[mythtv-users] Upgrading from 32-bit to 64-bit and maybe a distro switch?

[Brian Wood]

On Wednesday 17 June 2009 12:21:22 Doug Lytle wrote:
> Brian Wood wrote:
> > Just because you *can* do something doesn't mean it's a good idea.
> >
> > Does a Myth system really need 4GB or more of RAM? How would it benefit?
> > Is the code optimized to take advantage of it?
>
> I don't know if it's useful on a Myth system, but ripping DVD's to an
> 7GB ramdisk speeds things up a bit.

Ripping DVDs is illegal where I live, so that's not a motivator in my case.

I do use 64-bit OSes for server applications, I'm wondering how specifically 
it might help the core Myth operations.

Obviously transcodes could be faster, but is anything else helped? 

I suppose I could ask the same question about multiple cores, obviously they 
help Myth to an extent, but would you be better off getting a faster single 
core or a dual-core chip?

Of course I usually try to get the fastest and the most cores I can afford.

On a 32-bit combined FE/BE I rarely hit swap with 1GB of RAM, which causes me 
to think 4GB or more would be a waste of money and power.

I think putting money into faster disk I/O might be a better place to put my 
money. That seems to be the limiting factor I what I can do.


-- 
Brian Wood
beww at beww.org