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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Nov 9, 2016 18:50:25 GMT -5
Got a refurbed HP Z420 workstation to use as a media server (Plex & other) and will probably end up using it other ways as well. For around $400 and parts I had laying around I got: Xeon E5-1650 (3.2Ghz x 6) 32 GB ECC RDDR3 275 GB SSD (boot disk) Nvidia 730 GT 2 x 2TB RAID 0 (media storage) Windows 10 Pro I am running it headless plugged into an outlet in my furnace closet and using a MoCa adapter to get wired Ethernet. Here is a passmark benchmark for your enjoyment. My new toy!
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Post by SCOUT on Nov 9, 2016 19:00:26 GMT -5
That looks pretty cool man thanks for sharing!
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Post by hoff{QAW} on Nov 9, 2016 20:00:17 GMT -5
Do You use that for ET?
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Post by tonofclay{QAW} on Nov 9, 2016 20:35:16 GMT -5
Has better specs than my every day PC Plex is pretty nice I use it sometimes along with the xbox to watch movies and shows on the TV.
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Nov 13, 2016 12:45:45 GMT -5
I don't have ET installed on it yet, and it is sitting in my furnace/AC closet without a monitor, mouse, or keyboard. The graphics card is quite basic, but I think it could play ET just fine. Now I have a weekend project!
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Nov 13, 2016 12:55:03 GMT -5
Has better specs than my every day PC Plex is pretty nice I use it sometimes along with the xbox to watch movies and shows on the TV. I am still working out some network issues. Or maybe it is my 2TB RAID 0 setup. Still some lag I am working through with transcoding. Usually only on startup, but once we are under way the CPU percentage drops to single digits. I also have an HDHomerun Connect that has an antenna hooked to it. I can play that live TV through Plex, record OTA HDTV with Plex DVR, or use a few other methods (like media player in Xbox One) to watch live TV. With cutting the cord and cancelling cable, I am trying to supplement and it seems to be working so far with a few little kinks to still work through. PlayStation Vue was a life saver.
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DaBastard
Server Admin
a covy let me in ;)
Posts: 393
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Post by DaBastard on Nov 17, 2016 10:38:25 GMT -5
Wow! (and I don't impress easily, especially when it comes to computers)
And for $400, a hell of a deal.
Windows 10? meh... :/
I'm still stuck on a Pentium 2.6Ghz, Radeon 4550 with 512MB, 1GB DDR2 RAM, but at least I run OS/Games off of SSDs.
It has 2 SSDs (OS and Games), and 6 more hard drives 'haywired' into it for total 6TB.
And it will shut off at any time. Crazy problem, can't trace/associate it with anything.
Sometimes will go all day, other times it will reboot a few times in one hour. :/
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Nov 18, 2016 18:48:21 GMT -5
Wow! (and I don't impress easily, especially when it comes to computers) And for $400, a hell of a deal. Windows 10? meh... :/ I'm still stuck on a Pentium 2.6Ghz, Radeon 4550 with 512MB, 1GB DDR2 RAM, but at least I run OS/Games off of SSDs. It has 2 SSDs (OS and Games), and 6 more hard drives 'haywired' into it for total 6TB. And it will shut off at any time. Crazy problem, can't trace/associate it with anything. Sometimes will go all day, other times it will reboot a few times in one hour. :/ I just "cut the chord" as they say with cable and am frantically trying to keep it the "same" for the family. Running/improving my Plex server seemed like a requirement and by saving nearly $80/mo by cutting the chord, this will be paid for in no time. I was trying Plex DVR Beta with my SiliconDust HDHomerun Connect for recording local OTA HDTV, but it requires a Plex Premium pass and I am not sure if I want to drop $150 for the lifetime membership yet. The recording through the DVR uses a pretty intense codec and it actually taxes something in the chain here (PC, transcoder, network, client) but I am not sure which yet. Either way...with the included W10 Pro license for $400 off Newegg...I had to jump on it.
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Dec 6, 2016 21:14:14 GMT -5
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Post by hoff{QAW} on Dec 7, 2016 11:42:09 GMT -5
Hax.
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BlaZeR
Server Admin
Regrets lasts longer than pain...
Posts: 2,016
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Post by BlaZeR on Dec 16, 2016 19:30:16 GMT -5
Wow! (and I don't impress easily, especially when it comes to computers) And for $400, a hell of a deal. Windows 10? meh... :/ I'm still stuck on a Pentium 2.6Ghz, Radeon 4550 with 512MB, 1GB DDR2 RAM, but at least I run OS/Games off of SSDs. It has 2 SSDs (OS and Games), and 6 more hard drives 'haywired' into it for total 6TB. And it will shut off at any time. Crazy problem, can't trace/associate it with anything. Sometimes will go all day, other times it will reboot a few times in one hour. :/ #respect Reminds me of myself back in 2005-2009 I had a terrible computer and was barely able to reach 50 FPS (not stable) at low settings and a really laggy ISP, now I have a high end computer and a decent connection but no time to play anymore...
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Oct 15, 2017 0:42:26 GMT -5
Been chugging along with the server. Switched from Milestone to Blue Iris for my security camera software. Pretty nice and low cost. $60 for server software and then $15 for app on phone. It integrates with Amazon Alexa and Smartthings with a bit of effort. Get notifications, texts, emails with video clips based on motion. Pretty fun to play with. Still need to mount the cameras and run cables. Speaking of running cables, I am completely redoing my entire house networking config. I was decently happy with my Netgear Orbi setup which was a single router and two satellite access points. The signal was good but it dropped connection more than I liked. I heard they have a software fix coming, but I was growing impatient. I decided to step up one notch from enthusiast consumer to enterprise lite and got all Ubiquiti gear. (1) Ubiquiti Security Gateway Router (1) Ubiquiti 16 port POE+ Switch (1) Ubiquiti 8 port POE+ switch (3) Ubiquiti Wifi AC Pro Access Points Unifi Controller Software This is really letting me geek out. It has heat maps for wifi coverage! Network topology diagrams! Let's me setup VLANS! Does deep packet inspection! Allows me to setup a wifi hot spot and charge people to log on! Who wants to come over this winter and crawl around my attic to get the cable strung around???
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Oct 29, 2017 17:40:18 GMT -5
Getting my network panel layout started.
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Post by tonofclay{QAW} on Oct 29, 2017 20:34:19 GMT -5
Why are you messing around with all this stuff when you have a WiiFit down there you could be enjoying?
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BlaZeR
Server Admin
Regrets lasts longer than pain...
Posts: 2,016
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Post by BlaZeR on Oct 30, 2017 22:57:25 GMT -5
Why are you messing around with all this stuff when you have a WiiFit down there you could be enjoying? lol
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Post by Porridge{QAW} on Oct 31, 2017 11:34:13 GMT -5
Why are you messing around with all this stuff when you have a WiiFit down there you could be enjoying? BTW - I'm watching this thread closely. At some point I need to cut the cord. I'm paying way too much to Verizon for Fios/internet/phone. I'm a n00b at this but recently learned that even hulu has started a TV streaming service recently (unless it's been around for a while) - and I don't watch live TV too much. Also, sling seems pretty cheap (as compared to playstation vue). But I've not done too much research on any of this. I like watching NFL (on the vikings) on sundays - and have realized that in order to stream my NFL game pass on my PS3, I need to install Plex and stream the content via plex onto the PS3. I might have to dust off an old machine that I have lying around (or get a cheap server machine). McBain - do you remote desktop into your server to DL movies/music into?
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Post by hoff{QAW} on Oct 31, 2017 16:17:36 GMT -5
Just stopping by to see if McB already installed ET in that thing... I'll be back.
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Oct 31, 2017 22:49:44 GMT -5
Porri - I do archive DVD's and Blurays but I don't download any movies or music. I can remote into the machine and I run it headless so I have to use remote desktop to manage it. There are some KODI apps that you can run on FireTV stick and other android based media players, but it looked like they were all shady and likely dangerous from a network security perspective. I know LOTS of people use Plex in that way, but I just have a few 4TB drives full of my movies so I don't need to pull out the disks all the time, and it allows me to stream from anywhere on any device. I have been on PSVue for a bit over a year now. The thing that makes it worth the money for me is the TV Anywhere credentials. You can use your PS Vue account to log into about any network specific app to watch either live or archived episodes and movies. So if my TV doesn't have an antenna (which most of mine don't), I can just pull up the Fox Sports to Go app, log in with PS Vue credentials, pull up the world series, and send it to my chromecast. Not sure if the family could go back to regular cable. Check out how much data they use!
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Nov 29, 2017 16:04:39 GMT -5
Yikes...looks like Wolf ET uses practically no data! Attachments:
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Apr 5, 2018 22:17:36 GMT -5
I need to change this thread title to "McBain's technology musings...". I was complaining about my ping the other night and joking about buying a modem. Well I did and it is here. While activating it I asked what maximum speed my house could get and was told 1gig w/6000gb data cap for another $20 for 12 months, no contract. So....I am getting that on Monday. Hope the ping goes from 48 to 10 or lower!
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Post by tonofclay{QAW} on Apr 6, 2018 12:56:15 GMT -5
Nice! They don't offer anything higher than 250Mbps in my area.
Pretty happy with my Netgear CM400 :-P but maybe you'll have some insight into this?
I got worried that my modem was outdated vs my plan after seeing this, so I pulled up its amazon page to see the specs, and it says its for plans up to 100Mbps (even though another description says it supports up to 340Mpbs down!?) , and comcast's device page says its incompatible (rated for up to 215Mpbs down) , BUT I always get 250Mpbs or greater on any speed test I run.
So now I'm just cornnfused by all the conflicting numbers errywhere and I have no idea if I am being limited by my router or if buying a new one would do nothing!?
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Post by hoff{QAW} on Apr 6, 2018 16:21:32 GMT -5
This is all so complex
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Apr 6, 2018 18:52:07 GMT -5
Nice! They don't offer anything higher than 250Mbps in my area. Pretty happy with my Netgear CM400 :-P but maybe you'll have some insight into this? I got worried that my modem was outdated vs my plan after seeing this, so I pulled up its amazon page to see the specs, and it says its for plans up to 100Mbps (even though another description says it supports up to 340Mpbs down!?) , and comcast's device page says its incompatible (rated for up to 215Mpbs down) , BUT I always get 250Mpbs or greater on any speed test I run. So now I'm just cornnfused by all the conflicting numbers errywhere and I have no idea if I am being limited by my router or if buying a new one would do nothing!? My thoughts are it is theoretically capable of 340Mbps because it is DOCSIS 3.0 rated, but probably not the greatest at sustained throughput at that level. The MFRs want some headroom so the device doesn't cook itself (just guessing). That's why my 10gig rated modem is called out as good for 1gig service. Either that, or they just want you to buy a new modem everytime the ISPs bump up their speeds. If it ain't broke, don't fix it...unless you find it on sale!
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Post by tonofclay{QAW} on Apr 7, 2018 12:44:31 GMT -5
Hehe okay cool yeah I'll just stick with this modem, everything seems to indicate that I'm getting the best possible speeds they can provide. I would be horrified to have been paying such a monthly fee only to know I had insufficient hardware.
I guess you are in one of those areas with some sort of data usage cap / overage fee? I remember seeing a list of some states that had such a thing, but there is no limit here ... though even if it existed here I doubt my household could exceed the cap.
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Post by mcbain{QAW} on Apr 7, 2018 16:54:25 GMT -5
Hehe okay cool yeah I'll just stick with this modem, everything seems to indicate that I'm getting the best possible speeds they can provide. I would be horrified to have been paying such a monthly fee only to know I had insufficient hardware. I guess you are in one of those areas with some sort of data usage cap / overage fee? I remember seeing a list of some states that had such a thing, but there is no limit here ... though even if it existed here I doubt my household could exceed the cap. Yep ISP instituted a data cap right as people started cancelling their TV subscription and just getting internet from them. Convenient for them, I know. With the new net neutrality rules being recalled, I will be curious if the costs go way up or the data caps go way down, unless you subscribe to the ISPs online streaming channel package (which won't count against your data cap conveniently). With 4k Netflix, Amazon, and Youtube...the data goes fast. So does a family of 5 all with devices going every night. My last 3 month average is a bit over 1TB. My old plan was 100Mbps w/1TB data cap. I had to bump that up to 200Mbps w/2TB to avoid $10/10gb overage charges! With the gigabit upgrade I will get 1000Mbps w/6TB of data cap. I shouldn't have to worry about it even if I leave all of my TVs on streaming 4k all month.
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