Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

fit-PC2 as a file server, web server, mail server etc.
serak
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue May 12, 2009 6:27 pm

Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by serak »

I'm planning to use Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server.
Squeezecenter software for music and as net shared drive for HD video files.

requirements:

a.) Squeezecenter
.... sufficiently powerful searching through many files in many directories (2 - 3 thousands files)

b.) net shared drive
.... fast Ethernet - it means read/write > 25Mbytes/s

Is it 1,1GHz acceptable for this type of usage?
I know 1,6GHz is better, but is it 1,1GHz acceptable too?
(simply like better NAS without RAID ;) )

RonM
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by RonM »

My question exactly, except I'll be searchin upwards of 10k files and possibly serving multiple music streams. Any informed opinions out there?

R.

Timon_and_Pumba
Posts: 26
Joined: Wed May 27, 2009 5:59 pm

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by Timon_and_Pumba »

I have the 1.6 GHz version, but I may shed some light on your scenario.

Processor speed becomes a bottleneck if you have to perform a lot of logic/complex operations on data. I cannot really say for your case whether your AV functionality requires a lot of cpu effort, or whether it is just serving files. I tend to think the latter one.

In that case, the harddisk and I/O will definitely be the bottleneck. Performance is not bad, considering it is a 2.5" 5400 RPM disk:

Code: Select all

$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/sda1

/dev/sda1:
 Timing cached reads:   1120 MB in  2.00 seconds = 559.73 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  182 MB in  3.01 seconds =  60.40 MB/sec
Compare that to my workstation, with relatively new disk in RAID 0:

Code: Select all

$ sudo hdparm -tT /dev/mapper/isw_bjgiaehihi_Outback1 

/dev/mapper/isw_bjgiaehihi_Outback1:
 Timing cached reads:   7592 MB in  2.00 seconds = 3798.63 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  498 MB in  3.01 seconds = 165.55 MB/sec
Concluding, FitPC2 is good for serving a small number of users simultaneously [Google uses a different setup ;) ]. It is up to you to estimate the usage profile, and wether you need scaling possibilities if usage goes up (like you cannot upgrade the memory of FitPC2).

prpixel
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:14 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by prpixel »

I have a FITPC2 1.6 running the latest version of Squeezecenter. Computer boots from a 30GB SSD and the music resides on two external 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM laptop drives. I have 2300+ CD's ripped and it took Squeezecenter 26 minutes to index from scratch. CPU utilization was between 20 and 56% during indexing. I've had it running for three days solid streaming to two Squeezebox Booms as a test. CPU utilization has been between 2 and 8% with the two streams. Power draw is between 7 and 11 watts and the computer is only become warm to the touch. Speed fan reports CPU temperature between 47 and 49C; I keep my office at 78F. If I pull the USB powered external drives of the unit, power draw is between 4 and 7 watts.

Comparing it to an MSI Wind Nettop:

The MSI is about 15 to 20% quicker and I beleive the majority of that is because the MSI has 2GB ram verses 1GB in the FITPC2. NOTE to FITPC2 Gods - please figure out a way to make a 2GB version. Also, the HD I/O is slower because of the IDE/SATA bridge. The MSI draws between 18 and 31 watts and was only warm to the touch. However, the MSI has a small fan that was just barely audible at about 1 foot distance. Finally, the MSI is the size of an average phone book and you can probably fit 6 to 8 FITPC2's in it.

The windows graphics are not as pretty on the FITPC2 but I don't care because I run it headless and have no desire to run video on it; it's a dedicated Squeezecenter server.

RonM
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by RonM »

Thank you for that excellent summary.

I've ordered my 1.6 diskless, and will install a 500gb drive in order to make the device my primary music server (using Squeezecenter, driving two Duets and a Boom, probably no more than two at a time). I opted for the internal configuration as 500 gb should suffice for quite a while (but I might be wrong, I used to think 250 would do the trick but it didn't) -- but I can always add an external if necessary. I'll be installing WinXP because I don't want the fuss of learning enough UNIX to be efficient.

Once I get it (which is going to take longer than I'd like) I'm going to get it up and running as soon as possible, and will report back here.

Ron

prpixel
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:14 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by prpixel »

Heat is my main concern with using an internal spinning HD. Most 2.5" drives are rated with a 55C thermal max where as a lot of SSD's are rated with a 70C max. Remember, the CPU is going to sit right above the HD and can reach temperatures of up to 70C under load. In addition, most SSD's are quicker than HD;s; a bonus when using the atom CPU.

I've used my FITPC2 to stream to five squeezebox devices at one time without any issues.

RonM
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:02 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by RonM »

Well, we'll see. Used only as a music server, I don't imagine that "load" on the CPU will be a big issue. The "case as heat sink" should manage this issue adequately. No one seems to be reporting heat-related failures, and my 500 gb drive should not be more heat sensitive than the standard 160gb.

And, of course, there will always be current backups of the data on the hard drive. I do that for all my drives. Backed up to other external hard drives, with the backups stored in a bank safety deposit box.

R.

prpixel
Posts: 44
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 12:14 am

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by prpixel »

There have been a few reports of heat failures attributed to improper attachment of the CPU to the case. Most of the time CPU load is under 56% while streaming to up to 5 squeezeboxes. Every once in a while it jumps to 100% for a short period of time. I've debated for a few weeks about putting one of the 500GB drive in the machine to eliminate some clutter. After all, the main reason for buying it was size. I'll have to try it and see how it goes. Like I said, the other concern was speed, but if you leave the system on all the time it shouldn't make too much of a difference. Let me know how you make out.

BTW, I keep three backups of my data. After having to re-rip before, I'm never going there again.

Rootax
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 7:32 pm

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by Rootax »

For the record, with the 1.1ghz version, the max transfer speed is around 40mo/sec (i tested between my vista and windows 7 (win7 on the fit-pc2)). The CPU (the "System" process) is at 100% (and yes i've the jumbo frames enabled, 9k).

EDIT : approx 50mo/sec after updating the NIC driver.

EDIT 2 : well my scorpio in the fit-pc2 is limited at approx. 55mb/sec anyway :?

benwhite
Posts: 8
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:41 pm

Re: Fit-PC2 1,1GHz as AV media server?

Post by benwhite »

I would not expect there would be any issue using this as an AV media server for multiple clients.
There are much lower power devices sold as AV media server that do a fine job.

You would only run into issues if you have to do "on the fly" transcoding of content. For example: Lets assume your using TVersity as your media server. It has the ability to recognize the client that is requesting the media, and if the client does not support the original media format, TVersity will transcode the content to a format that the client does support.

Audio transcoding would not be too cpu intensive, but could become problematic if multiple clients need real time transcoding.

Obviously, video transcoding would introduce a much higher hit to the CPU, and I would not suggest using this device if video transcode is a requirement for your environment.

Tversity's minimum requirements state "Pentium 4 2.8 Ghz with support for Hyper Threading and with 1GB of memory is recommended for real-time transcoding of standard definition video (e.g. WMV 640×480 1.5Mbp)".
Ben White
Media Enthusiast

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