[mythtv-users] PCI motherboard, or switch to PCIe/USB/net?

Marco Nelissen marco.nelissen at gmail.com
Thu Sep 4 15:58:57 UTC 2014


On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 9:13 AM, Marco Nelissen <marco.nelissen at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 31, 2014 at 3:09 AM, Mike Perkins <
> mikep at randomtraveller.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> On 31/08/14 05:46, Andrew C. (AFPup) Stadt wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On 14-08-30 09:25 PM, Marco Nelissen wrote:
>>>
>>>> My motherboard died and so I need a replacement. The thing is that I
>>>> currently
>>>> have three PCI capture cards, and motherboards with 3 PCI slots are
>>>> increasingly hard to find, and apparently don't last very long (this one
>>>> lasted 2 years).
>>>> I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile to switch to PCIe, USB or
>>>> networked capture cards, or whether I should stick with PCI. Also,
>>>> suggestions
>>>> for an LGA1155 motherboard that will last more than 2 years are welcome.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>  While I don't feel comfortable commenting on a specific board without
>>> knowing
>>> any of your other requirements, if your case has sufficient space, you
>>> could
>>> change to a PCIe board, and just use a PCIe to PCI adapter, such as
>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158165.
>>>
>>> As far as longevity goes, I've had pretty good luck with both Gigabyte
>>> (in
>>> fairness, one of my Gigabyte boards did die recently, after 7 1/2 years
>>> of 24
>>> hrs up time) and EVga (zero failures to date) boards in recent years,
>>> while
>>> nothing but pain from MSI (3x DOA, and 2 dead within 6 months).
>>>
>>>  The drawback with that adapter is that it gets him *one* PCI slot per
>> *one* PCIe adapter, and to top it the PCI cards have to be low-profile.
>>
>
> Even at one PCI slot per adapter, that opens up a whole new world of
> possibilities. While motherboards with 3 PCI slots are getting rare, there
> are plenty that have one or two. Until yesterday I didn't even realize
> these adapters existed, so now I have many more boards to choose from. All
> of the cards are low profile, so that's not an issue.
>
>
>> You might be better off going for USB or PCIe, even though this means
>> upgrading your tuners.
>>
>> In recent years changes to digital mean that often newer tuners will be
>> better suited to receive the improved services that are offered (stop
>> laughing at the back there!) and will also be lower power. I always found
>> PCI cards to be power hungry.
>
>
> I never measured their power use, but they do get pretty warm/hot. I
> wonder if that's what eventually kills the motherboard.
>

I ended up going with an Asus P8H77-V. While putting everything back
together I measured power usage with a Kill-a-Watt with and without the
capture cards, and found they use just under 7 Watts each when idle (didn't
measure while capturing), so ~20W for the three cards combined. Not great,
but not terrible either.
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