[mythtv-users] Does 3d performance matter at all with Myth?

Mark Knecht markknecht at gmail.com
Wed Mar 24 13:39:45 UTC 2010


On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 7:55 PM, Raymond Wagner <raymond at wagnerrp.com> wrote:
> On 3/23/2010 22:26, Mark Knecht wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 6:26 PM, Raymond Wagner<raymond at wagnerrp.com>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Also, running multiple independent
>>> interfaces can be difficult, and generally requires having two separate
>>> graphics cards, one for each independent X server.
>>>
>>
>> I'm not following the multiple interfaces part unless you are talking
>> about the BluRay/TV part of the outline in which case I understand.
>>
>
> One X server can only have one instance of focus.  If two users are trying
> to use applications on the same X server, someone is going to lose out.  You
> can run multiple X servers on one system, but generally they both have to
> have their own dedicated graphics card.
>

All completely true, but I'm not clear what I've written to suggest
the the need for two X servers (and hence two cards) from my
description. Granted, there is some small possibility in the way I
outlined it that this machine *might* become a dedicated frontend
hooked to the TV, but that's not in the plans right now. I have 4
dedicated frontends sprinkled around the house already and other than
the reducing my maintenance work load I don't have any need to change
that.

This machine is a desktop PC for my wife. She does almost nothing that
stresses her current Celeron machine. One core of an i920 is overkill
for.

This machine will replace my PowerPC Mac Mini backend server. I'm HDHR
based so there's really only network traffic for recording and I've
got 4 cores+ hyperthreading for comm flagging. The Mac Mini takes 20
minutes to comm flag a 30 minute show. This will be much nicer.

This machine will be a lightly used file server to back up another
machine on my network once a day.

That usage model requires only 1 VGA in my mind. Only if I hook it to
a TV and try to run a dedicated frontend might I require another VGA/X
server and that's WAY beyond what I'm talking about today. More
reasonable is that my wife would run Myth from her account and then
direct it to the TV instead of her monitor. That only requires a
single X server as it is nothing more than a monitor redirection.


>>>> Related question, is anyone using the nvidia Quadro processors as
>>>> opposed to the more standard desktop GeForce series? There are some
>>>> very nice Quadro cards without fans.
>>>>
>>>
>>> The Quadro cards are nothing more than their GeForce counterparts, with
>>> some
>>> additional APIs exposed to accelerate certain tasks in some professional
>>> applications (usually CAD/CAM software).
>>>
>>
>> OK then I'm goign to have to study the docs a bit more on this
>> account. I thought I was seeing features that were very different.
>> Probably I'm just mistaken.
>>
>
> The Quadro cards will generally receive much better technical support.  They
> also tend to have specialty features, such as having more outputs, having
> dual-link support long before consumer cards did, supporting things like
> framelock/genlock, providing quad-buffering to properly support true
> stereoscopic output.

Thanks.



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