Gentoo/MythTV - proposed hardware list (suggestions?)

hanj · Veteran Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 1500

Hello all

I'm ready to make the plunge and build a gentoo/mythtv PVR box. After reading many a post and researched on ye ol' interweb, I've compiled a hardware list. I would like to hear anyone's opinions. My main concerns.. hardware related:

1. It needs to be cool temp unit (main reason I went w/Pentium instead of AMD)
2. It needs to be a quiet unit (mostly concerned about CPU fan and the case fans itself, though reviews look promising)
3. It needs to be myth compliant
4. It needs to be linux friendly

Here is my proposed purchase list:

garion911 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 04 Jun 2002 Posts: 88

Well, I would say that your CPU is overkill, at least for basic recording.. THe 350 will handle the encoding and if you wanted, it can handle teh decoding on its TV out..

For example, I currently run a Myth box (gentoo based), on a PII 400 w/ the 350, without issue..

If you plan on transcoding and such, then yes, I would definitly have a better CPU..

As for space... how much in the way of recordings do youi want to have on hand?? Personally, since I only record 5-6 programs a week, (and then delete after I watch them after a couple days) a 40G drive was more than enough..

I suppose its all in what you are going to use it for..

RSay · Posted: Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:24 am Post subject:

That's a nice looking case for a PVR computer

What made you choose that particular motherboard?

ohyeah1942 · n00b Joined: 21 Mar 2004 Posts: 68

Ditch the cpu, a myth box doesnt need a good cpu. the pvr-350 handles the video stuff. you can easily get by with a PII 400 and maybe lower.

Spend the extra money on a second decoder. Get a pvr-350 and a pvr-250.

That way you can record 2 things at one time. Or watch something you recorded, and record 2 more things. Or watch something live and record something else at the same time.

Ditch the 7200 rpm harddrives. Get 5400 rpm ones, or better yet 4800rpm ones if you can find them. They will be much quiter by themselves, and they will generate much less heat, so you can have less / slower system fans.

Will be a more usable system, and will cost you less money.

hanj · Veteran Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Posts: 1500

Yeah.. I'm liking the Cooler Master case re-al bad. The motherboard.. I saw some mention of this board on multiple forums...specifically from linux users. I also liked the onboard audio.. .read good things about that as well.

So far there has been 2 posts mentioning overkill on the CPU. I'd like to build this box from the ground up, and it's hard for me to pull the trigger on an older processor. I knocked off $100 by going with a slower P4

Intel Pentium 4/ 2.26 GHz 533MHz FSB, 512K L2 Cache Processor - OEM.

I like the idea of picking up a PVR-250 along with the PVR-350. I've been seeing that set up quite abit.

Anybody have thoughts on SATA vs IDE w/myth for drives? Speaking of drives, spending just a few dollars more gets your 200 gigs @ 7200rpm. Again by spending just a little bit more I get alot more in drive space and speed. I understand what you are saying about slower drive = cooler unit.. which is important in my situation.... so I'm really torn on this. Is the heat ratio considerable when incrementing RPMs from 4800 to 5400 to 7200?

Thanks
hanji

Hobbes-X · l33t Joined: 04 Feb 2004 Posts: 823 Location: Seattle, WA

1G of RAM is probably overkill too- lots mentions on the Myth lists with 256MB being 'plenty'. Both my myth boxes are running with 256MB of 266DDR with no hiccups. (One with a PVR250, and an additional BT878, that also does NFS for the other boxen, webserving, and firewall/NAT, so it's got plenty of load

)

ohyeah1942 · n00b Joined: 21 Mar 2004 Posts: 68

There will be a big heat difference in 5400 to 7200, and an even bigger one in 4800 to 7200.

However it shouldnt be big enough to make a major difference in performance outside of the general rule "cooler is always better".

I would be more concerned about the noise though. And there is a signifacant amount of noise difference.

I upgraded my tivo from a 4800 40gb unti to a 120gb 7200 rpm unit and the noise is almost annoying now.

But, you can't always easily find 200gb harddrives at 4800rpm and 5400rpm speeds. there just isnt really any point in that other than for DVR type applications, and the price difference isnt that much anyways.

I guess the best way to make the choice is: Get what is convient for you. Whatever you can get a good deal on, go with that, but there will be 0 advantage to a faster drive (from a dvr point of view), so if you have a choice get the slower drive.

Also, get an UPS if you dont have one, and go with an XFS file system.