[mythtv-users] AMD 64 3200+ vs P4 3.0 GHz.

[Colin McGregor]

On January 29, 2008 03:11:04 pm Josh White wrote:
> From the way the question was worded, it sounds to me like he was saying "I
> have two motherboards.  1 is amd with x processor, 1 is intel with y
> processor.  1 has less slots than I want, but is good becuase it as PCI-e
> graphics.  The other has a lowly AGP slot.  Is it worth going to the maybe
> slower intel setup that would allow me to put all my cards in it or not?"
>
>  Given that we don't know that he has 20TB of storage and that he
> transcodes and commercial flags 24/7 on his potential 96 hours of content
> per day, if it were me, I'd give the parts I have that can put all the
> tuners in the same machine a try and then fix stuff when it proved that it
> didn't satisfy me.  Sure, if the guy is deciding to buy new parts, then
> it's worth discussing parts as if any and all options are on the table, but
> in this case, I think most are missing the intent here.
>
> Colin, do I have the wrong take on this?  Could you clarify whether you are
> deciding how best to mix-n-match your existing parts, or are you trying to
> decide what to buy new?

You've got it. I now have a spare (used) P4 3.0 GHz CPU/motherboard, and the 
question is, do I put that into my "test" box, or do I put that into my 
MythTV box (with the current MythTV box AMD CPU/motherboard being moved into 
my "test" box).

I have one 500 GB SATA drive that would stay with the current Silverstone 
case... So, key question is, will I find myself hurting on the HDTV stuff due 
to the AGP graphics card? Or will the Adaptec VideoOh! card cause grief with 
the Hauppauge PVR 150 & PVR 350 cards or ... In essence, before I spend a 
couple hours with screw driver in hand I want to know if I there are some 
obvious problem spots... 

Thanks.

Colin McGregor

> On Jan 29, 2008 2:57 PM, <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote:
> > > I'd go with the one with the most PCI slots.  AGP works just fine for
> > > video
> > > in my experience.
> >
> > Let's not forget SATA channels.
> >
> > A cheap board with lots of IDE/SATA channels can come in
> > very handy for easily upgrading your storage capacity.
> > I've maxed out my backend with 6 ide/sata devices. The
> > board would accomodate more but there's no more room in
> > the case.
> >
> > It was an ATI based board so it kind of sucked when used
> > for a frontend. It's great for a backend though.
> >
> > > On Jan 29, 2008 12:27 PM, Colin McGregor <spamtrap151 at rogers.com> wrote:
> > >> Interesting situation, currently my main MythTV box is an AMD 64 3200+
> > >> on
> > >> an
> > >> Asus A8S-X motherboard with an PCI-E nVidia 6200 video card. For the
> > >> most
> > >> part part I am happy with that as a combination.  The one (small)
> > >> issue I
> > >> have is that I am now out of PCI slots having filled them with the
> > >> following:
> > >>
> > >> - Hauppage PVR-150
> > >> - Hauppage PVR-350
> > >> - pcHDTV 5500
> > >>
> > >> I have the option of replacing that with a P4 3.0 GHz on an Asus
> > >> P4C800-E
> > >> motherboard and a AGP 8x nVidia 6200 video card. Things like the
> > >> tuners would
> > >> be moved from one motherboard to the other (and would allow me to drop
> > >> in
> > >> an
> > >> Adaptec VideoOh! tuner card in addition to the above). Benchmarks seem
> > >> to
> > >> suggest that the P4 3.0 GHz will typically out perform the AMD by a
> > >> modest
> > >> margin (due to higher clock speed). On the other hard, how much of a
> >
> > hit
> >
> > >> will
> > >> video performance take going from PCI-E to AGP (my understanding is
> > >> not much). So, question is, am I better off changing things around?
> > >>
> > >> The "loosing" motherboard will end up in my "testing" computer (for
> > >> running
> > >> different versions of Linux).
> >
> > [deletia]