[mythtv-users] Upgrade old or cut my losses and buy new?

[Calvin Harrigan]

Yan-Fa Li wrote:
> On 3/4/07, Yan Seiner <yan at seiner.com> wrote:
>   
>> I'm in search of HD...  My cheapie Sempron 3000 CPU just won't do HD.
>> It's clocked at 1.8 GHz and has a 128K L2 cache.
>>
>> I can get an Athlon 64 3000+ that will fit the mobo for $60; it has 512K
>> L2 cache and is clocked 20% faster than the Sempron, at 2.00 GHz.
>>
>> Or should I go for a new AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ system?  That comes in
>> at $400.  The computer in question will only be used as a HD frontend;
>> it has no other function, so if I can get good assurance an upgraded CPU
>> will push my TV at 1366x720p I don't want to spend the money.  But then
>> again, I don't want to spend $60 only to have a system that still
>> doesn't work.....
>>
>>     
>
> As a reference point, I just built a new frontend for HD:
>
> Hardware:
> X2 3800 (65w) AM2
> ASUS M2NBP-VM MB with integrated Nvidia 6100
> 1GB DDR2 (2x512) 800MHz
> Connected via Gig E
>
> Software:
> gentoo
> 2.6.20 kernel
> nvidia driver 1.0.9746
> Mythtv 0.20_p12884
>
> It displays 720p/1080i HD content on a 1360 x 768 via VGA at 40-50%
> CPU with de-interlace turned on, I forget which algorithm.  Cool N
> Quiet is enabled and the CPU stays relatively steady at 1.8GHz, when
> watching SDTV it drops down to 1GHz and stays at 20-30%.  I have
> standard XVMC enabled.
>
> Motherboard, memory and CPU cost about 320USD from newegg.  I am very
> happy with the performance.  This replaced a celeron 1.4 with 512M of
> PC133 + GF6200.  Power consumption measured with a kill-a-watt, is
> between 65W and high 90W @110V.
>
> Good Luck,
>
> Yan
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>   
Dude, that's just crazy.  I just set up the exact same machine.  Running
gentoo and everything you just described.  It's been working great for
me as well.  I don't use the XVMC though, didn't need it.  I was getting
less than 50% on one core, less than 10% on the second, playing back
1080i with bob driving a 1280x720 display.  That's the native res of the
lcd in the tv.  I have to suffer with some overscan but the gui is
adjustable to fit within.  Given the crap that's usually associated with
video, the crap gets clipped off as it should.  Playing back sd the cpu
drops to about 1 ghz and runs cool enough that the cpu fan actually
stops spinning.