[mythtv-users] yet another hardware list
john lawler
maillist at tgice.com
Wed Feb 18 19:14:14 EST 2004
Hi guys, I'm a newbie looking at purchasing all new hardware for a
modest mythtv box (with some room to grow). I checked out the specs of
some of the machines that the developers use (since I figured that'd be
a good place to start), and basicaly went with one of those, or maybe it
was one of Jarod's machines. Not sure. Anyway, here're the specs:
MSI KM400 Chipset, Model KM4M-L (microATX)
(w/ onboard AC '97 audio, ethernet, and "Integrated S3 Graphics
UniChrome™ 2D/3D Graphics with motion compensation" which I guess is a
video adapter)
Athlon XP 2400
256 MB PC2700 333Mhz (maybe 512, not sure yet)
Sony 16x DVD-ROM
Hauppauge PVR-250
Chaintech NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 64MB w/ S-video out
microATX case w/ 230W PS
[and I have a spare 60GB WD 7200rpm sitting around that I'll start with]
as of yesterday on pricewatch, this'd all cost me ~$400.00, which'll be
pretty cheap as far as the hardware goes.
So, I'm just looking for any warnings anyone might have about chipsets,
or compatibility issues at a quick glance. I *believe* most of this
hardware has been reported to work pretty well.
One other major question I had on it is this. This mobo has an onboard
video adapter. Assuming I can get it working with Linux okay, and that
I basically want this box to have TV-out-only functionality (no monitor
after I get it setup), would you recommend that I buy one of those
VGA->component (or S video, or w/e) adapters or for some other reason,
should I buy the Chaintech with the S-video out as I originally planned?
If the recommendation is for one of those VGA->component adapters a) how
does the quality compare to something like the Chaintech card and b)
where might I buy one and for how much?
I'm grateful for your experience and recommendations.
Thanks,
John Lawler
More information about the mythtv-users
mailing list