[mythtv-users] Which CPU/mobo for < $100?

[Jarod C. Wilson]

On Wednesday, Oct 8, 2003, at 20:25 US/Pacific, Mike Hicks wrote:

> This is diverging from the thread a bit, but...

It is, but oh well.

> On Wed, 2003-10-08 at 14:14, Jarod C. Wilson wrote:
>> I ran an Athlon XP 1700 in my box for some time, and it never had any
>> problem keeping up with dual tuners (primary is a PVR-250, secondary a
>> bt878 card). I could record two shows and play back a recording all at
>> the same time, so a 1700 should be sufficient for you. (I'm speaking
>> past-tense because I just upgraded to a 2600 to deal w/the HD content
>> from my pcHDTV card).
>
> Out of curiosity, is that software decoding, or hardware-assisted with
> XvMC?  That should be enough for software decoding, if the pcHDTV site
> is any guide, but I'm curious if it really works that well.

I've chatted a bit with Brandon Beattie, the guy who actually wrote 
some of the code for pcHDTV support in MythTV, and he says that a 2600 
should be plenty to do software-only right now, with the code in a 
less-than-optimized state. Once the optimization improves, even less 
processor necessary.

I never actually tried with the 1700, because I had an unexpected 
opportunity for a free upgrade to the 2600 just before my pcHDTV card 
arrived (my wife's parents wanted to upgrade their ANCIENT P233, so 
they got my 1700 and I got a 2600 out of the deal =).

> I've got a pcHDTV card, and I've tried playing back high-def streams on
> my 1.3GHz Athlon (real GHz, none of that "+" stuff ;-) to get a read on
> how much CPU is actually required for that stuff, but xine would only
> crash when I tried to play those streams.

Definitely not enough juice. I believe something in the 1.6-1.8 range 
might succeed w/the aid of an nVidia card using XvMC, if I recall 
correctly.

> I've been planning on getting an Athlon XP 3000+, but if a 2800+ or
> 2600+ would do the job (without XvMC), my pocketbook would be much
> happier ;-)

A 2600 should do the job (without XvMC) just fine. May your pocketbook 
be happy. ;p

--Jarod

-- 
Jarod C. Wilson, RHCE

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