[mythtv-users] Motherboards: help me understand my choices

[Allen Edwards]

On Sun, Aug 31, 2008 at 8:41 AM, Sixten Otto
<himself+myth at sfko.com<himself%2Bmyth at sfko.com>
> wrote:

> On Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 2:56 PM, kanetse at gmail.com <kane.tse at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > I just bought this board last week (Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H) for my
> > MythTV backend/frontend; and it's been a nightmare.  I believe the
> > problem to be related to immature Linux drivers for the AMD 780G
> > chipset, although I can't be sure as I'm still trying to get the
> > system to work properly.
>
> Ugh. That's *exactly* the sort of thing I'm hoping to avoid. I mean,
> the entire enterprise is a hobby project, and I enjoy a certain level
> of tinkering. But tinkering turns into frustrated struggling very
> quickly.
>
> Sixten


As an observer who has built 4 mythtv boxes and had his share of
frustrations I would share some thoughts.
1) Buy an Intel board.  On the phone with Asus the conclusion as to why my
board would not boot with the nvidia drivers and the Air2PC board;  AMD
chipsets are not very good.  Intel chipsets have fewer compatability
problems.  Ultimately I solved the problem by loading the nvidia driver with
envyng instead of the way Mythbuntu loads it.  Here is one I would look at
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131295  Maybe
someone has experience with it.  These look interesting for the low power
technology http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131275
2) Get a graphics card, probably a 6200 like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121249.  They are
cheap enough and don't hog system memory like the integrated ones.  If you
have a problem, you can switch them.  Want to spend a little more, consider
this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125070 it will
run cool.
3) Don't sweat spdif output like I did.  Turns out that all ASUS boards have
spdif on the MB and a simple 2 resistor, 1 capacitor network will make it
work.  However, the boards I suggested looking at seem to have it.  Easier
than making a network and a backing plate.
4) ASUS makes the MBs for most if not all of the big PC makers.  Stick with
them.
5) Don't use XvMC.  It can work, but it isn't worth the trouble.  Newer PCs
don't need it. Use SLIM if you don't have the power.
6) If  you are going to use mythbuntu, if you have any problem when you are
installing, like click x instead of y, start over.  Make sure you had a
clean run and didn't have to go back and do something over, unless you start
over by hitting the reset button and start from the beginng.  Also, print
the install instructions and go through them page by page as you install.

This is said from someone with a AMD 5400+ and a M3A MB.  It works perfectly
but took 100 hours to get that way.  I did it as I always wanted to try an
AMD chip as they are cheaper.  Never again.

So, I am not saying what I did because this is the only way to get myth to
work.  I have a great system with my AMD board.  Just saying that my opinion
is you will have fewer problems going this way.  That said, I have not built
such a system so don't listen to me.

Allen
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