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On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 00:19 -0400, Rod Smith wrote:
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<FONT COLOR="#000000">Hi,</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">I'm thinking of doing some upgrades to my MythTV system in the near future. </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">I've currently got an Intel Celeron-D 3.06GHz on a Biostar PT880 Pro </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">motherboard with an nVidia GeForce FX5200 video card. This system is fast </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">enough for most purposes; however, I have three problems:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">- the video is a bit uneven when playing back HD content (I've currently only</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> got an SD TV, but I can record HD and get a cleaner picture that way on</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> some channels).</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">- All my video capture devices produce glitches when the system is under load</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> (transcoding, etc.), which I suspect may be a symptom of my motherboard's</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> VIA chipset (but that's really just a guess).</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">- I've never been able to get my pcHDTV 3000 card working satisfactorily in</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> this system; video glitches render the picture unviewable. Again, I suspect</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> this is a motherboard interaction problem, but that's really just a guess.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"> (I use an AverTV A180 for my HD recording.)</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">I plan to re-use my current system (after a swapping out the hard disks and </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">some other components) as a desktop computer, so it's not going to waste.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">I've been looking over options at NewEgg, and I'm focusing on AMD motherboards </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">and CPUs. Several look appealing to me, such as:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Biostar NF520-A2 SE:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138109">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138109</A></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Elitegroup ECS NFORCE6M-A(3.0):</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135083">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135083</A></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Biostar A770 A2+:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138106">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138106</A></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">Asus M3A:</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000"><A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131234">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131234</A></FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">These all have SPDIF outputs, either on the back panel or as headers on the </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">motherboard. (I currently run an on-motherboard SPDIF header out through a </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">connector panel to my AV receiver.) I'm most interested to know if anybody's </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">had experience with these boards in Linux. I'm particularly concerned with </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">audio drivers, network drivers, and general chipset support. The first two </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">use nVidia chipsets (520D and 430, respectively), which people here seem to </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">favor for MythTV use. The second two boards use the AMD 770 / ATI SB600 </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">chipset, though, and I've seen no posts here about those (I even checked the </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">archives). If you've got suggestions for other motherboards, hopefully under </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">$100, plase feel free to make them.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">I'm also wondering about CPU speed. I'm thinking about getting a dual-core CPU </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">so that the system will be better able to handle multiple tasks (transcoding, </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">watching recorded shows, preparing a DVD, etc.). Based on my understanding of </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">AMD and Intel CPU speeds, I'm guessing that a dual-core AMD Athlon 64 in </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">the "5000+" range (about 2.6GHz) will be plenty fast -- even one of the cores </FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">should handily outperform what I've got now.</FONT>
<FONT COLOR="#000000">So, any comments or suggestions on this? Thanks for any input.</FONT>
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Im currently looking at the m2n-VM as I prefer the nvidia chipset though AMD chipsets have been OK. Only go dual core if the fastest single core is not enough. Im trying to get a cheap board for a simple decoding and displaying application. I want quality though and Asus has been resonably good to me.<BR>
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CL
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