[mythtv-users] System upgrade - £150 (£200) to spend

Damian damian at gingermagic.co.uk
Mon Jun 9 08:29:18 UTC 2008


I'm not opposed to buying second hand if it gets me a better system. 
Always a little unsure about buying things like this second hand though. 
Is that just be being too cautious?

Damian

Another Sillyname wrote:
> are you willing to but 2nd hand off ripbay? (and no i'm not selling anything!!)
> 
> J
> 
> 2008/6/8 Damian <damian at gingermagic.co.uk>:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> It's a LONG time since I built a machine and I'm completely out of touch
>> with recent technology so I'd really appreciate some advice on upgrading
>> my Myth system.
>>
>> Current system:
>> 1.2 Gig Athlon CPU
>> 512 mb memory
>> Abit KT7-raid motherboard
>> Nvidia 5200 graphics card with DVI out
>> 300Gb IDE hard drive
>> A nice powerful PSU (due to old one needing replacing earlier in the year)
>> A BenQ W100 projector (native 16:9 resolution - 854x480 - I feed it a
>> 1280x720 signal)
>>
>> Reason for upgrade:
>> Computer can't cope with the latest version of Ubuntu and I want to
>> stick with Ubuntu/Mythbuntu to provide me with an easy(ish) path to
>> keeping up to date with MythTV.
>>
>> What needs upgrading:
>> CPU (+fan)
>> Motherboard
>> Memory (2 gig?)
>> Graphics card? (I understand many motherboards come with graphics on
>> board these days .. not sure if that's what I want)
>> Hard drive? (I'd rather not change hard drives unless I have to, but
>> I've been told that many motherboards these days don't have IDE so maybe
>> it's time to change?)
>>
>> System use:
>> -Main network server for the house which lives in the garage (so it
>> doesn't have to be 'silent')
>> -Main FE/BE for mythtv. Several frontends are on the network, but not
>> used much when this system is working well.
>> -Connected to a projector via DVI.
>> -The projector has native res of 854x480 so HD is not an issue at the
>> moment. I'm not sure when I will get around to upgrading my projector.
>> It would be good to have a system capable of HD when I get the projector
>> for it, but I don't really want to pay extra for a feature that I don't
>> need for the foreseeable future.
>>
>> Funds:
>> As ever, I'd like to spend as little as possible. I'm hoping that £150
>> will get me a decent upgrade, but can stretch to £200 if needed.
>>
>> Notes:
>> -Setting up the correct resolution with my projector was a nightmare,
>> however I did get there in the end with this nvidia card (before the
>> ubuntu update broke everything). So, if I buy a motherboard with
>> graphics on board, I feel like sticking with nvidia unless someone has a
>> really good reason not to.
>> -As I'm spending on an upgrade, I'd like to really feel the benefit if
>> possible. Compis spinny cubes don't mean much, but I like them. Those
>> effects are lovely on my laptop. They worked on this current system, but
>> it was a struggle so I turned them off.
>> -The machine is generally left on all of the time, but I'd like the
>> option of setting turn on and turn off times and letting Myth control
>> this sometimes. Does that narrow down my motherboard choices significantly?
>> -I used to be a big gamer. I'm not any more, but I like to at least look
>> at games from time to time to see how pretty things look these days.
>> Don't want to be spending extra money for that though.
>> -I don't know what Linux/Ubuntu is like when upgrading hardware, but if
>> possible, I'd like to not have to reinstall the entire OS from scratch
>> if I can avoid it. I'm not sure if that's possible or not or if it just
>> means avoid x64.
>> -I have an old ATX (I think that's what they were called) called which
>> is a brick but fine for something hidden away. I'd like to avoid the
>> expense of buying a new case if I can but I don't know if standards have
>> moved on and that would not be possible.
>> -I'm based in the UK if that makes any difference to anything.
>>
>> I think that's about everything. Hope I've not put everyone off by
>> writing too much. Just wanted to give as full a picture as I could.
>>
>> Thanks for your time!
>> Damian
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