[mikecole]

My wife got a new PC last Christmas and I still have her old PC. It is a low end home built system in a tower. I just bought a SqeezeboxTouch and wanted to build a computer to act as a music server and a backup repository for the other computers in the house. Once it is configured, it would be setup as a headless server on the network. It has a Biostart M7VIQ motherboard with 256M RAM and 1.8G AMD CPU running Win2000. I have a copy of Win7 that I wanted to install, but I need to upgrade RAM to the max of 2G. I also need a 1TB (or more?) hard drive. It does not have SATA capability so it would be a PATA drive. The last thing would be some kind of wireless network adapter. There doesn't seem to be too many of the PCI versions of these cards anymore - do the USB style adapters work at all?  Does this configuration sound like it will be enough to act as a music server running Squeezebox Server. I may also use it rip CDs to FLAC with dbpoweramp. Does anybody have any suggestions for improvements?

[mcgsxr]

I run a pretty old HP as my music server.  It is a P4 3.0Ghz, and it runs great when used just for music.

I would use usb hard drives, makes them much easier to take somewhere else to add to, or replace etc.

I would max the RAM, I have 2GB in my old piece.

I use a Cisco usb wifi adapter I bought at Tigerdirect (G only) for $10.  I have 3 of them, they work very well with my Cisco router.

I find it easier to rip on other PC's, and drop the FLAC into the portable 1TB drive.

Frankly, that motherboard might be pretty slow at times - I picked up my HP off Craigslist for $60.  There are scores of older, faster PC's out there with a little more horsepower if you find the piece you are trying to use too slow.

[MaxCast]

You may find it easier to buy a new tower if you have a monitor.  Older RAM is expensive compared to current RAM and you don't have to instal anything.  You'll have a faster updated machine especially for ripping and backups.
http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-380/fs
You can get an Optiplex 380 for $3-400.  I bought a 380 for work and I am surprised at how quiet it is.

[bpape]

Or...

You could keep your case, power supply, etc. and just put in a new motherboard.  For the difference in RAM pricing, you could get a new board, CPU, and RAM for not a lot more money and have one machine to rip on and use as a server and be capable of running Win 7.

Check out mwave.com  - some great pricing on MB/CPU/RAM bundles.  They'll even put it together and test it all together for an extra $10 I believe so no DOA, no having to mount heat sinks, etc.

I just did a quickie in the cart

Asus MB with built in VGA
2GB Kingston 1033 RAM
Intel 3.2GHz dual core CPU
Assemble and test

$180


Bryan

[JohnR]

Older RAM is expensive compared to current RAM

Just as a FWIW - it might be worth a check on eBay/craigslist etc for memory. I just doubled the RAM in an old laptop for the princely sum of $4... plus $6 postage grrr...

[mcgsxr]

Agree with JohnR on this one - bought 1GB of RAM compatible with my older tower for $15.  Guess I overpaid John!   

[eclein]

Or...

You could keep your case, power supply, etc. and just put in a new motherboard.  For the difference in RAM pricing, you could get a new board, CPU, and RAM for not a lot more money and have one machine to rip on and use as a server and be capable of running Win 7.

Check out mwave.com  - some great pricing on MB/CPU/RAM bundles.  They'll even put it together and test it all together for an extra $10 I believe so no DOA, no having to mount heat sinks, etc.

I just did a quickie in the cart

Asus MB with built in VGA
2GB Kingston 1033 RAM
Intel 3.2GHz dual core CPU
Assemble and test

$180


Bryan

Bryan--thanks for that tip...thats a great way to make an old box, a new beast-awesome!!

[bpape]

My concern with the old box and just adding RAM are:

- Need to buy PATA drive. If the MB fails, then you're stuck with a PATA drive when you don't have to be.
- Win 7 Compatibility on that old of an AMD processor?  I love AMD stuff, don't get me wrong.  Just could have probs with some of the chipsets/drivers/etc.
- Buying used RAM for $6-$10 vs buying NEW Kingston RAM which has a lifetime guarantee for about $50

Bryan

[sarge_in]

Any reason why you are not considering just a NAS drive?  It will do all you listed in your first post, and will require minimal management vs an old PC. A 2-slot model DS211j is about $200, and supports squeezebox server. Add as much drive as you need and you are good to go.

[lcrim]

A NAS is really designed to be a storage piece and when asked to run an application (like Squeezebox Server), they generally become a bottleneck because they don't have the resources for that.
A proper PC w/ decent databus speed, processor, and memory like the op is thinking is a better deal.

Larry

[mikecole]

Man, lots of good ideas here. I didn't think about buying used RAM - the new stuff is $50 for 1G. I guess the right thing to do is find a deal like Bryan referred to. An assembled and tested *modern* motherboard for $180 may be the way to go.

[Thump553]

I'm also of the school for using an older computer dedicated to slimserver with external USB hard drives for storage.  The only cavaet is sometimes that BIOS in the older computer is so old it won't recognize today's massive hard drives.  When I had that problem it was solved easily by connecting the external(s) after the computer had fully booted up-if the external was connected at the start the computer wouldn't boot to windows.

Some hand me down computer you can stash in the basement is perfect.  I just leave it on 24/7.

I also rip on a different, more powerful computer.

[mikecole]

I think I will go ahead and get a cheap motherboard/cpu/ram bundle from mwave, but just for grins, I downloaded SB server onto the old PC I have at the moment. I found out that you really do not need anything special for the Touch system. I temporarily configured my router to setup a guest network without any security so the wireless b card in the PC would connect. I downloaded SB server (very slowly) to the PC and set it up so the Touch could see it. I copied some MP3 files from a CD onto the the HD. The Touch saw the files and I started playing some MP3s. At the same time I copied some more files down and there were no hiccups in music being played. I then let SB server rescan the HD for the new music and again, no hiccups in the music. So apparently, almost anything will do for a music server. I setup VNC so I could access it from my other PC, that way I can run it headless.