[mythtv-users] Questions about new hardware purchase

[Fred Firestine]

On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 6:11 PM, Marc Randolph <mrand at pobox.com> wrote:
> >  My thoughts on the CPU power required for HD playback are about the
> >  same (experimental use only). Currently the encoding and decoding for
> >  SD recordings is handled by my Hauppauge cards. I do commercial
> >  skipping, but only allow jobs to run at night, and no transcoding, so
> >  my CPU usage during viewing hours is low. BTW, I neglected to include
> >  the link to the more expensive CPU I am considering, the Intel E6300
> >  Conroe 1.86GHz:
> >
> >  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115005
> >
> >  That has a 1066 MHz FSB, but as you can see the clock speed is lower.
> >  That's why I am asking about the relationship of clock speed to FSB
> >  for the purpose of MythTV. I have seen recent suggestions of a $200
> >  Intel processor, but no response as to the usefulness of all that
> >  horsepower. If someone who is currently watching HD recordings using
> >  Intel hardware could give me their impressions, that would be great. I
> >  am pretty close to breaking the bank on this one.   ;-)
>
> I personally don't believe there is any reason to go with the higher
> FSB (or increased cache size that the E6xxx have) for this type of
> application.  I bought the less expensive chip with the higher
> multiplier (E2200).
>
> The general rule of thumb for general processing that I've read (lots
> of generalizations going on here!) is that each step up in cache size
> is worth about a speed grade.  So the E6300 (1.86GHz) will complete
> tasks in roughly the same amount of time as an E2180 (2 GHz).  Said
> another way, this would imply that the E2220 (2.4 GHz) would be
> roughly equivalent to an E4500 (2.2 GHz) or E6400, and would fall
> between the E6320 and E6420 (which have larger cache than the
> E6300/6400).
>
> Have fun,
>
>
>   Marc
> _______________________________________________
> mythtv-users mailing list
> mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
>

Thanks Marc! I will put in the order tomorrow, when I have time to
make sure it's correct.

One thing I don't see on Newegg's website is a serial port I can plug
into the header on the motherboard. Is it there and I'm missing it, or
I just have to get it somewhere else?