[mythtv-users] Help please! Confusion - which of Atom+Ion | S775 | AM2+ | i3 | Zacate to go for?! :/

[Michael T. Dean]

On 03/16/2011 08:35 PM, David Cushing wrote:
> Firstly, greetings to all.
> I'm on a quest to get rid of Sky and replace my Apple TV with 
> something more capable, and am in the process of building an HTPC.
> I seem to be throwing myself into a tailspin over which platform to go 
> for though, and was hoping some of you could help me decide.
...
> Any help would be most gratefully received. This decision process is 
> driving me mad. (My adhd seems to be rising to the challenge of 
> befuddling any choice I get close to making here!)

My thoughts on the matter: 
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/448321#448321

which boils down to, "Don't go with an underpowered 
processor--especially for a system that will be a combined 
frontend/backend or your primary frontend."

While the Mac Mini won't be ideal because of the PCIe capture card 
you've purchased, already, what I say about building a proper system 
with a proper CPU yourself still applies.  See the links at the bottom 
of the post to the Tom's Hardware articles.  Note that the 25W system is 
using a standard desktop CPU.  If you were able to go with a Mobile Core 
2 Duo or Core i or AMD Turion or ..., *and* have a VDPAU-capable Nvidia 
graphics card (ideally integrated), you could do even better for 
low-power--but it will be /much/ more expensive (up to 3x the cost).

Put /much/ more harshly, IMHO, Atom is a(n underpowered) snake-oil for 
people who don't understand how to do low-power with a real CPU.  It 
achieves low power usage only by putting a hard ceiling on power 
usage--and performance.  And it has no appreciable idle mode, so whether 
at full CPU load or no CPU load, you're using basically the same 
power--which is why the Mac Mini (or similar designs) give /much/ better 
average power savings, assuming you leave the system running when it's 
not needed. And, really, the best approach for power savings is to shut 
down your system when not in use.***

Personally, I buy big, ugly, potentially-loud systems with plenty of 
room for HDDs and tuners and then put them in a different room with 
cables run through the walls to the viewing room.  IMHO, no computer 
case is less intrusive than an "invisible" case.

Mike

*** MythTV supports the master backend's shutting down remote backends 
when they're not needed and waking them with wake-on-LAN or shutting 
itself down with a script when not busy and waking itself (so the script 
that does the shut down can prepare for ACPI timer wakeup or send a 
message to an always-on-system to do a wake-on-LAN at a specific time or 
whatever).  And, with MythWelcome and mythshutdown, frontend systems can 
be made to automatically power off when not needed.