[mythtv-users] How well does MythTV use threads?

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Mon Apr 16 14:41:43 UTC 2007


On 04/16/2007 08:17 AM, Yeechang Lee wrote:
> clemens at dwf.com <clemens at dwf.com> says:
>   
>> The real question here is: would it be better to use a faster single
>> processor Pentium4 or a slower pair of Core 2 duo processors in a FE
>> machine.
>>     
> Go with the Core 2 Duo duo. As a small example of just how more
> efficient Intel's Core microarchitecture is than its previous designs,
>   

Oh, and a bit of info that can prove useful:

Core 2 architecture = best
Core architecture = better than Pentium 4, but still garbage (yeah, P4 
is worse than garbage)

Core != Core 2
Core Duo != Core 2
Core 2 != Core Duo != Core 2 Duo

(Duo means dual-core, "2" means great processor.)

Intel, master of marketing, purposefully named the Core 2 
architecture--which they knew would get a lot of media attention as the 
best out there--to be very similarly-named to the previous "stop-gap" 
architecture (Core) and especially dual-core versions of that 
architecture (Core Duo) so that "normal" people would hear they're 
getting a Core Duo, dual-core processor and think, "Hey, that's the one 
they say is the best.  I'm getting a great deal on this dual-core CPU."  
Reality doesn't count--only customer feelings.

> my five months-old 1.6GHz quad-core Clovertown Xeon (E5310) slave
>   

Oh, and BTW, quad-cores available today are really 2 dual-cores stuck 
together.  You cannot buy a true quad-core x86 CPU today.  Does that 
mean it's bad?  No, if you can use 2 dual core CPU's, it's great if you 
only have a motherboard that supports a single CPU.  However, once real 
quad-core processors are available, they should be much more efficient 
than dual-dual-core processors at tasks that are well-suited to 
multi-core processors.

My recommendation for an HDTV frontend is to go with a Core 2 (Duo or 
otherwise--yes, the Conroe-L is a low-cost single-core Core 2, so they 
do exist, but you're unlikely to find one unless you look very hard) or 
an Athlon 64 (or Athlon X2).  I don't think it's a bad idea to get a 
dual-core, either.

Mike


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