[mythtv-users] New Computer Advice

[Anthony Spinoza]

--- Boleslaw Ciesielski <bolek-mythtv at curl.com> wrote:
> Anthony Spinoza wrote:
> > hours of configuration is the mainboard. This is
> > especially true if you start using "odd" hardware
> such
> > as the pcHDTV card. ( 5v pci2.2... another story )
> 
> Can you elaborate on this? AFAIK most if not all
> mainstream motherboards 
> support 5V PCI. In fact only some workstation/server
> motherboards with 
> no 32-bit (64-bit only) slots don't. There are some
> 3.3V only 32-bit PCI 
> slots but they are extremely rare in x86 land. Or is
> it the rev 2.2 part 
> that is problematic?


It's an odd combination that many "cheaper" mainboards
won't deal with correctly. 5v signaling is rarely
paired with pci2.2 compliance.( this might be the only
case ) If it's new enough to need 2.2, it should have
used 3.3v signaling.

Obviously there are no hard lines here, some cheap
main boards will be just fine, others will have
problems with mixed signaling.


I'm going to ramble for bit. I hope to not sound like 
a troll, I just want people to have a good computer
building experience. 
  One of my friends who builds computers always goes
for the cheapest stuff, the crazy deals. He'll build a
computer for much less then I will, with the same
"specs". We've been arguing about this for years. He
claims that I just buy the top end stuff because I
overclock everything ( which is true, my toaster oven
is overclocked ). However, over the years he has
toasted several Athlons, a few mainboards, and taken
out some power suppies in the process. ( more likely
the other way around ). I have yet to lose a CPU or a
mainboard for anything but documented negligence on a
manufacture's part ( NMB power supply blew up on my
Dual Athlon, happened to thousands of people, I have
PC power and cooling model now ) This is not luck,
quality components last longer, and perform better. A
good mainboard can make up for a lot of other
problems.

1) bad power supply, a good main board will clean it
up
2) evil add in card, good main board might make it
behave
etc...

I guess it always comes down to the old adage,
You get what you pay for.

-vito



		
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