My new home theater Plex box

[Cave Man]

I've relegated my home theater 2 gHz GMA950 Mini to other duties. I've built a hackintosh on the Asus P5N7A-VM mobo with a Q8200 quad core processor to run my home theater/media server. Here are its specs:

• 2.33 gHz Core 2 Quad cpu with stock fan (Q8200)
• Asus P5N7A-VM mobo with nVidia 9300 gpu and shared 256 mb vRAM
• Samsung 750 gb boot drive (with some media, principally for my Eye TV Hybrid and iTunes)
• Seagate 1.5 tb media drive
• G.Skil 4 gb RAM
• Gigabit ethernet
• 1 eSATA port
• 10 USB2 ports (all work; 4 on the front, 6 on the rear)
• DVI/VGA/HDMI (video only, no audio)/DisplayPort
• Optical audio port (and legacy analog miniplug ports on the back and front)
• IN WIN IW-BL631.300BLP black MicroATX slim case with 300W power supply
• MacBook Pro IR board and cables
• OS X 10.5.6

Total cost = $775 (including a retail copy of OS X 10.5.6)

There's no Firewire, infrared, Bluetooth or wifi with this mobo. However, I have a MacBook Pro IR board on the way ($35) and will install it so I can use my Harmony/Apple remotes with it. It's big (8x the volume) and ugly compared to the Mini, but it's pretty quiet, especially when the Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 audio is shakin' the walls.

With this box I am able to concurrently watch high bit rate Blu-ray rips with no dropped frames (ok, maybe a dozen or so over the duration of the movie), stream a movie to my Apple TV from iTunes and transcode a recorded Eye TV show. The temps of my cores peaked at 72 C and my drives reach the high 50s to low 60s C while doing this (nominal under no load is about 53 C for the cpu and 40 C for the drives), and the fans are audible only during moments of silence in the movie. DTS and AC3 passthrough by optical port work fine, too. While I'd like to have firewire, I really don't think it's necessary for my uses. All and all, a nice improvement.

Attached are a few pics.

 

[richardhunt]

You should have ZERO dropped frames on a quad system. Are you using CoveAVC?

 

[spice weasel]

Pics or it didn't happen! Ok, just kidding. But seriously, mind posting some photos of your new box? Sounds like a pretty impressive setup for the cost.

 

[Cave Man]

You should have ZERO dropped frames on a quad system. And the computer was also streaming to the ATV and transcoding an Eye TV recording at the same time. Are you using CoveAVC?

The dropped frames occurred right at the beginning, so it might be a cache issue or HD spin up issue. At any rate, not even perceptible. I'm not sure what you mean by coreAVC - I'm just using Plex for my Blu-ray playbacks (many of which are encoded in AVC) and DTS (or DD to a lesser extent).

Pics or it didn't happen! Ok, just kidding. But seriously, mind posting some photos of your new box? Sounds like a pretty impressive setup for the cost.

I'll try to get a couple of pics up tonight. (Done now - forgot I had my camera with me!)

Here're the box and board. This thing was a piece of cake to put together.

 

[TurboLag]

Looks like a great build. I see that MB supports RAID5, will you be using this? I am currently using RAID1 on my mac mini, and am looking for a cost-effective upgrade path to increase storage.

 

[Cave Man]

Looks like a great build. I see that MB supports RAID5, will you be using this? I am currently using RAID1 on my mac mini, and am looking for a cost-effective upgrade path to increase storage.

No, not planning on using RAID. Right now I'm in pretty good shape and it's unnecessary for my uses.

 

[gkarris]

oooh, oooh, oooh... (raises hand...)

Is it possible to build a box like this for under $300? Can Plex use Linux?

New to the Plex thing - will be downloading it tonight....

 

[Capt Crunch]

Are there good motherboards that have a smaller footprint to be put in an even smaller box?

 

[Cave Man]

Is it possible to build a box like this for under $300? Can Plex use Linux?

No, not with buying all of the parts, including OS X. Without OS X, you can build a pretty lame one.

• IN WIN IW-BL631.300BLP Black Steel MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W Power Supply - Retail $59.99
• Western Digital Caviar SE WD800AAJS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM $33.99
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - $29.99
• ASUS P5N7A-VM LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300/nForce 730i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $114.99
• Intel Celeron E1400 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E1400 - $49.99

Total $288.95

If you could spend $400 and are a student (to buy OS X at the student rate) you could get a very decent system.

Are there good motherboards that have a smaller footprint to be put in an even smaller box?

Unfortunately, no. This is why the Mini is expensive relative to its power - it has amazing engineering.

 

[dynaflash]

Love it Cave. Necessity ... the mother of invention.

 

[Cave Man]

Love it Cave. Necessity ... the mother of invention.

Yeah, it's pretty nice. I discovered it's a Bad Idea to stack two desktop drives on top of one another. I put one of the drives into my DVD bay (since it's unused) and now my drive temps are about 10 C lower than before.

I think I'll offload all my Handbrake transcodes to this machine, too. I've had enough processor warnings on my OC'd Q6600 caused by Handbrake's speed.

 

[bt22]

Cave Man does creating a Hackintosh require the above listed components in order to work? Or could I just buy a Acer computer from say best buyhttp://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9174458&type=product&id=1218044490195 and just add OS-X to it? I've started a thread on here about getting a Mac Mini and was just curious why you chose to build the Hackintosh V/S the Mac Mini...? I would like to have a Media Server computer in my Living Room much like yours, but I would like to have OS-X as I have promised myself not to buy any more windows computers.

Thanks,

 

[akm3]

Nice rig. I'm confused though, it seems like you could have gotten a new Mac Mini and had firewire, bluetooth, etc for similar money.

Does the new mini not have enough 'oomph' to play blu-ray rips? If it doesn't, then I completely understand why you'd go the route you did

 

[ZackAttack77]

Nice setup........did you actually get the audio working over hdmi with OS X?

 

[Cave Man]

Cave Man does creating a Hackintosh require the above listed components in order to work?

There are several mobos that are hackintosh-friendly, but the one described here is about the easiest. Plus, it has the nVidia 9300 gpu, which is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the 9400 in the current Minis, iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros. So OpenCL in Snow Leopard should be able to use it (provided SL can be hackintoshed).

Or could I just buy a Acer computer...

It's possible, but without knowing the mobo and cpu model in the computer there's no way to know for sure. My advice is that you should buy the components with running OS X - and only OS X - in mind.

Nice rig. I'm confused though, it seems like you could have gotten a new Mac Mini and had firewire, bluetooth, etc for similar money.

This one has a quad core cpu, heat, 2.25 TB of hard drive space, heat, three audio-out ports, 10 USB2 ports, eSATA, DVI, VGA, DisplayPort, HDMI (sans audio), heat and 5 internal SATA ports. Did I mention heat? You're not going to get those with a Mini. With the Mini, you get a nice small package, not a big ugly box. Trade-offs all around.

Does the new mini not have enough 'oomph' to play blu-ray rips? If it doesn't, then I completely understand why you'd go the route you did

Yes, it does play most Blu-ray rips just fine (there are a few troublesome ones that have very high bit rates). Where I had a problem was if my Mini was doing other things, such as streaming to the Apple TV or recording/transcoding with Eye TV. I could not watch a Blu-ray movie on the Mini without stuttering if either of these were occurring.

Nice setup........did you actually get the audio working over hdmi with OS X?

No, no audio over HDMI. Only optical, rear and front analog ports (which is fine by me because I have a projector-based home theater), and I know the mobo has audio over DisplayPort (although it's unlikely to be usable since Apple does not support it in OS X). My optical goes to the receiver and I have front headphone ports if I want to watch quietly.

 

[gkarris]

No, not with buying all of the parts, including OS X. Without OS X, you can build a pretty lame one.

• IN WIN IW-BL631.300BLP Black Steel MicroATX Slim Case Computer Case 300W Power Supply - Retail $59.99
• Western Digital Caviar SE WD800AAJS 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive - OEM $33.99
• G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ - $29.99
• ASUS P5N7A-VM LGA 775 NVIDIA GeForce 9300/nForce 730i HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $114.99
• Intel Celeron E1400 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E1400 - $49.99

Total $288.95

If you could spend $400 and are a student (to buy OS X at the student rate) you could get a very decent system.



Unfortunately, no. This is why the Mini is expensive relative to its power - it has amazing engineering.

Where are you getting these prices from? Plus, I have OS X already and some parts, I would just need the case, MOBO, and CPU...

Will a 5400 rpm drive work?

Thanks...

 

[Cave Man]

Where are you getting these prices from?

NewEgg. You should look at upgrading the processor (775 series with SSE3 or better).

Will a 5400 rpm drive work?

Sure, boots with SATA or PATA drives.

 

[kage207]

Does a Blu-Ray disc drive work on OS X?
And do you use the on board ethernet?
Then is there any suggestions besides the CPU you used to help create this Hackintosh setup?

 

[Superman07]

So how come you went this route instead of getting a new 9400 Mini to replace your 950 Mini? I know you have been quite an advocate of the Mini!

 

[Tilpots]

So how come you went this route instead of getting a new 9400 Mini to replace your 950 Mini? I know you have been quite an advocate of the Mini!

He answered this a few posts up. If I remember correctly one of the reasons was heat.


Question for you Caveman, why not add a blu-ray drive in there? I'm assuming you already have one to create your br rips, but if you took the time to build this beauty, why not add a br drive in there? If SL does incorporate br possiblities, could you add one in there pretty easily?

 

[Wild-Bill]

Nice rig, CaveMan!

I am thinking about doing the same thing for my living room. Currently, I'm running an ATV in the bedroom which has a 37" 720p Sharp. In the living room I've got a 120Hz full 1080p Samsung 42".

I was considering a Mini, but I don't agree with its pricing. I'd much rather build a nice, quiet HTPC Hackintosh w/ Plex.

 

[Cave Man]

Does a Blu-Ray disc drive work on OS X?

Yes, you can put a Blu-ray drive on a Mac, but you cannot play Blu-ray Discs because decrypting and HDCP algorithms must be in the OS, and OS X does not have them (i.e., "bag of hurt"). Blu-ray playbacks and rips must be done under Windows (e.g., Boot Camp, virtualization).

And do you use the on board ethernet?

Yes, I use on board ethernet.

Then is there any suggestions besides the CPU you used to help create this Hackintosh setup?

Read over at the insanelymac.com forums about this board. It's in the Leopard installation subforum. I've also posted more details on my experience at the Plex forums. And please buy a copy of Leopard - it is worthy of our support.

So how come you went this route instead of getting a new 9400 Mini to replace your 950 Mini?

The Mini cannot play Blu-ray rips and concurrently serve up my Apple TV or record/transcode with the Eye TV Hybrid software. This means if a show is recording or transcoding, I cannot watch a Blu-ray movie. The new box does all three easily.

I know you have been quite an advocate of the Mini!

I love the Mini. I think it's the second best computer ever made (next to the G4 iMacs ). ATM, I think it's the only Mac desktop worth buying. But unfortunately, it doesn't have the muscle to play Blu-ray rips and transcode concurrently, two things I really need.

He answered this a few posts up. If I remember correctly one of the reasons was heat.

Not really heat so much as multitasking. The Mini doesn't put out as much heat and by itself is nice and quiet. Unfortunately, with Blu-ray rips you have to have an external hard drive (mine was the 1.5 TB), which introduces a bit of noise. I still have a little noise to mitigate with my new box. The Mini clearly wins at noise.

Question for you Caveman, why not add a blu-ray drive in there? I'm assuming you already have one to create your br rips, but if you took the time to build this beauty, why not add a br drive in there? If SL does incorporate br possiblities, could you add one in there pretty easily?

I have my Blu-ray drive in an external USB2 enclosure. I really don't use it that often, so I just drag it out whenever I get a new disc (which isn't often anymore; the wife put the kibosh on that ). I connect it to my MBP and rip under Boot Camp (Win XP SP3). And I don't play DVDs on this box - all my DVDs have been transcoded with Handbrake and reside on hard drives. Plex accesses those over the network. I only need one DVD drive, and it's on my main desktop hackintosh (for ripping).

I was considering a Mini, but I don't agree with its pricing. I'd much rather build a nice, quiet HTPC Hackintosh w/ Plex.

The size and engineering of the Mini is why it costs so much. That has tremendous value to many people (including me), but not to others. It all comes down to personal preference. If Snow Leopard can really use CUDA on the 9400m through OpenCL such that Blu-ray playback and transcoding can be done concurrently, then I'll probably get rid of this box and buy a new Mini to replace it.

 

[Superman07]

The Mini cannot play Blu-ray rips and concurrently serve up my Apple TV or record/transcode with the Eye TV Hybrid software. This means if a show is recording or transcoding, I cannot watch a Blu-ray movie. The new box does all three easily.

I love the Mini. I think it's the second best computer ever made (next to the G4 iMacs ). ATM, I think it's the only Mac desktop worth buying. But unfortunately, it doesn't have the muscle to play Blu-ray rips and transcode concurrently, two things I really need.

Not really heat so much as multitasking. The Mini doesn't put out as much heat and by itself is nice and quiet. Unfortunately, with Blu-ray rips you have to have an external hard drive (mine was the 1.5 TB), which introduces a bit of noise. I still have a little noise to mitigate with my new box. The Mini clearly wins at noise.

I guess I just assumed you'd put the encoding an another machine you had and just use the Mini as your host and native Plex machine.

 

[akm3]

Nice rig, CaveMan!

I am thinking about doing the same thing for my living room. Currently, I'm running an ATV in the bedroom which has a 37" 720p Sharp. In the living room I've got a 120Hz full 1080p Samsung 42".

I was considering a Mini, but I don't agree with its pricing. I'd much rather build a nice, quiet HTPC Hackintosh w/ Plex.

Can you build a quiet (as in fanless, I assume) Hackintosh for less than $599? That has bluetooth and IR receiver? Including the $130 for Leopard?

 

[Cave Man]

A little update. I've been having some heat/fan issues and have reduced the problem a little by removing the Asus cover off of the northbridge heat sink. It's just held there by adhesive, so you just have to wiggle it off. It's still a bit hotter than I'd like, so I've ordered a second 30mm fan that is supposed to be near-silent ($5) and some Arctic Silver 5 compound. I'm going to pull the cpu and reseat it with the AS5, which is supposed to get about 10 C heat reduction.

Can you build a quiet (as in fanless, I assume) Hackintosh for less than $599? That has bluetooth and IR receiver? Including the $130 for Leopard?

If you're talking about the Mini, it has a fan but its generally not noticeable unless you're pushing it (e.g., Handbrake, Aperture). For $600 you can build a hackintosh that is better performing in processing and disk speed, and disk size with Bluetooth and IR, but you won't have the form factor nor will it as quiet (since the power supply will be internal and thus a constant heat source).