[mythtv-users] Should I Upgrade Frontend from AMD 3200+ to AMD X2 3800+ (DualCore) ?

[Allen Edwards]

On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 10:12 PM, Brad Templeton
<brad+myth at templetons.com<brad%2Bmyth at templetons.com>
> wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 15, 2009 at 12:32:11PM +1100, Jean-Yves Avenard wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > 2009/2/15 Krzysztof Adamski <k at adamski.org>:
> > > So to put it in a simple terms :-)
> > > If the max draw at the KAW shows is 220W and we us a 80+ PSU that has a
> > > 99% power correcting, then (220W + 10% safety) for 242W at 80%
> > > efficiency gives us a 290W, so a 300W 80+ PSU should be more then
> > > enough, right?
> >
> > If you want to be safe, simply put a higher rated PSU, a 550W PSU
> > won't draw more power than a 350W one if that's all what the system
> > need.
>
> Not true.   Depends on the supply, but usually not for most vendors.
>
> A typical box for mythtv does not draw much power.   A box with
> efficient power supply, core 2 duo, 2g ram, single hard drive,
> modest video card (7600gt or 8400gs) will draw about 65 to 70
> watts at the wall (kill-a-watt) and go up to perhaps 100w if the
> CPU gets going full bore.
>
> You really don't need a big power supply unless you want to have
> a fancy graphics card like an 8800 or 9800 and do heavy gaming on
> it.  That will start using your power supply.  Even if you plan to do
> a 3 disk raid you probably only add another 15 watts.
>
> I will have to check into the AMDs that are reported to do less power
> than the core 2 duos.   The benchmarks last year had the core 2 duos
> way ahead.  Remember, your system will sit idle 90% of the time.
> _______________________________________________
>

For reference, the ASUS calculator for a MB, no video card, ram, DVD, and 1
HD suggests 150 to 250 watt power supply depending on the choice of
processors.

Not sure how good the tool is considering the difference in processors I
picked was only 20 watts.  But there it is for what it is worth.

Allen
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