[mythtv-users] Impossible to choose Motherboard?

PAUL WILLIAMSON pwilliamson at mandtbank.com
Thu Dec 9 18:07:08 UTC 2004


>>> mythtv at salfter.dyndns.org 12/9/2004 12:50:58 PM >>>
>On Thu, Dec 09, 2004 at 11:23:22AM +1100, Craig Read wrote:
>> I'm using an AMD Athlon 2800+ cpu, but I think the principle is the

>> same.  I chose an Albatron nForce2 motherboard (KM18G-Pro2) with 
>> on-board video (nvidia GeForce4 MX440), audio (6 channel with
digital 
>> out), networking, firewire, etc.  I wanted an all-in-one motherboard
to 
>> keep the cost of the system down.  When I get around to replacing
it, 
>> I'll probably go for a board without the video and use a GeForce
FX5200 
>> (the MX440 doesn't seem to have any sort of mpeg decoder and it 
>> struggles with HD signals on my Twinhan card).
>> 
>> I'd definitely recommend going for a nForce chipset as I've had zero

>> problems with it.  If you want "ok" quality audio, get one with it 
>> on-board and save a few dollars.  If you want "great" quality audio,

>> skip the on-board and look at one of the Creative THX certified
cards.
>
>With digital output on the motherboard, there's really no reason to
add a
>sound card if you're using SD MPEG-2 hardware compression or HD
capture
>cards.  I have a PVR350 and an M179 on an FIC AU13, with the optical
S/PDIF
>output on the motherboard connected to a surround receiver.  (The
>motherboard also includes a coax output.) Audio is captured and
compressed
>on the capture boards; there's no analog audio path off of these
cards.  A
>better sound card might make a difference if you're using something
like a
>cheap Bt878-based capture card, but replacing that with a hardware-
>compression card would (IMHO) be a better upgrade.

I'd say to stay away from a mobo that has onboard sound or tv-out.
Add-in cards for those purposes are generally more widely supported.
Keep the onboard stuff to networking and simple video.

It depends on where you want to spend your money.  You can't 
have a slick looking small footprint backend/frontend without some 
sacrifices.  As with most things in the PC world, you have three 
things to choose from - temperature, noise, and hd space.
Pick two of them, because you can't have all three.  
If you want a cool running quiet machine, you won't 
have too many hard drives in it.  If you want tons of 
hard drive space, but if you want it to be cool or quiet, 
but you can't have both.

I have an Asus P4C-800-E Deluxe with lots of fans and 
about 1 tb of video hard drive space.  It's a loud bugger that 
sits in a room in my basement.  It runs very cool, but it's 
also super loud.  I have an IBM NetVista frontend that is mildly 
quiet, but doesn't have tons od disk space.  Which is ok, because 
I don't need it because it's all in the backend.  It runs 
fairly cool and can do all the video I ask of it (no HD yet), 
and the kids love playing games on it.

Paul



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