On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 15:01:06 +0000, Mark Hood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <snip> > My choices: > Motherboard: Gigabyte S478 Intel 845GV MATX no AGP DDR Audio/Visual/LAN > This has 3 PCI slots, and I figure I only need 2 (TV card & > maybe wireless later) > Processor: Intel Celeron D 330 Socket 478 256Kb 533FSB Inc Fan > 2.6GHz, and comes with a fan (which I can replace in the > future if I find it too loud) > Case: CoolerMaster ATC-630-B21 > MicroATX, should be the same as the motherboard :) with 200W PSU > TV-Card: Hauppage TVR-350 > The only part I'm truly confident of! > HDD: Maxtor DiamondMax Plus10 300GB UDMA133 > DVD: Pioneer DVD+-R/RW DualLayer 16x IDE
Hi Mark, welcome to MythTv! :) > My questions: > 1. Is this any good? :) that's a question only you can answer without giving more detail. what do you mean by 'good'? i'm not trying to be a [EMAIL PROTECTED], just clarifying that it depends on what you want the machine to be capable of. > 2. Does anyone with experience of the case know if I need a riser card > or not? If so, how many of the slots will become unusable? i don't have this particular case but i do have a similar case: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-119-024&depa=1 mine didn't require a riser card. sorry i don't have a more definitive answer for you. > 3. Am I over-speccing? I would like to think it's future-proofing, > rather than anything else :) in my opinion you can't over-spec a machine. :) you can always find a use for excess power. it's when you have too little power that you run into problems. but since it sounds like you're going for a stand alone single purpose MythBox your specs look pretty good. (assuming you're only dealing with SDTV) you didn't mention how much RAM you'll be adding. i think the minimum recommended amount is 256MB; however, i would recommend 512MB. > 4. How do I go about getting digital sound out? doing a quick search i didn't find specs for you mobo. does it have an SPDIF connector? or do you know if the built in audio supports ac3 passthrough? if it's a newer audio chipset it probably does. search the list and various Myth forums for members with similar mobo's. i use the ChainTech 7NIF2 mobo with built in sound. it used to have a built in SPDIF connector, now it's an add-on... does your mobo have built in tv-out? since you're buying a complete system from new parts you may look into a board with an integrated nvidea chipset that supports tv-out. they aren't that much more expensive and that would eliminate the need for the pvr-350. you'd be able to get away with a pvr-250 or a pvr-150 if you want to be on the cutting edge. it'll save you a couple bucks for future upgrades. if you search the mailing list or various forums you can find numerous setups and the pros/cons of each. do you know what distro you're planning on running yet? when i set up my box i wanted to a dedicated MythBox that would do nothing more than be the center of my entertainment center. since i didn't want to have to deal with all the installation issues and then configuration issues that could pop up i went with the KnoppMyth distro. if you're new to Linux or want a fairly easy 'out of the box' setup then KnoppMyth is the way to go. everything is preconfigured for you. the trick is getting hardware that is fairly mainstream; which isn't really difficult anymore. ChainTech 7NIF2 mobo - built in audio, video/tv-out, LAN Athlon XP +2700 CPU 2x256MB dual channel RAM PVR-250 CoolerMaster ATC-620C-BX1 Case CoolerMaster RS-450ACL-X 450W PSU with 120mm fan (very quiet and adjustable) nice setup and worked 'out of the box' with KnoppMyth :) ----------------------------------------------------- a 'whole lotta' GMail Invites available Please Email me OFF-list only... _______________________________________________ mythtv-users mailing list [email protected] http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
