[mythtv-users] ivtv, mythtv & via 694 ?

Pierre-Olivier Bouchard petecool at vl.videotron.ca
Tue Jul 8 13:55:41 EDT 2003


Heikki Julkunen wrote:
> My old box was a 1100Mhz celeron, which was fast enough to run
> mythtv, and also being able to decode high quality divx movies.
> My new box is a 600Mhz P3 - fast enough for mythtv but not for divx...
> I also tried my Athlon XP2000+ box, definitely fast enough for both,
> but very hot/noisy!
> 
> So if anyone has any hints of how to get a good mythtv box that is:
> cheap, relatively speedy, and quiet (yes, yes, I know - you can only 
> pick two!) :)

You _can_ have speedy, (relatively) cheap and quiet if you choose your 
parts correctly...

I would get a Thoroughbred XP1700+, with a BIG heatsink from 
Thermalright or Swiftech with a slow fan, and a Seagate hard disk as a 
base. I have mostly that (only the HD is missing, should be coming 
soon), and the only source of noise from my system is the Western 
Digital hard disk's whine; if I unplug the HD, close the case, and power 
on, I can't really tell it's on! But then I also have a very silent 
power supply and passive video card cooling...

If you choose the right model of XP, they're not very hot; they have 
many revisions, with differently placed circuitry on the core, ending up 
with varying heat outputs for the same frequency; the current ones for 
the XP1700+ are cool. Another thing you can try, is undervolting, I 
gained 5C with that.

Overall not much more expensive than a cheap system, if you don't buy 
regulars parts before finding out they're too noisy, and end up buying 
others and not returning the noisy ones (you'd end up paying twice for 
those parts, not too fun), and choose everything according to noise output.

Also, you could try using an i815 chipset motherboard for your P3, I 
have one with a Celeron 1100 Mhz and it's working great.


Pete



More information about the mythtv-users mailing list