Legit Reviews

Building a BitTorrent Rig with the Zotac ZBOX Nano Plus

Today, we look at what it takes to build a low-cost, low-power BitTorrent machine. To build this BitTorrent box, we use a recently released Zotac ZBOX Nano palm-sized mini-PC which features a VIA Nano X2 (U4025) processor and one of the most popular BitTorrent clients – Vuze. We have created a step-by-step guide to help you configure your PC and optimize your home network for BitTorrent P2P data transfer.

The BitTorrent client we built was centered around the Zotac ZBOX Nano PC and we found this platform to be rock solid in everything that we did for this project. From the Windows 7-64-bit install, to the various software associated with security and torrenting, the VIA Nano X2 processor was more than enough to support this project. For those looking to buy a Home Theater PC that does more than just surf the net, you really should look at Zotac's catalog of mini-PCs. Most of Zotac's mini-PCs start around $240 for fully outfitted palm-PC which make it quite tempting - even for those who like to...

Article Title: Building a BitTorrent Rig with the Zotac ZBOX Nano Plus
Article URL: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1774/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $221 shipped

I haven't used BitTorrent in years. The last torrent I got was the crappy update system Company of Heroes used. But from time to time I still use PeerBlock.

There's a nice list manager that you can use to block country IPs. I said to hell with getting my Linux distros from China, Russia, and the likes.
http://services.ce3c.be/ciprg/

There's also a more comprehensive list on on I-BlockList.com.
http://www.iblocklist.com/lists.php

Interesting. Any chance of testing it with some Blue-Ray ripped x264 .mkv files in the 10GB-20GB size range? I only ask because I had stuttering and high cpu usage with a 790 chipset board (RADEON HD3300 & 4GB DDR2/800) using an athlon64x2 5400+ @ 2.8Ghz while watching using mpc-hc. I now use a Phenom2X2 550 unlocked to 3 cores @ 3.1 and have no problems. I only ask because I would have thought that the AM2 5400+ cpu, while long in the tooth, would have still been more powerful than a VIA Nano dual-core at only 1.2Ghz. I did see in your review where the chipset in this Nano rig is supposed to be optimized for HD/BrD to take the load off of the cpu, but still...

Thoughts?

I use transmission daemon for my torrents.
I can then access via http from my phone or any connection to start / stop torrents.
I have eztvdroid for quick access to TV shows.
While I'm not sure there's a windows version of transmission daemon, the standard client in windows is basically the same, just more bloat.
Another option is uTorrent, which also has remote access via a webUI

That box would work best with a lightweight linux distro.
All you need is multimedia and remote access functionality.
Much less work administering it with software updates, virus scans etc.
You can safely leave the thing on for years wthout touching it.

Kaos Kid wrote:Interesting. Any chance of testing it with some Blue-Ray ripped x264 .mkv files in the 10GB-20GB size range? I only ask because I had stuttering and high cpu usage with a 790 chipset board (RADEON HD3300 & 4GB DDR2/800) using an athlon64x2 5400+ @ 2.8Ghz while watching using mpc-hc. I now use a Phenom2X2 550 unlocked to 3 cores @ 3.1 and have no problems. I only ask because I would have thought that the AM2 5400+ cpu, while long in the tooth, would have still been more powerful than a VIA Nano dual-core at only 1.2Ghz. I did see in your review where the chipset in this Nano rig is supposed to be optimized for HD/BrD to take the load off of the cpu, but still...

Thoughts?

Very good point/question....When I initially got the box, the first thing I tried was 720- and 1080-ripped MKV, and BD ISO files. I was pretty crushed when they wouldn't play using WMP or VLC. When I used Power DVD with hardware acceleration on, the files play crisp and clean. I have heard I could use XBMC as well, but I haven't tried that. Seems like with this chip, you need the right h/w decoder.

shoulda used uTorrent instead of crappy Vuse atleast with uTorrent you don't need to piss around with port forwarding just turn on upnp

Athlonite wrote:shoulda used uTorrent instead of crappy Vuse atleast with uTorrent you don't need to piss around with port forwarding just turn on upnp

Do youself a favour and forward the ports manually and have your pc on the static lan ip.

Then turn off UPnP on your router and leave it off. There is zero security in the UPnP protocol.

Really I've not had any problems with anything upnp hackers or otherwise so I think the problem is rather over rated