[mythtv-users] Some advice on new hardware

[Fedor Pikus]

On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 11:01 AM, John Drescher<drescherjm at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 1. Should I go for AMD or Intel as the processor?
>
> Either are fine at the required level of performance.

At the moment, Phenom seems to be a better value at the low end (both
CPUs and motherboards cost a bit less than comparable Core2 kit).

>
>> I do not need a Quad Core
>> Hyper Extreme Whatever Edition, a decent dual core should do it for now and
>> probably have some reserves for future possible HD playback. I want
>> something with low energy consumption and little heat production. An Atom
>> won't do it though, will it?

No atom. But you may be able to get away with Core2Duo or pre-Phenom
Athlon CPU, where you can get both the CPU and the motherboard for
about $100.

>>
>> 2. Now that we have decided for a CPU, which chipset is the preferrable? As
>> mentioned above, I need a µATX board.
>>
> Intel chipset for an Intel processor. ATI/AMD chipeset for an AMD processor.

NVidia chipset if you want on-board NVidia video card.

>
>>
>> 3. As you have probably noticed by the lack of a video card in the shopping
>> list, ideally I would like to have a board with integrated video. Those seem
>> to be frequent in µATX form factor, so that should not be a problem. GeForce
>> or is Intel GMA good enough? I have not found any ATI integrated video
>> solutions while looking at mainboards.
>>
>
> nVidia will be the best and the least effort under linux. nVidia has
> by far the best driver and also with vdpau it is the only one with GPU
> accelerated mpeg output.
>
>>
>> 4. Generally, any mainboard brands to avoid? Most frequently I have seen
>> Biostar, Asrock or MSI...
>>
> I would avoid all of these.

Why? MSI is as solid as the best brands, and ASRock is basically
ASUS's way of selling their motherboards cheaper without discounting
the main brand name.

>
>>
>> 5. Are 2 GB RAM sufficient? Is dual channel helpful?
>>
> Most current boards are dual channel or better.

The only "better" one is i7, which is huge overkill for this (I have
an i7 desktop, and the only way I can get the CPU to work hard is to
encode 1080p HD video from disk to disk; ripping DVD to H.264 can't
even get all 4 cores to bump their clocks to max frequency).

>
>>
>> 6. HDD: As I also try to keep it cheap, 750 GB will be more than enough,
>> almost 10 times of what I have now will enable about 250 recording to be
>> kept... I have good experiences with Samsung drives, if anyone can recommend
>> any other silent and reliable drives though, please go ahead.
>>
>
Western Digital Green.

>
>
> BTW, these questions are asked at least 1 time a month. Search the archives.

But the answers change often. The kit from the archives you now find
at recycler place :)

> John
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>



-- 
Fedor G Pikus (fpikus at gmail.com)
http://www.pikus.net
http://wild-light.com