[mythtv-users] MythTV Hardware Upgrade Questions

[Peter Buelow]

On 06/27/2011 08:58 PM, Julius Roberts wrote:
>
> I have my myth server setup with everything on a (mechanical) 500gb
> sata2 disk, which is not uuber fast by any standards, and the whole of
> /var on a 2tb sata2 disk.  This is on a box with a relatively aged
> athlon x2 64 and 4gb RAM.  I have no performance issues at all
> (although i don't even bother transcoding, with 2tb why bother?) which
> is why i think it's interesting the OP is considering retiring his
> *ahem* quad core).  I don't see myth being particularly processor
> intensive.  i/o is a different matter however, and I think it's smart
> to simply split /var off onto a separate disk.  As it happens It's
> very easy to retro fit this in to an existing system, so i'd recommend
> that to anyone with performance issues, particularly if you have an
> otherwise faster box than me.
>
I think there are very valid reasons to transcode recordings. 
Personally, I am working to get my core2 duo quad core tweaked so that 
it rips any TV to iPad format after recording. Especially since it cuts 
out commercials for me, this is uber handy. Sometimes speed isn't a bad 
thing, especially since you can then underclock a bit, and help keep 
your fan speeds down (this is what I did, and it works very well). Myth 
isn't cpu intensive, but some of the extras are, such as a transcode and 
mythweb with flash playback (which I run straight from the box). And 
even with a very high end nvidia card, I still need to tweak it so that 
myth doesn't stutter or have problems with ripped blue-ray and other HD 
content (I rip all my purchased movie discs to the box and watch from 
there).

Everyone's usage is different. I'm considering an upgrade in the fall to 
a i7 + 6GB + SSD + 2x3TB drives. Again, slightly underclocked if the 
mobo supports it, but my current box has been running for nearly 3 years 
now untouched (it was way too high end at that time too), and the next 
iteration aught to last me until hardware failure honestly.

Myth is so cool specifically because you *can* over indulge the hardware 
and make use of it.

One performance note. I moved my database to my low end NAS a while 
back. That actually seemed to make startup and some other operations a 
little faster. Can't say it fixed anything specific, but not having 
mysql running did make a small difference.

-Pete