What to do with this hardware

[BasharOfTheAges]

So, I have 3x 2TB 5400RPM HDDs, an old 400GB drive, a Core2Duo system (motherboard, processor, RAM).

I also have initial buy-in for a dedicated AMV room @ AAC in 2012.

I kinda want to build a dedicated AMV archive that I can use for this purpose, but I really don't know what I should bother getting in terms of a case that can handle that full sized ATX board and the minimum of 4HDDs I wanted to put in it (probably more). I suppose I'll need a video card for the thing as well - something that can handle smooth, non tearing output of at least 720p60 video and multiple heads (i.e. one for the monitor, one for the projector).

Advice? This is the mobo I'm working with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128012 with 4GB of DDR2-800 and this processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115004

Old parts, I know, but it was either re-purpose them, or stick the HDDs into a NAS at home and just use my HTPC for the room.

[Kariudo]

As far as the case goes, pretty much any ATX mid-tower would be able to fit your 4 drives...and you could get some adapters (brackets or hot-swap drive bay adapters) to stick more in the unused 5.25" external bays. The rest is just up to your aesthetic preferences and budget.

This Lian-li mini-tower could work for 4 drives + dvd/blu-ray

A case that is designed for a bottom-mounted psu might be a good idea.

Pretty much any decent modern video card should be able to handle 2 1080p60 displays. More often than not, the smooth playback portion of things will come down to your cpu rather than the video card. A nVidia GTS 250 (or better), or ATI HD 3850 (or better) should be more than enough. Cards newer than that should have good enough hardware acceleration for decoding H.264 (and mpeg2 acceleration shouldn't be an issue). Getting your setup to use the H.264 acceleration is another story though. IIRC, it pretty much means using DXVA on windows or XvBA on Linux.

A word of caution, some mid tower cases (like my x-cruiser) will only be able to accommodate a 9.5" (~24.2cm) card. It depends on how the HDD cage is oriented and the location of the video card's power connector(s).

[BasharOfTheAges]

Thanks for the input. I'm starting to waver a bit towards just using the drives I have and picking up a NAS for home use (to offload all non-AMV related stuff) and dedicating my HTPC's internal storage (2TB) to AMVs. The HTPC has on-board h264 decoding support and can output over HDMI, VGA, and DVI. It can do at least 2 of those at once without any issue. I had bought the drives with that sort of use in mind before the prospect of this archive came up, and I think that price $300) for a well-reviewed 4-drive NAS is pretty damn appealing.

EDIT - Gha! I don't know. I'm too indecisive.