PC Tech Thread

The aim is for it not to be connected to anything. I currently have a crappy TV that can barely manage HD let alone 4K, so at the moment everything is going via a chromecast or a miniPC I have plugged in. Will have to think about the best client to connect to the TV as don't think we want a computer in the lounge...

Bloody forgot to disable MS updates and now my audio seems to have packed up on the new machine. Thanks fuckers!

Getting around it at the moment with an external usb audio thingie but would like to plug back into the Sound Bastard Z directly.

You may not need a client at all.

Not a separate one anyway.

Either ChromeCast and send it from your phone using a Plex client on your phone (I do this sometimes when I don't know where my TV remote is!).

Or if you buy an Android TV or an Apple TV thing, then both have Plex clients. Which means you won't need another box in the room.

All of the above will force the Plex server to transcode though, hence the "get a decent CPU in the Plex server".

Yes, that's my current set up, using the phone to control. I guess if I upgrade to a 4k TV I can cross that bridge when it comes to it.

The lenovo on the previous page seems to have a pretty decent CPU for the price (passmark: 7408 ) so may see if I can beat that for the money as a starting point

Is Plex just for serving media to your TV or is the plan to use it for tablets, mobiles, etc.

If just for your TV then I'd think about using Kodi rather than Plex with Kodi on a Raspberry Pi or cheap Android stick. No transcoding is necessary so a smaller, cheaper, less power hungry NAS can be used.

Personally I prefer the Kodi interface over Plex and find the setup easier (although it may be because I've used it for years).

If you're planning to get media over phones and tablets and the like then setting up Plex once is probably easier.

Have you ever owned a server before? You know how loud they are?

They are certainly brilliant from CPU and system bus perspective... but I hope you're going to put it in a room far away from anywhere you need silence.

If it's a tower server, then it may be OK especially if in another room. But if it's a rack server, it's going to sound like a high-pitch jet the entire time it's on, and that sound seems to carry pretty well.

First server at home, but I sit next to one in my office, keeps me nice and warm...

Long term it will be in an office separated from the house by 2ft stone walls, so hopefully won't be able to hear it over that, but will consider it when we work out where to place it whilst the office is renovated.

Kodi is XBMC right?

I have been using that up till a few months ago, but then switched to plex for the very reason you mention, watching over mobile devices. Also found remote access easier over plex.

Do people really stream media that much ? I just have a Synology NAS + Fire TV.
Slapped Kodi/XBMC on the Fire TV. All done.

Yes.

And it unifies all audio (feels like Spotify) and video (feels like Netflix) into one system that works not just at home but remotely too.

I stream music to work, I stream music to hotel rooms in SF. I sync movies from home to my mobile to give me choices on long flights.

I used to have XBMC too, and a Squeezebox, and in my experience Plex really is much much better.

Does Plex let you download remotely as well as stream? I find many hotels have wi-fi that is too shit to stream but I generally have decent internet during the day when I'm working so download then (using OneDrive normally) to watch during the evening.

If you pay for Plex plus, then you can sync items to any local device, so sounds like that would work for you.

Have never tried it, guess it would depend on both your home upload and local download

Yes.

I pay for Plex Pass as I thought it an absolute bargain and wanted to financially support the project once I realised how good it was.

I can download the raw video files, and audio files, from my laptop computer.

This is how I solve entertainment when I'm travelling to SF. Load the laptop whilst I'm in the office, have it available in the hotel and on the plane.

And Sam is correct, you can sync files too... but this is really for the Plex apps on mobile devices, because the idea of syncing to a web browser doesn't make sense.

For web access, i.e. Spotify/Netflix style viewing... it's really stream or download.

That seems warm, mine is sitting at upper 20s on idle/browse, a bit higher once I started playing with a large sample library - max so far is similar to that graphic but I haven't done anything particularly taxing yet (ie. gaming).

Put PWM fans, PCIe firewire card and SATA DVD burner in over the last few days and it's all running like a dream. Bought a legit Win7 key and the whole thing has come in at under £500 (already had GTX750TI graphics card).

Newest issue is that I no longer have any moody copies of the music software I use, so that's another £400 to go at least!

Aye, stock cooler, bad air flow and a small case. I don't think I have owt to worry about just yet. Gamed for 2+ hours last night and it hit 60.

Oh that's probably fine then. BTW that powersupply I bought/linked to earlier is genuinely massive. Like at least 30% longer than the old one, so you should be able to find a small modular job.

Oh cheers for the info.
My plan is to try and get slightly better and quieter cooling but unsure of how atm. Also need a smaller PSU really, but clueless about them. Any tips? I have an i7 4690k and a GTX 950, 2 x SSD and 1x HDD. My case is dead small so something modular (less cables) would be wise. Don't want to spend loads really.
I'd like to get things as neat as this...

edit: just seen thats a non modular PSU, still neater than my current mess!

Could you get away with using something like this: http://www.pcper.com/news/Cases-and-Cooling/Little-machines-need-little-PSUs-Seasonics-new-TFX-PSU ?

Or https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/power-supplies/computer-psu-atx-power-supply-unit-microatx-miniitx has some options

Cheers for those... I'm pretty clueless. I guess I dont reallly need those dead tiny ones, just no bigger than my current Corsair. Ideally after quiet and cool, just dont understand all the W.

@Sumo @Fox

Tried easiest thing first and plugged into wall rather than powerboard. Boots up just fine.

Unfortunately, none of the tunes on it were enough to get me through planned turbo session. Oh well, can't have everything.

I thought it would be the power.

Easiest way to use my main PC (in the office) via my ubuntu laptop in the living room? Some kind of easy to use remote desktop wizardry is what I'm looking for

Teamviewer
https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/linux/

Also works android to pc.

Perfect, thanks