<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/19/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Chris Ribe</b> <<a href="mailto:chrisribe@gmail.com">chrisribe@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<br><br><div><div><span class="e" id="q_1103dbb3b3172c9e_1"><span class="gmail_quote">On 1/19/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Justin Luitjens</b> <<a href="mailto:luitjens@cs.utah.edu" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
luitjens@cs.utah.edu</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Hi,<br><br>I'm looking at upgrading my mythbox and am looking for advice on what to<br>get. I'll start out by describing my setup.<br><br>Motherboard: Asus A7v 133<br>Processor: AMD Thunderbird 1.2 ghz (underclocked to 1 ghz for stability
<br>reasons)<br>Memory: 768 mb PC 133 ram.<br>Videocard: NVidia Geforce 2 Ultra<br>Capture cards: PVR-500 PVR-350<br>Hard Drives: 2 120 GB ATA drives for storage one 17 GB drive for OS.<br><br>Playing video causes my mythfrontend to take up about 60-70% of the CPU
<br>and X takes up another 10-15%. This doesn't leave much room for<br>recording. When 2-3 shows are recording I cannot watch anything because<br>the CPU is pegged. Also when my machine is pegged it has a tendency to
<br>hard lock with no errors. My birthday is coming up and my girlfriend is<br>willing to spend up to $200 on me. There isn't anything I want so i<br>figured i'd just have her get me something for the mythbox so we can
<br>watch tv when recording multiple programs.</blockquote><div><br><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I think the best solution would be to upgrade the video card so I can
<br>offload the decoding onto it. Upgrading the mobo/proc/ would also<br>require me to upgrade the ram and possibly more. Right now this isn't<br>an option. So I feel upgrading the video card would be the best<br>
solution. Which video card would be the best in my situation? I could
<br>get one of the nicer NVidia cards but would it have much effect or would<br>the CPU bottleneck it to much? Or would I be better off to get a<br>cheaper card and use the money elsewhere?</blockquote></span></div><div>
<br>Myth has little use for a nice video card, but a nicer card than the one you currently have would certainly help. I, and many others on this list, have had good experiences with nvidia FX5200 based cards. These card are easy to find new in the ~$40 price range, and they offer enough hardware acceleration to do 1080i with the right processor.
<br><br>In fact, I think I can probably post back here within a half hour with a shopping cart that will turn your box into an HD ready box for less than $200. Stay tuned...</div></div></blockquote><div><br><br>I apologize for the HTML, but here it is - $170 shipped (to my house) for everything you need to turn that tired old box into an HDTV ready barn burner...
<br><br><table class="cart" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="cartHeader"><td class="cartSelect"><br></td>
<td class="cartQty">Qty.</td>
<td class="cartDescription">Product Description</td>
<td class="cartSavings">Savings</td>
<td class="cartPrice">Total Price</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="cartSelect"><input name="CHKITEM" value="14-127-181.1" onclick="javascript:SelectSingleItem('CHKITEM');" type="checkbox"></td>
<td class="cartQty">
<input name="ITEM.14-127-181.1" value="1" size="3" maxlength="3" onkeydown="Javascript:if(13 == event.keyCode) ShoppingCartSubmit('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','update','14-127-181','1');" type="text">
<input name="ITEMQty.14-127-181.1" value="1" type="hidden">
<input name="ITEMLIMITQTY.14-127-181.1" value="99999" type="hidden"><br>
</td>
<td class="cartDescription">
<img src="http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll/14-127-181-06.jpg">
<p>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814127181">
MSI FX5200-TD128LF Geforce FX5200 DDR AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Video Card - Retail</a>
<br>
Item #: N82E16814127181<br>Return Policy: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/ReturnPolicy.asp#1" target="_blank">Standard Return Policy</a><br>
</p>
</td>
<td class="cartSavings">
<br></td>
<td class="cartPrice">
$33.99
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="cartSelect"><input name="CHKITEM" value="20-141-165.1" onclick="javascript:SelectSingleItem('CHKITEM');" type="checkbox"></td>
<td class="cartQty">
<input name="ITEM.20-141-165.1" value="1" size="3" maxlength="3" onkeydown="Javascript:if(13 == event.keyCode) ShoppingCartSubmit('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','update','20-141-165','1');" type="text">
<input name="ITEMQty.20-141-165.1" value="1" type="hidden">
<input name="ITEMLIMITQTY.20-141-165.1" value="999999" type="hidden"><br>
</td>
<td class="cartDescription">
<img src="http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll/20-141-165-04.jpg">
<p>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820141165">
pqi POWER Series 256MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory Model MD4456UOE - Retail</a>
<br>
Item #: N82E16820141165<br>Return Policy: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/ReturnPolicy.asp#1" target="_blank">Standard Return Policy</a><br>
</p>
</td>
<td class="cartSavings">
<br></td>
<td class="cartPrice">
$24.99
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="cartSelect"><input name="CHKITEM" value="13-186-090.1" onclick="javascript:SelectSingleItem('CHKITEM');" type="checkbox"></td>
<td class="cartQty">
<input name="ITEM.13-186-090.1" value="1" size="3" maxlength="3" onkeydown="Javascript:if(13 == event.keyCode) ShoppingCartSubmit('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','update','13-186-090','1');" type="text">
<input name="ITEMQty.13-186-090.1" value="1" type="hidden">
<input name="ITEMLIMITQTY.13-186-090.1" value="99999" type="hidden"><br>
</td>
<td class="cartDescription">
<img src="http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll/13-186-090-02.jpg">
<p>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813186090">
Foxconn P4M800P7MA-RS2 LGA 775 VIA P4M800 PRO Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail</a>
<br>
Item #: N82E16813186090<br>Return Policy: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/ReturnPolicy.asp#1" target="_blank">Standard Return Policy</a><br>
<br>
<input name="hidewt.13-186-090.0.0" id="hidewt.13-186-090.0.0" value="" type="hidden">
<select size="1" title="Extended Warranty Option" class="selShipping" id="ewt.13-186-090.0.0" name="ewt.13-186-090.0.0" onchange="javascript:AddExtendWarranty('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','13-186-090','99999','0','0');">
<option value="0">Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan</option>
<option value="043062">1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $9.99</option>
<option value="043067">2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99</option>
</select>
</p>
</td>
<td class="cartSavings">
<br></td>
<td class="cartPrice">
$42.99
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td class="cartSelect"><input name="CHKITEM" value="19-112-211.1" onclick="javascript:SelectSingleItem('CHKITEM');" type="checkbox"></td>
<td class="cartQty">
<input name="ITEM.19-112-211.1" value="1" size="3" maxlength="3" onkeydown="Javascript:if(13 == event.keyCode) ShoppingCartSubmit('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','update','19-112-211','1');" type="text">
<input name="ITEMQty.19-112-211.1" value="1" type="hidden">
<input name="ITEMLIMITQTY.19-112-211.1" value="99999" type="hidden"><br>
</td>
<td class="cartDescription">
<img src="http://images10.newegg.com/ProductImageCompressAll/19-112-211-02.jpg">
<p>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819112211">
Intel Celeron D 352 Cedar Mill 3.2GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80552352 - Retail</a>
<br>
Item #: N82E16819112211<br>Return Policy: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/CustomerService/ReturnPolicy.asp#5" target="_blank">Processors (CPUs) Return Policy</a><br>
<br>
<input name="hidewt.19-112-211.0.0" id="hidewt.19-112-211.0.0" value="" type="hidden">
<select size="1" title="Extended Warranty Option" class="selShipping" id="ewt.19-112-211.0.0" name="ewt.19-112-211.0.0" onchange="javascript:AddExtendWarranty('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','19-112-211','99999','0','0');">
<option value="0">Select An Optional Extended Warranty Plan</option>
<option value="043063">1 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $14.99</option>
<option value="043068">2 Year Service Net Replacement Plan -- $19.99</option>
</select>
</p>
</td>
<td class="cartSavings">
<br></td>
<td class="cartPrice">
$58.99
</td>
</tr>
<tr class="cartSubtotal cartHeader" align="right">
<td colspan="4">Subtotal:</td>
<td>$160.96</td>
</tr>
<tr class="cartShipping cartHeader" align="right">
<td colspan="3" class="cartCalc">
<h3>Calculate Shipping</h3>
Zip Code: <input name="zipcode1" id="zipcode1" size="5" maxlength="5" value="32601" type="text">
<select size="1" title="Shipping Option" class="selShipping" name="Ship.1" onchange="javascript: CalShippingCharge('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','1');">
<option value="004">FedEx Express Saver -- $14.49</option>
<option value="003">FedEx 2Day -- $26.34</option>
<option value="002">FedEx Standard Overnight -- $32.14</option>
<option value="038" selected="selected">UPS Guaranteed 3 Day Service -- $9.01</option>
<option value="039">UPS 2nd Day-- $19.53</option>
<option value="040">UPS Next Day Saver -- $27.39</option>
</select>
<a style="padding: 2px 6px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal;" href="javascript:CalShippingCharge('http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/','1')" class="btnOn" onmousedown="javascript:this.className='btnDown'" onmouseover="javascript:this.className='btnOn'" onmouseout="javascript:this.className='btnOn'">
GO</a>
<br>
</td>
<td>Shipping:</td>
<td>
<strong>$9.01</strong></td></tr></tbody></table> </div><br></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Engineering Department<br>WCJB-TV Gainesville, FL<br>(352) 377 2020 x248<br><a href="mailto:cribe@wcjb.com">cribe@wcjb.com</a>