[mythtv-users] Mythtv - hardware

[Steve Adeff]

On Friday 13 January 2006 14:31, Michael T. Dean wrote:
> Steve Adeff wrote:
> >On Friday 13 January 2006 09:52, Luis Mourao wrote:
> >>Jake <jakeisawake at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>What do you think about the choices?
> >>>
> >>>>Is the Athlon 64 3000+ adequate for 1080p?
> >>>>Mythtv has support for 7.1 channels?
> >>>
> >>>well, since the pvr-150 only captures sdtv i'm kinda confused as to
> >>>why you're worried about hdtv.  as for how much processor is required
> >>>for hdtv and the 7.1 sound, that has been discussed ad nauseam, search
> >>>the archives:   http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/
> >>
> >>    Ok, I'll  search the archives.
> >>  Nevertheless, if you see something "strange" or "bad choice" in my
> >>hardware list, please notify me.
> >>
> >>  I'm worry about hdtv because it will be something that I will use in
> >> the future  (I live in Portugal), and then, I only will need a hdtv 
> >> card to receive digital TV.
> >
> >the socket 754 doesn't give much upgrade options, which may or may not
> > bother you. Everything else looks fine. 1080p playback should be fine
> > too.
>
> Buying for upgrade is a bad choice, IMHO.  Even if you buy a 939-pin
> processor right now, unless you buy an upgrade processor really soon,
> you'll have missed out because AMD is switching to socket M2 (the
> 940-pin dual-channel memory capable socket) this year.  Since you can't
> buy socket M2 motherboards/CPU's now, what's the point in buying a
> 939-pin for "upgrade options?"
>
> Besides, when it comes time to "upgrade," you're usually better off
> buying a new system, anyway.  Think of all the pieces of the computer
> that change on varying schedules--case/power supply style (AT/ATX/BTU--I
> mean BTX ;), RAM (DRAM (in all its versions)/SDR SDRAM/RDRAM/DDR
> SDRAM/DDR2 SDRAM/XDR), buses (EISA/PCI/PCI-E and VLB/AGP 3.3v/AGP 1.5v
> and IDE/EIDE/SATA not to mention AMR/ACR/CNR), and we've already
> mentioned processor sockets.  And, the examples are just the ones that
> have already changed--no future versions are listed.
>
> Mike

true, but even with M2, I'd be perfectly happy purchasing an Athlon64 X2 in a 
year for cheap to put in the 939 socket and using it as a remote 
frontend/mythcommflag machine. I don't see my use of MythTV requiring more 
CPU than what is currently needed for HD playback for quite a while, so I'd 
be happy with getting whatever the fastest processer is that can fit in 939 
while they're still cheap.

Granted, for a gaming machine, I'd agree with you, but for a dedicated MythTV 
machine, I don't see requirements increasing for a while.

-- 
Steve