[mythtv-users] Myth TV on server

[Brian Wood]

On Sunday, November 07, 2010 09:10:16 pm Mark wrote:
> On 06/11/2010 8:21 AM, Brian Wood wrote:
> > On Friday, November 05, 2010 05:41:02 pm Mark wrote:
> > There have been lots of good comments on your plans, but consider power
> > consumption.
> 
> I have been thinking about what you said about power consumption and I'm
> debating using a SSD for the OS install and the large SATA storage
> drives for the shows and backups. It would make the system run much
> faster and should decrease power consumption but I'm not sure how much
> of an impact it would have.  I have no experience with SSD's but it
> looks to me like its the wave of the future so I might as well start
> sooner rather than later.   I'm also looking into different (newer)
> PSU's that are compatible with the server I have.  Hopefully I can find
> one that is more efficient.
> 
> > It's always nice to have plenty of CPU and RAM available, but always
> > remember that they come at a cost.
> 
> It seems like the more I play around with things, the more I realize
> that life is just one big trade off.   It reminds me of something my
> grandfather used to say about cars:  "fast, powerful or reliable... Pick
> two"

My grandfather used to say "You just *can't* expect to get more than 50,000 miles from a six-cylinder car".

Now a 4-cylinder car will go that far before its first scheduled tuneup.

After decades of the "clockspeed wars" computer makers are finally thinking about energy efficiency. More and more GPUs, 
which used to just sit there awaiting a teenage gamer, have been re-designed to take a lot of load off the CPU while not 
consuming significantly more power. Video decoding has been one beneficiary of this, to the delight of Myth users 
everywhere.

The server you are talking about will run a Myth BE, but is not the most efficient way to do so. Of course if it takes 25 
years for the savings to pay for more efficient kit, you may be best off running it, since you already own it.

Power consumption is just one of many factors to consider when designing a Myth, or any other, system.

I'm now doing as much as I can with low-powered ARM or MIPS machines, and the difference is showing up in my monthly power 
bills, but some things still require traditional machines that have significant grunt when needed, though at least modern 
machines can be better throttled back when full power isn't needed.