[mythtv-users] Backend hardware advice please

[Brian Wood]

On Nov 4, 2006, at 4:38 AM, Razza wrote:

> I have been playing with MythTV for a while and would now like to  
> move the backend to a 'production' build. So before committing my  
> hard earned cash and decreasing spare time to poorly speced machine  
> and nightmare build, I thought best ask the experts!
> I intend to run a backend only on Fedora Core 5 or 6, there will be  
> 4 pci capture devices (2 x DVB-t and 2 x PVR-150's), initially  
> there will be three hard drives (250GB each, 2 x SATA and 1 x PATA)  
> configured with software raid 5 - although this may expand so more  
> than two SATA ports would be good.
> I am really not bothered about Intel V's AMD from processor  
> perspective or 32bit V's 64bit, just a working system at the end!
> So does anyone have a similar set up and can advise on hardware?
> Cheers in advance.


I have a very similar system, using an Asus mobo with a 754-pin  
Athlon64 3700+ (Clawhammer), 1GB of RAM, 3-250GB internal HDDs, 4- 
PVR-150s and an AGP nVidia 5700 video card. I use an external USB  
drive for archive storage.

Only real differences from what you describe is that I'm using 2 SATA  
HDDs in RAID-0 and have 4 PVRs instead of 2 DVBs and 2 PVRs. It's  
running as a combined F/E-B/E and not just a B/E. I'm sure a 5200  
video card would work just as well as the 5700 but that's what I had  
hanging around. As a B/E the video card wouldn't matter anyway. The  
250GB PATA drive is just for the system and is thus way overkill.

This system has run fine for many months, running a MythDora  
installation which is FC4-based but running in 32-bit mode. From what  
I've read there is nothing to be gained by running Myth on a 64-bit  
system.

You forgot to mention a UPS, which I consider essential for any Myth  
system.

But truly any reasonably modern system can run Myth. IMHO you are  
better of spending your money on things like more storage and a good  
UPS rather than PCIe video or dual-core CPUs at this time.
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