[mythtv-users] My first MythTv box, first linux box and first build

Chris Ribe chrisribe at gmail.com
Fri Sep 14 00:06:20 UTC 2007


>
>
> Alternatively, you could scale back on the computer components and get an
HD box + a small HD monitor for the same $1100 you have budgeted right
now.
>
> I'll be back shortly with my suggestions....


***CASE / POWER SUPPLY****

You picked:    Silverstone SST-LC17-B,   $120  ,XCLIO STABLEPOWER 500W ATX
500W Power Supply, $70
I suggest:   Foxconn TLM041-CN300C-01 Black Steel MicroATX Mini Tower
Computer Case 300W Power Supply,    $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811153080

reasoning:  I'll be damned if I  could figure out what made the  Silverstone
worth all that money,  and I'm trying to go cheap to squeeze in extra
features.

saved/total saved:  $150 / $150

******MOTHERBOARD********

You picked:  ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX
AMD,  $140
I suggest:    Open Box: BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025
Micro ATX AMD Motherboard  ,  $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074R<http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172>

reasoning:  SLI?, 4 x PCIe slots?  8GB memory supported? what are you going
to do with that?
Go with something cheaper and smaller that has integrated nvidia video and a
DVI port.

saved / total saved:  $100 / $250

*****VIDEO CAPTURE*****

You picked:    Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 MCE, $140
I suggest:    good choice, add an HDHomerun, too    $310, total
http://www.silicondust.com/wiki/products/hdhomerun

reasoning:  You may not know it yet, but you really do want HD.

saved / total saved: - $170  /  $80


******PROCESSOR*******

You picked:     AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Windsor 2.8GHz 2 x 1MB L2
Cache,  $150
I suggest:   AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2.2GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache,   $74


reasoning:  it's cheaper and it will get the job done.

saved / total saved:  $76 / $156

*****RAM******

You picked:    Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2
800,  $120
I suggest:   1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400),
$40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161067


reasoning:  1GB is plenty for a myth system,  $80 in your pocket is nice.

saved / total saved: $80 / $236

***STORAGE****

You picked:   Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3500630AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA
3.0Gb/s Hard Drive x 3, $360
I suggest:  same thing, but 2 of them,   $240

reasoning:  RAID 5 is not worth the hassle.  Using a JBOD setup allows you
to add additional  disks of any size easily.  For data security, just create
backups.  BY the time you have your system up and running and have filled a
TB worth of disk, 750 GB disks should have come down in price
significantly.

saved / total saved:  $120 / $356

***** Video card ****

You picked:  You didn't! Oops!
I suggest:   Gigabyte  GV-NX72G512P1 GeForce 7200GS  $30

reasoning:  You're TV viewing experience will be much improved if you can
actually get video out of the computer :)   This is a nice and cheap card
that should work well.

saved / total saved: -$30 / $326

***** High def monitor ****

You picked:  Oops! Forgot this too!
I suggest:  Westinghouse L2410NM Glossy Black 24" 8ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
500 cd/m2 1000:1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824255001

reasoning:  Some people are of the opinion that high definition TV isn't
that big of a deal.  Those people are wrong.

saved / total saved:  -$450 /  -$124



There you have it - for $124 more than your current shopping list, you can
have a 4 tuner HD beast of a backend AND a shiny new 1200p monitor.


-chris



TV/IT Engineer
WCJB-TV Gainesville, FL
(352) 377 2020 x248
cribe at wcjb.com
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