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I'm thinking of building a low powered, low cost home server. I plan on running ubuntu server with my personal website, a file server, svn server and maybe stream mp3s and ripped dvds from it. I understand Atom would be adequate for most of the needs but would I require Ion based hardware for the audio/video streaming or any plain old atom board would do?

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up vote 6 down vote accepted

Streaming audio/video has nothing to do with processor - it's all IO operations still, the processing/decoding is done by the client, not the server.

Go Atom. Get the fastest network you can afford and is convenient (Gigabit sounds good).

Unless your site becomes a massive hit - i wouldn't worry too much about the processing power.

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ION hardware would be nice though. It's not needed now, but in case you want to re-purpose the machine, it'll make it a little bit more versatile. – caliban Sep 2 '09 at 20:27
What functionality/performance does ION add? – tnorthcutt Sep 2 '09 at 20:59
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1080p video playback. Faster 3D acceleration (important for Aero, etc). It's more future-proof than the normal, sad GMA950 you find on Atom machines. – caliban Sep 2 '09 at 21:01
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Also, don't forget CUDA, and the ability to make a better hackintosh! :P – caliban Sep 2 '09 at 21:02
thanks, that answered my question. i thought streaming HD video would require powerful graphics subsystem, but just realized all i need is a good IO and network. – Chintan Sep 3 '09 at 1:08
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up vote 2 down vote

This is the best I've found so far: http://fit-pc2.com/

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This looks great! – Cawas Apr 12 '10 at 18:27
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up vote 0 down vote

Though not the least expensive computer, the Stealth LPC-100 is small and powerful. Read this review at Linux for Devices.

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