[mythtv-users] OT: Hardware recommendations or suggestions

[Richard Shaw]

On Jan 16, 2008 10:59 AM, Jason Portwood <jason at wkrp.com> wrote:

>
> I've had some major problems with my MythTV server.  I'm thinking that
> I've just pushed the hardware beyond norm and probably have a buggy SATA
> controller card as well...
>
> Currently I have
>
> ASUS SK8N
> Athlon FX41
> RADEON 9800 pro video card (left over from another machine)
> DVD drive
> 1GB RAM
> 430 WATT Antec PS
> 2 Hauppauge PVR-500 cards
> 1 SYBA SD-SATA2-4IR PCI SATA II Controller Card (4 SATA ports)
> 4 400GB WD hard drives (3 months old)
>
> Using Ubuntu with mythbuntu - 32bit and I did try 64bit for a long while.
>
> In this setup I get a lot of ATA resets.  I've searched and tried a lot of
> stuff never finding a good fix.  I had 3 of 4 drives fail one right after
> another.  On top of that a brand new one I bought reports errors too.
> I've tried replacing the cables too with no luck.  Sadly the controller
> card doesn't let the cables with the clips click in either.
>
> With the ATA resets that has me thinking it's the card and I could just
> replace that.  It always did seem a little flaky but it never hurt the
> raid till recently - actually when it got near full.  I've also thought
> maybe I'm pushing the power supply too much as well.  Not sure if 430watts
> is enough for all I have in the box.
>
> Another snag I hit on occasion is when the system is really busy one of
> the tuners will drop to mute and only a reboot will fix it.  I've kept
> that to a minimum by setting mythtv to not run commercial marking or doing
> any transcoding during the busy hours of evening and limiting the
> processes to just one at a time.
>
> So with all that I'm trying to get an idea of which direction to head in.
> Is it really worth it to try another SATA PCI controller (4 port) or just
> upgrade the core of the system?
>
> Any recomendations on SATA cards?  PCI or otherwise?
>
> Any motherboard recommendations for a backend?  Looking for something that
> can hold 2 PCI cards at least of course.  4+ SATA ports would be nice to
> get around the need for the SATA PCI card.  The system drive is on an IDE
> right now.
>
> Processor will probably be a dual core.  I'm open to suggestions of either
> AMD or Intel.
>
> Power supply suggestions?  That of course is an easy see if it works fix
> as I can always use it in the next system.
>
> Thanks for any suggestions.
>
> Jason Portwood
> jason at wkrp.com
>
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>


Wish I had better advise but I'll offer the following... I really like the
motherboard on my desktop. ASUS A8NE (I think that's right) It's a socket
939 but there is probably a AM2 equivalent. 4 SATA ports, I'm currently just
using two, one for my HD and one for my Samsung 20X DVD burner (been very
happy with that). If you want to go all SATA obviously you'll need a 6 port
version or add in card.

You could also try going with a dedicated backend/frontend arrangement so
you could buy the best combination of components between  the two. For
instance, get a new backend motherboard and use your current one for the
frontend but also get a new video card (nvidia) for the frontend.

Richard
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