[mythtv-users] Combined Atom FE/BE /w GT220 ?

[Robert Johnston]

On 17/08/2010 8:43 PM, James Harris wrote:
>
>
> Hi All --
>
> Long time sub, first time poster. Customary thanks to all dev's, been
> using myth for 5+ years, loving it. [and high WAF too!]
>
> Power bills getting more expensive, Mrs getting more grumpy, so it's
> time to low power update the myth setup.
>
> Its probably safe to say I want the world from the component
> manufactures, but I think the time has come for them to actually be
> able to deliver.
>
> Background:
>
> I've moved to Australia. So DVB-T 1080i HD MPEG2 and DVB-T 576i SD
> MPEG2 is the order of the day. No Comm flagging. No transcoding.
> Nothing "high power". Just IO to disk and upscale/de-int to 1080p
> output.
>
> I also keep my media library digital and transcode on another machine
> when needed, so I need xvid, x264 and AVC upscale and output. [mix of
> SD, 720p and 1080p].
>
> Hardware:
>
> What I think I want/need.
>
> * Atom. I'd prefer the newer D510 to be safe with a bit more power.
> 330 is probably fine [and there have been some reports of Combined
> FE/BE running fine on the 330].
>
> * Nvidia GT220 PCI-E x16 card for VDPAU advanced 2x de-int and Audio
> over HDMI into my amp.
>
> Thats it! [Assume I can sort the power brick/case/HD/etc/etc out]
>
> I've found 2 Atom mobo's that have a 16x slot, but heres where my
> angst is coming in.
>
> The Zotax NM10-B-E
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500048
>
> Is a DTX board [slightly wider, thats OK I can manage a case for it]
> and lists a x16 slot BUT with a x1 lane.
>
> Will this work? Have sufficient bandwidth for my de-interlacer? Will
> the board even be able to provide enough juice to power a 60w GT220
> card?
>
> I haven't found any reports of anyone seeming to run a GT220 card in
> an Atom system??
>
> The other option [and probably my preferred option due to Asus
> probably being more reliable], but with older Atom
>
> Asus AT3IONT-I
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131635
>
> It has ION [which I don't need amusingly]. Smaller form factor, but
> probably cant fit a half-height GT220 in there anyway, so it doesn't
> really bother me about the case size.
>
>
> My thinkings.
>
> * See if anyone has run one of the above configs, if good, buy it!
>
> * Buy it anyway!
>
> * Ditch the GT220, run ION only, possibly struggle with some of the
> encoded media playback [?]
>
> * Ditch the Atom dream, buy the lowest clock AMD or Intel CPU with a
> Mini-ITX board with a proper x16 slot, accept slightly higher power
> usage for guaranteed performance and flexibility.
>
>
> Hope you guys can help. I think #3 might end up being a bit
> disappointing for me, knowing that I could have gone the whole hog
> and only went half way. #4 is probably sensible but maybe i'll always
> have that feeling that I could've done the same thing with half the
> power and cheaper!

If you wanted to save even more power, you could use a SheevaPlug with a 
USB DVB tuner (Probably what you're using already, though you don't say) 
and an external hard-drive (Or a NAS) as the Backend. Then you can turn 
off your Frontend, and gain much-needed WAF (And much needed power savings).

As the Sheevaplug uses 3 watts, and you won't be doing any heavy lifting 
(Commflagging/Transcoding), this will be a perfect backend, and so small 
the SO will probably miss it.