G-Stress Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Guys, I'm looking to turn a rackmount server into my media server, but wanted to get some input. I have quite a few poweredge server's, but am looking to get a more beefier server. My biggest and only issue so far is finding one 2U or bigger that I can get a working HDMI video card to pass audio and HD video. Most of the server's I have mostly have PCI-X buses which to my understanding are backwards compatible with standard 32-bit PCI. I did manage to find a PCI video card with HDMI, but it did not work. I will admit I am a bit behind on my hardware, when I read the A+ book it was 2004 so I never even remember nor messed with PCI-X until I got these server's. I'm looking to use either a PowerEdge or HP Proliant. If anyone has any suggestions. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hexophrenic Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 (edited) You can use the server to run Plex on the backend and then use lightweight clients with decent video (or Roku, or LG, or Samsung, or ATV, etc) attached to play the media via the Plex client. Works well for me and keeps the noisy stuff far away. Plex Edited September 26, 2012 by hexophrenic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Guys, I'm looking to turn a rackmount server into my media server, but wanted to get some input. I have quite a few poweredge server's, but am looking to get a more beefier server. My biggest and only issue so far is finding one 2U or bigger that I can get a working HDMI video card to pass audio and HD video. Most of the server's I have mostly have PCI-X buses which to my understanding are backwards compatible with standard 32-bit PCI. I did manage to find a PCI video card with HDMI, but it did not work. I will admit I am a bit behind on my hardware, when I read the A+ book it was 2004 so I never even remember nor messed with PCI-X until I got these server's. I'm looking to use either a PowerEdge or HP Proliant. If anyone has any suggestions. Thanks. PCI-X is not backwards compatible. Pretty much any pci-x video card you pick up will do hdmi now, or at least have dvi, which converts to hdmi without the audio built in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hexophrenic Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 PCI-X != PCIe Wikipedia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Stress Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 I've used plex and mixing it up with a google tv or media device is not a bad idea. Hmmm I like that. Hmmm... well one of the server's I believe it was the poweredge 650 had a raid controller card installed that did not fill the PCI-X bus completely if that makes sense. I did a bit of research and even asked a guy at a fry's electronic's if a 32-bit PCI card would work in that bus and he said yea. I also have heard PCI-X is PCIe, but the bus is longer and I've not yet seen any PCI-X HDMI video card. I need to find a recent A+ course that cover's all that so I can be up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hexophrenic Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 No, PCI-X and PCIe are not the same thing. PCI-X is typically backwards compatible to PCI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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