[mythtv-users] Building new Mythtv Box

[Christopher Kerr]

On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 12:05 PM, jedi <jedi at mishnet.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 06:16:35PM -0500, R. G. Newbury wrote:
>> On 01/10/2011 02:15 PM, jedi wrote:
>> >On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:43:49AM -0500, Joe wrote:
>> >>On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 11:35 AM, R. G. Newbury<newbury at mandamus.org>  wrote:
>> >>>Ditch the Nvidia 6200. You have FIOS so you get HD. You really need at least
>> >>>a 9500GT or newer (GT220 etc) for vdpau to lower the load on the CPU. That
>> >>>CPU will work, but will be stressed if you are recording and playing at the
>> >>>same time.
>> >>
>> >>I agree with everything Geoff said except the above comment about
>> >>needing VDPAU... My current main BE/FE is using the onboard Geforce
>> >>6150 LE ... Records on all three tuners (dual HDHomeRun + PVR-150) and
>> >>simultaneously plays back HD to our LCD TV just fine.  CPU is an older
>> >>dual core Athlon (5200+ speed grade maybe?) but it's nowhere near it's
>> >>limits.
>> >
>> >     The older nvidias are likely to not support modern video inputs.
>> >An 8x00 card can be had cheaply and is really the bare minimum of what
>> >you want to be dealing with these days.
>>
>> IIRC, the 8x00 series are designed to work with AMD CPU's and the
>> 9x00 series with IBM. The OP has a Core2 Duo.
>
>    I ran my original 8400 with my Core2Quad with no problems.
>
>    With the exception of a few notable cases where combinations of
> hardware including the video card caused spontaneous combustion, the
> CPU and GPU are entirely independent components.
>
> [deletia]

Yeah, that stuff about 8400's being "designed for" AMD is garbage. For
the most part the 8xxx's and their corresponding 9xxx model are the
same architecture, sometimes with a die shrink as a result of a
manufacturing process change.

For playback of HD-PVR recordings, VDPAU acceleration is almost
essential. It will also allow you to use VDPAU's excellent
deinterlacing algorithms.

For MythTV purposes, consider:

With several limitations:

8400 GT
9400 GT
GT 210
(also Ion and Ion 2 systems fit in this category)

With some limitations:

8500 GT / GS
9500 GT / GS
GT 120

With very few limitations:

GT 220

With no limitations that come immediately to mind:

GT 420
GT 430

All of these cards provide suitably low heat / noise. I haven't listed
the faster cards because they're too hot and noisy.

The GT 420 is currently a bit hard to find (the 430 seems commonly
available), but I'd keep an eye out for it over the GT 220 as they
seem to be launching at a similar price.

- Chris