[mythtv-users] Dual or Single core Athlon64 for MythTV front-end machine

[Dale Pontius]

David Rees wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 2:20 PM, George Mari
> <george_mythusers at mari1938.org> wrote:
>> As I understand it, myth does not directly take advantage of multiple cores
>> - yet.  I believe this is an evolving feature.
> 
> While MythTV itself may not take advantage of multiple CPU cores, that
> doesn't mean that your system isn't doing multiple things at the same
> time.
> 
> For example, when playing video on a frontend (ignoring VDPAU), there
> are typically two large CPU using processes - mythfrontend and the X
> server.
> 
> By having two CPU cores available, the Linux kernel will try to keep
> each process running on the same core.  This improves performance and
> latency as well as now you don't have two processes fighting for CPU
> cache of the same processor.
> 
> And in the specific case where the original poster is trying looking
> at the single core LE-1640 at 2.6GHz or the dual BE-2350 at 1.9GHz, I
> would choose the dual core 9 times out of 10.  However, in this case,
> I would suggest the dual core 4850e at 2.5GHz.  You'll basically have
> double the CPU power of the LE-1640 for less than $20 more.  Seems
> like a no brainer to me!
> 
The order went in this morning.

I did wind up getting a dual-core 2.6GHz for about $20 more.  As someone
else mentioned, the difference between 45W and 65W TDP will not be
significant when running some form of cpufreq modulation, and the
headroom will be there when it's needed.

I also ended up getting a lesser 8400GS card, because I needed low
profile AND s-video.  There were several cards that met those
requirements, but only the Jaton PX8400GS EX did that AND had all the
little adapters, cables, dongles, etc necessary.  The 9-pin s-video
connector is only semi-standard, it seems that each card/chipset has its
own tweak on how to convert that 9-pin into something standard.  It also
seems that the aftermarket in those adapters is drying up.  The only way
to KNOW I'd be able to get this all in the case and running was to pick
a card that included all of the parts.  Otherwise it might take a few
weeks/months shopping eBay, etc.

That also means that whenever I do get an HDTV, I may need to get a new
graphics card.  It depends, because today most HDTVs have HDMI and
DVI/DSUB, but there are a few HDTVs that only have HDMI inputs.  If in a
few years I can find an HDTV that has DVI/DSUB, I'll hopefully have the
extra CPU power with the dual-core 2.6GHz to handle the fact that the
card is only VP2, not VP3.  If by that time, there are only HDMI inputs,
it's not that expensive a card to replace, and I can probably food-chain
it to another computer.

Dale Pontius