

drives? If so, you‘ll

benefit from building an

inexpensive, always-on

media server!

W

here’s that Devo MP3 you downloaded last week? Is it on your lap-

top? Or on your desktop? Chances are, if you have more than one PC,

you’re having a hard time keeping all your multimedia files organized.

You could stream them all from your gaming rig, but do you really want to chance

slower disk access and lost CPU cycles mid-deathmatch just because your wife

needed to download a few dozen songs from the living room?

The best way to make sure your files are in one, easy-to-find place, and

available 24 hours a day, seven days a week is to store and serve them on

a dedicated media box. Unlike your über gaming rig, built to push maximum

frame rates, the media server should run cool, quiet, reliably, and without

frills—an understated sidekick to free your power PC from mundane file-serv-

ing duties. Here’s how to build one.

Build A Media Server

MARCH 2006 MA XIMUMPC 49

Picking the Perfect Components

Raw, unadulterated power? Forget about it. In

this machine you’ll want only enough speed to

serve up fi les and run your streaming software.

A slower processor will save you money that

you can use on storage—the heart of a media

server—or even your primary rig. And a slower

processor will also generate less heat, requiring

a more modest cooling setup and aiding overall

reliability. Also, because most media servers can

do double-duty as home theater boxes, keeping

the rig quiet means you can use it in your living

room, if need be. We recommend the Pentium M

or Mobile Athlon processor paired with a silent

cooler, but these chips can be pricey. If you

don’t want to buy a ton of new hardware, you

can probably adapt an older PC. We wouldn’t

recommend anything slower than 2GHz, though.

IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME how^2

BY BRIAN LAM

INGREDIENTS

ATX CASE

with several hard drive bays

WINXP PRO OR MEDIA

CENTER EDITION

A 2GHZ+ CPU

with compatible

motherboard

1GB RAM

DVD BURNER

AT LEAST ONE LARGE-CAPACITY

HARD DRIVE

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

OPTIONAL

Extra drive for RAID array;

streaming media boxes;

TV-tuner card

Using a lackluster CPU is fi ne, but a media

server should have a robust storage setup. A

single, fast drive paired with a large backup

drive should do the job. We wouldn’t fool with

any drives smaller than 400GB—either the

400GB Western Digital Caviar SE with a 16MB

buffer or the Hitachi 7K500 500GB is ideal. The

WD drive is a little quieter, while the Hitachi,

obviously, offers more capacity.

If you’re concerned about data reliability,

a RAID array is an option. A RAID 1 array, also

known as a mirrored array, automatically cop-

ies your data to two hard drives in real time.

Sounds like a good idea, right? It can be, but

running RAID doesn’t necessarily make your rig

bulletproof against data loss. If your media fi les

CPU

Storage

Hitachi’s 500GB Deskstar delivers kick-

ass performance, for the low, low price

of 50 cents per gig.

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