[mythtv-users] New Computer Advice

Darryl Okahata darrylo at soco.agilent.com
Fri Jul 16 21:19:50 EDT 2004


David Wood <obsidian at panix.com> wrote:

> A totally fanless system is the ideal, and that means sacrifices in 
> speed/power. That plus having a diskless front-end can get you total 
> silence. But even without going to that extreme, it helps to be mindful of 
> the issue.

     On a related note: for some people, it may make sense to build a
"lower power" box using an Athlon XP-M (mobile) CPU instead of an
EPIA-based system.

     For example, I have an EPIA M10000-based system, and a similarly-
configured 2200 Athlon XP-M based system.  The EPIA system has a
PVR-350, and the Athlon XP-M has a PVR-250/Nvidia MX440.  The EPIA
system uses around 60-70W, whereas the Athlon XP-M uses 70-90W.  Neither
has a monitor.  (Power measured using a wattmeter, and not calculated
using an ammeter.)

[ For comparison, an old Athlon 1.3GHz system uses around 130-140W for
  mythtv (no monitor, PVR-350).  I can only wonder how much power the
  newer 2-3++ GHz systems suck.  ]

     So, for only 10-20W extra, I can play DVDs and videos, get faster
UI response, and have better SSE/MMX/3Dnow/etc. compatibility.  One
downside is a slight softness in the TV-out, compared to that of the
350, but the difference is not significant enough for me to care about.
Another downside is that mobile Athlon XP-M processors are not supported
in desktop systems (AMD basically says, "don't do that", and they also
seem to discourage it further by not making any XP-M technical
datasheets available on their website).  My motherboard certainly didn't
recognize it, and set the CPU core voltage way too high (a known issue
with XP-M processors and desktop motherboards), but it was easy enough
for me to twiddle the voltage from the BIOS.

[ If I had the time, I'd try underclocking the XP-M, to see how much
  power I could save.  Unless I'm transcoding, a 2200 Athlon XP-M is way
  more than mythtv needs.  ]

-- 
	Darryl Okahata
	darrylo at soco.agilent.com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or
of the little green men that have been following him all day.


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