[mythtv-users] Your ideal (pal) system

[Francesco Peeters]

On Thu, March 9, 2006 22:26, Paul Poetsma said:
>
> Your subject says "ideal". What do you want to achieve? Is it just for
> video &
> music or do you plan to use MythGame as well?

90% video & audio (tv recording, DVD ripping, CD ripping, MP3 and OGG
playback, maybe some streaming AV)
9% MythWeb (quick checks on www, no extensive browsing) and maybe a little
MythGame and some other stuff, but absolutely lowest priority!

> For the first, take a PVR350 for TV in&out. If you want to play games,
> then
> take a PVR250 for the TV input and an nVidia FX5200 card for the TV
> output.
>
> The bigger the harddisk, the more you can store. I'm using a 250Gb drive
> (Seagate) and I have tons of mp3, games, videos and recordings and still
> 60Gb
> available.

Was thinking along the lines of 160-200 GB

>
> Consider a gigabit LAN card if you have a gigabit network upgrade in mind.

Got a 100/Full switch with GB backbone, so that should suffice for the
foreseeable future

> I've 512Mb memory in my machine, and that's enough. Esp if you use
> ratpoison
> or so as wm and not KDE, which is memory hungry.

Planning on a minimal install and minimalistic wm... Don't need anything
but MythTV running on it...  ;-)

>
> Modern processors have cooling techniques that will keep the temperature
> low.
> I'm using an AMD Athlon XP 1600+, has no build-in cooling features but the
> athcool software does the magic. It runs idle at 38C, at top speed 55C,
> but
> normally the load doesn't pass the 50%, even when playing games (zsnes).
> Or
> use a passively cooled P3 or Duron processor, no fan noise. VIA Epia are
> interesting things to look at too.

Through a friend I have choice between Via C3 2000+ with VIA CLE266/8235
(133MHz FSB) board at below EUR 70 or XP-M 2800+ with VIA CLE266/8235
(800MHz FSB) board at below EUR 120

Also have a Shuttle board without a CPU (having an option on a 2.4 GHz PIV
for a nice price) but *with* a very low noise cooler lying around waiting
for a new purpose in life...

My preference in this case would be either the XP-M board or the Shuttle
board with the 2.4 P-IV...

All three boards have on board LAN, SPDIF audio. The C3 and XP-M have C266
video, which (IIRC) supports MPEG decoding.

> Select a powersupply that uses a large fan (12cm). There's a passive
> powersupply and very nice HTPC cases at e.g. silverstonetek.com.
>

Got that covered already thanks to some donations  ;-)
Got me a nice case with space for a display (future project) and a DVD
door, and also a 400W PSU with temp controlled 12cm brushless fan.

> Paul
>

Another Dutchman on this list... Good to know I can ask some specific NL
questions if needed in the future!  ;-)

-- 
Francesco Peeters
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