[mythtv-users] Motherboard Recommendation needed

Andrew Close aclose at gmail.com
Mon Jul 21 13:58:41 UTC 2008


On Sat, Jul 19, 2008 at 9:15 AM, Duncan Brown <mythtv at duncb.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi Guys
>
> I'm looking to upgrade my rather old myth box, and am getting very tired
> and frustrated trying to find a suitable motherboard!
>
> I'm not bothered whether I go for an intel or amd processor.
>
> The specs I am looking for are:
>
>    * Onboard graphics good enough for HD - guess that means an nVidia
>      chipset?
>    * 3 PCI slots - this is the most important bit, and the hardest to
>      find it seems
>
> If anyone has any recommendations I'd be very grateful, I really need
> the 3 PCI slots minimum for all my tuner cards

my current production MythBox uses a Chaintech 7NIF2 (?) MoBo which
takes an AMD proc.  i believe i could upgrade the proc to handle HD.
nVidia graphics onboard.  pretty sure i have at least 3 PCI slots,
maybe 4.  the board 'just works' with KnoppMyth.  i'm not sure if this
board is readily available anymore or if they support Intel
processors.
i am building a new MythBox based on the Intel Chipsets.  the MoBo is
an Asus P5E-VM HDMI, but it only has 1 PCI slot.  not a huge deal
since i'm using an HDHR and hopefully the new Hauppauge HD capture
device.
however, i am running into issues with the onboard Intel Graphics and
Chipset.  they aren't fully supported yet, though i think that
'should' change.  i'm unable to play back anything that isn't SD.  i
just get a blank screen until i escape out of the video.  this box has
an Intel C2Q 2.5GHz with 4GB RAM (a bit overkill, i know) so it should
be able to handle playback of anything recorded today.  i don't think
i have the latest Intel Graphics Driver installed though.  and it
doesn't look like the latest driver is included by default with any of
the Myth distros i use.
i do think Intel is (will be) the way to go once these drivers mature
a bit more.  if you're looking for a new MoBo, you may want to look
into one with the Intel G45 Chipset as it will be capable of
offloading HD decoding to the chipset (not XvMC, but it can do that
too).  from the info i've gleaned at various sites, the G45 will be
much more strongly supported than the G35 that i have.
another note, i'm definitely no Linux Guru :)  so compiling your own
driver from source may be the way to go.  i'm still working on that.
;)


-- 
Andrew Close


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