[mythtv-users] Quick opinions

[John Drescher]

> I too have been looking at these two processors to go with a asus M3N-H/HDMI
> motherboard.
> As my system is going to be running 24/7 mainly at idle, looking at the
> power consumption it appears looking here LINK that the 5050e uses 4watts
> less than the X2 5400+ at idle, then if we look here LINK it shows that the
> 7750 uses 7.8watts more than the 5400+ at idle therefore I have assumed that
> the 7750 uses 11.8watts more than the 5050e at idle.
> On a UK tariff of approx 13p Kwh that works out at a extra annual cost of
> £13.44 to run the 7750
> However if I am unable to get VDPAU working satisfactorily on that board I
> am unsure whether the 5050e is powerful enough for BBC HD and ITV HD.
>

The 2.7 kuma is supposed to be 10% to 30% clock for clock more
efficient than the older series. Also the kuma X2 is actually a 4 core
chip (made in the same batch as Phenom 1 chips) but with 2 of its
cores disabled yet still partially powered so this will explain part
of the 11W idle difference.

BTW, one thing you can do to reduce the idle power draw of a cpu is to
lower its voltage at idle. This underclocking / undervolting is
basically what AMD does to create the energy efficient desktop chips
since they use the exact same design and process and are made in the
same batch / wafer as the non energy efficient cpus. I can go more
into this if it sounds confusing..

The following link has a kernel driver for Intel and AMD that allows
you to lower your idle voltage:

http://www.linux-phc.org/index.php?sid=ba0356aade078116cf7d4c04a0bc53e5

John