[mythtv-users] Lots of confusion as to which card(s) to buy for vdpau

[Allen Edwards]

On Sun, Feb 1, 2009 at 9:52 AM, Jan Ceuleers <jan.ceuleers at computer.org> wrote:
> Allen Edwards wrote:
>>
>> So what is the point here?
>
> (...)
>>
>> What I am saying here is that computing power is computing power. Put
>
> (...)
>
> My expectation is that the savings can be much greater. Not only can you
> make do with a much less powerful CPU (leading to lower power consumption
> that you estimated at 20W), many of the other components in the system can
> also be much less powerful (or are not used as intensively), because there
> is less data to move across buses, and between memory and GPU.
>
> Furthermore, I would expect that hardware that has been purpose-built for a
> particular function (in our example the GPU) is more power-efficient than
> when that function is implemented in general-purpose hardware (the CPU). So
> not all types of computing power are created equally.
>
> I have no numbers, nor am I in a position to collect numbers. Until then, my
> remarks above are conjecture.
>
> Cheers, Jan
>

I would assume the same thing that you did but when the required house
power of the graphics chip started to go way up I decided to collect
some numbers.  I am just trying to open up this discussion to some
data.  If my data is wrong, that would be great.  It is the best data
I could find.

If the 8600 graphics chip draws 40 watts more than a 8400 chip as
Tom's Hardware's numbers suggest it is going to be very difficult to
make that up.  I would also assume that you can make a fine myth
system with a 45 watt dual core processor without vdpau.

If vdpau worked with a 8400, that would be a different story but
apparently is doesn't.

Allen