[mythtv-users] core 2 duo mobile or athlon 64 x2?

[Brian Wood]

On Feb 9, 2007, at 9:41 AM, Steven Adeff wrote:

> On 2/9/07, Brian Wood <beww at beww.org> wrote:
>> On Feb 9, 2007, at 9:09 AM, Steven Adeff wrote:
>>>  If you go Athlon64, definitely get an AM2 socket.
>>
>> I'm curious why you say that. Granted that it's the "new" AMD
>> standard if you are going to build a dedicated Myth box I don't see
>> what you gain over a 939 chip. The ability to use DDR2 RAM would not
>> seem to improve Myth's performance.
>>
>> Thoughts?
>
> Yes, basically upgrading, the newer faster Athlon64's are only being
> released in AM2. Since he's looking at the Core 2 Duo's I'm assuming
> the speed is part what he's looking at.
>
> PCIe FX6200's can be had for under $50, perhaps a little more than an
> AGP FX5200, but then I would argue that one of the HTPC mATX boards is
> your best option with the built in 6150 chipset and onboard DVI
> output.
>
> As well, since HDTV is moving to h264 (HD-DVD and BluRay being
> possible future options as well), processing power will be a major
> concern.
>

Thanks, that's about what I figured you'd say. As I've said you can  
never have too much CPU, and you're correct that the newer  
compression standards will require significant power to decode with a  
general-purpose machine, though the ultimate end will probably be  
hardware-assisted decoding for h264 and the like.

But I recently got an FX60 939 chip for around $300, way less than  
half what I paid for my first one (and I considered that a bargain).  
It is a pretty powerful CPU, I can't imagine ever needing more than  
that for a Myth system, but you never know. (No, those chips are not  
running Myth, I'm using a 3700+ 754 for that, but it's only SD. I  
have an overclocked Opteron 165 on my HD test system and it's working  
pretty well so far. I use an FX60 on an editing box and it moves  
right along.

Although you can get "bargains" you have to understand what you are  
getting, and why it is so cheap. The prices are not low for no  
reason, but if you have a specific need that the "bargains" will  
fulfill you can save enough for an extra machine or two :-)

Thanks for the opinion.