[mythtv-users] Re: Dual Nova-T's in mini-itx

[Andrew Wilson]

Right. I have 2x DVB cards in a mini-itx M10K Nehemia system. There is
no problem with performance for simple record/playback, but heat is a
big issue. I don't want to load up with fans due to the noise, so I
have it in a large box  with one large fan and I've slowed down the
CPU to 666MHz. If I'd known this earlier, I may have opted for ME6000
instead,

The slowdown drops CPU temp by about 5-8 deg C. This puts my system at
the bounds of acceptability, ie tops out around 80 deg C when doing 2
recordings and 1 playback concurrently.

I'm considering doing a (cheap) backend box out of the living room
just to be able to relocate the HEAT from the capture cards. Don't get
me wrong, it does work but it is very hot.

CPU load on playback is not excessive 60-ish% idle in the above
scenario (2xREC+1xPLAY)  due to excellent unichrome drivers doing
hardware assisted mpeg decoding. (This is not HD - maybe that really
would be at the limit)

However, don't expect it to do stuff like flag commercials, transcode,
rip music to MP3 or compile mythtv in a reasonable timeframe!

I hope this helps
Andrew