[mythtv-users] help picking FE/BE components

[David L]

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 6:06 AM, Patrick Doyle wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 1:47 AM, David L  wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm new to mythtv and about to build my first system.
>> Processor:
>> AMD Phenom II 965 Black 3.4 GHz X4
>> http://www.frys.com/product/6023518
>>
> If it's a combined FE/BE, then you might be concerned about the noise
> and power consumption.  (At least I was, as I just went through this
> effort myself over the last 2 weeks or so).  So I focused on the low
> power consumption Athlon Regor (at 65W).  I might have gotten one of
> the 45W Semprons, but not being sure of what I was doing, I bumped the
> processor up a notch, and hoped I might get one on the lower side of
> the power consumption curve.

All things being equal, I'd like low noise and power consumption, but
it's not a priority for me right now.  I'll be using this system for more than
just a myth... I'm going to use it as a desktop when I work from home.
Also, since it's my first myth system, I don't want to piddle around with
marginal processing power.  Perhaps I'm underestimating the noise thing...
I have a Dell 2.8 GHz Pentium D based system right now that I tested
mythtv on and I don't hear a peep out of it.  Is this phenom 2 that I picked
going to sound like a Cessna?  If so, can I underclock it or disable cores
via the BIOS and make it quieter?


>
>>
>> Motherboard (this is the one I was least sure about, but I'd prefer to buy
>> my case,mobo,processor, and ram together at a local brick&mortar shop,
>> and this is one I found on Fry's web site as being compatible with Phenom II)
>> Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5
>> AMD 790FX + SB750 Chipset
>> http://www.frys.com/product/5842583  ($49)
>> or
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128377&Tpk=MA790FXT
>> ($179???)
>> (I must be missing something... why is NewEgg 3x the price?  Are these
>> different motherboards with very similar part numbers?  If so, is the cheap
>> Fry's one good enough?)
>>
> No clue, although I notice that the part number at Frys ends with -UD5
> whereas the part number at Newegg ends with -UD5P.
Yea, I noticed that too, but the pictures look the same and the descriptions
look about the same.  Also, in the "Detailed Description" section at the
bottom of the Fry's page for that product it says this:

"The GA-MA790FXT-UD5P introduces revolutionary" ...

So Fry's detailed description of the motherboard has the same part
number as the NewEgg part number for 1/3 the price.

>>
>> Video Card (I really have no clue here... I just googled "mythtv best vdpau" and
>> found a thread that recommended this one):
>> SPARKLE SFPC84GS512U2LP GeForce 8400 GS 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI HDCP
>> Ready Video Card
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187042
> Do you want to watch HD?  From what I've read, you will need an 8600
> or a 9600 class card (or possibly a 9500 class card, although that
> seems iffy from reports on the list.)
Yes, I do.  I really don't care about it most of the time, but I don't
want to build a system today that can't handle HD just for future
proofing it.  I think I'm going to go with an earlier response and
go with this GT220 card:

http://www.frys.com/product/6054898

According to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDPAU
it should be able to handle "Complete acceleration for
MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2 , VC-1/WMV9 and H.264"

>
>>
>> Hard drives:
>> 2 of these (one for OS, one for video)
>> Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA
>> 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136073
> I bought 2 drives as well.  From what I've read, 10GB ought to be
> plenty big enough for the OS drive, but 80GB was the smallest I could
> find.
I'd buy a smaller drive for the OS if it weren't for the small
price differences I found between ~100GB and 500GB
drives these days.

Thanks for the feedback,

            David