Here is my HTPC workhorse so far... suggestions???

[alf tanner]

This computer backs up data for my laptops, and some remote data for work. I use it to get access to media while I'm out of town working as well. I decided this weekend to go to microcenter and get a ceton card and dive into the world of HTPC. I've read a lot of the wikis already and thank the site very much for the education.

specs of wildebeest
Antec 1200 case
Gigabyte x58a-ud5 MOBO
700 watt OCZ PSU
i7-930 running stock speeds
Prolimatech Megahalems cooler
12gb XMS 3 corsair 1600mhz RAM
windows 7 x64 sp1 ultimate all updated
Sapphire 5850 ATI Radeon video card (DVI, DVI, HDMI, Displayport)
Asus Xonar Essence STX audio card
Fax modem (it's also a fax server)
extra SATA card
Ceton Infinitv 4 tuner
LG Blu-Ray burner
DVD+-RW burner
Adesso 2.4GHZ HTPC keyboard
MediaGate WMC IR remote.

The OS runs on 3x60 GB rebranded AData Sandforce 1222 SSDs in RAID 0.
My music and media are split between 2 Spinpoint F3 1TB drives
OS backups, images and isos go on a 2TB WD green drive.
Extra drives:
1tb 7200.12 seagate drive
1tb Spinpoint f3
2x500gb WD green drives
1 tb WD green drive


The 4 tuners are set as follows:
2 for that main computer to use primarily as a DVR
1 for my main laptop to watch live TV windowed most of the time
1 for a laptop I'm donating to the HTPC cause that watches live TV, occasionally records a program and serves primarily to connect via HDMI to a second HDTV.

Network setup:
Comcast 22/5 internet
Linksys 4200 router in living room
Dlink 8 port gigabit switch in my office
5 port gig switch off brand (dont remember what) in living room
All rooms connected off of a different port on the back of the Linksys router to different switches to decrease the bottlenecks.


Here's what I'd like to do:
add a 120gb SSD for live TV buffer. (WMC says I need 24GB now for TV buffer I'm assuming that would double with another card)
Get a second 4 tuner card and give the other computers another tuner(yay for tuner salad)
connect via eSATA a few TB of storage for recorded TV

Is this an okay idea if I'm not concerned with degradation of the SSD? I would like to use a RAM disk but even doubling the memory to 24GB would be insufficient according to WMC right now with 4 total tuners.

Alternatively I could do that setup temporarily as I piece together a HTPC for the living room. I'm just trying to take advantage of having such a powerful computer running and online 24/7. It already serves up all my media, music, files, backups, isos, and backups of all the installers I've ever downloaded to the whole network and me remotely.

[tommo]

I have a similar setup although not as extreme.

Not sure why you're havign the risk and hassle of 3 ssds in raid0 or ram disk talk unless you're doing something that really needs it.

Next thing i'm goin to do is get a hdmi splitter so I can have a tele coming off the pc for media center in a different room.

If it's on 24/7 you may as well do it right so I say go for it.

[alf tanner]

I have a similar setup although not as extreme.

Not sure why you're havign the risk and hassle of 3 ssds in raid0 or ram disk talk unless you're doing something that really needs it.

It's blazing fast!!! I tried with one SSD and it was fast, but two was even better, and three seems to be the magic number... I'm out of SATA ports as well.
Once every couple months I'll image the system, un raid the drives, boot to a different installation and run cmd clean/all on the disks to restore them back to all 0s and then restore the image. That usually equates to restoring the 10-15% of performance thats lost by not having TRIM enabled due to RAID storage limitations.

All my documents are cloud synced over live mesh, skydrive, etc. The system images itself every day as well, so the risk of data loss is minimal for the most part, and I've never once had a problem... in 2 years now of running this system 24/7

I also do quite a bit of simultaneous stream audio encoding, it worked okay with just a mechanical HDD with one or two streams, but not 20+

Next thing i'm goin to do is get a hdmi splitter so I can have a tele coming off the pc for media center in a different room.

does that mean you use something like maximizer and it's a second monitor thing? Or that you're using a monitor in the room your HTPC is in and sending the same signal to a different monitor in a different location?

If it's on 24/7 you may as well do it right so I say go for it.

So get a second tuner card, double the RAM and put a SSD in to buffer live TV?

Thank you for responding, I feel like a N00b all over again here not being super familiar with all the ins and outs of WMC.