Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-09-05 Thread Nicolas Huillard
Simon Baxter a écrit :
 Simon Baxter a écrit :
 I'd like to go fanless and cool.  What I like about the shuttle is it's
 size.  The 1x PCI is fine, as is the VIA unichrome VGA  s-video out.

 Any ideas on a small compact fanless (DEAD quiet) case  motherboard??
 * mobo : compact + fanless = VIA (new EX is really well suited for a
 VDR; someone already talked about this one on the list)
 * case : Antec Fusion / NSK2400
 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article698-page2.html), the bare case is
 available anywhere at ~90€ (http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00038035.html)
 * a really silent power supply is laptop-like : PicoPSU
 (http://www.thinkitx.com/alimentations-80-10-c.html) + AC-DC block.
 * a single slow silent fan can cool all that
 
 Nice setup - but the case is too big for me.  I have a single glass panel 
 shelf, the case can be 11.5 deep maximum.. 

I went for a heavily customized CD player... Count 1-2 days drilling and 
cutting to fit the mobo inside, with all planned before that.

-- 
NH

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-09-05 Thread Tony Grant
Le mercredi 05 septembre 2007 à 13:10 +0200, Nicolas Huillard a écrit :

  Nice setup - but the case is too big for me.  I have a single glass panel 
  shelf, the case can be 11.5 deep maximum.. 
 
 I went for a heavily customized CD player... Count 1-2 days drilling and 
 cutting to fit the mobo inside, with all planned before that.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=lc11marea=usa

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/p_contents.php?pno=lc19area=

My option would be the latter with a second hand PSP as remote ($150 -
compare to a new Logitech Harmony...) for vdradmin via WiFi

Tony

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-09-05 Thread Simon Baxter

 Nice setup - but the case is too big for me.  I have a single glass panel
 shelf, the case can be 11.5 deep maximum..

 I went for a heavily customized CD player... Count 1-2 days drilling and
 cutting to fit the mobo inside, with all planned before that.

Hmmm - cool idea! 


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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-09-04 Thread Simon Baxter
 Simon Baxter a écrit :
 I'd like to go fanless and cool.  What I like about the shuttle is it's
 size.  The 1x PCI is fine, as is the VIA unichrome VGA  s-video out.

 Any ideas on a small compact fanless (DEAD quiet) case  motherboard??

 * mobo : compact + fanless = VIA (new EX is really well suited for a
 VDR; someone already talked about this one on the list)
 * case : Antec Fusion / NSK2400
 (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article698-page2.html), the bare case is
 available anywhere at ~90€ (http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00038035.html)
 * a really silent power supply is laptop-like : PicoPSU
 (http://www.thinkitx.com/alimentations-80-10-c.html) + AC-DC block.
 * a single slow silent fan can cool all that

Nice setup - but the case is too big for me.  I have a single glass panel 
shelf, the case can be 11.5 deep maximum.. 


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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-09-03 Thread Nicolas Huillard
Simon Baxter a écrit :
 I'd like to go fanless and cool.  What I like about the shuttle is it's 
 size.  The 1x PCI is fine, as is the VIA unichrome VGA  s-video out.
 
 Any ideas on a small compact fanless (DEAD quiet) case  motherboard??

* mobo : compact + fanless = VIA (new EX is really well suited for a 
VDR; someone already talked about this one on the list)
* case : Antec Fusion / NSK2400 
(http://www.silentpcreview.com/article698-page2.html), the bare case is 
available anywhere at ~90€ (http://www.ldlc.com/fiche/PB00038035.html)
* a really silent power supply is laptop-like : PicoPSU 
(http://www.thinkitx.com/alimentations-80-10-c.html) + AC-DC block.
* a single slow silent fan can cool all that

(~60W peak power from the wall on my VDR : VIA C3 1GHz + HDD + running 
DVD + hardware MPEG2 decoding + 1 DVB-S PCI + 1 DVB-T USB)
(48VA full load on my home server, with 2 x HDD, EPIA EK-8000)

-- 
Nicolas Huillard
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fixe : +33 1 39 27 06 10
Mobile : +33 6 50 27 69 08

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-25 Thread Simon Baxter
I've been running a Shuttle SK43G with 2.2Ghz AMD, silentPC fan, silent 250W 
psu and replaced all the mobo fans with heatsinks for 3 years.

time to replace.  The fan is still quiet, but now the case vibrates a 
little, and the whole thing runs about 61 degrees - which isn't ideal.

I'd like to go fanless and cool.  What I like about the shuttle is it's 
size.  The 1x PCI is fine, as is the VIA unichrome VGA  s-video out.

Any ideas on a small compact fanless (DEAD quiet) case  motherboard??


- Original Message - 
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: vdr@linuxtv.org
Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2007 9:21 PM
Subject: Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice


 HDMI
VGA
RGB
S-Video
is the order. HDMI is digital und should those provide best quality 
(equals to DVI.

 My list is a bit other way round, as beauty of the picture is in viewers 
 eye.

 S-Video
 Composite
 RGB
 Component
 VGA
 HDMI/DVI

 Don't get me wrong, as already years ago I have played with HDTV stuff, 
 and naturally with DVI-based to my projector. Problem is that DVB-C / 
 DVB-T is so bad quality signal (in Finland at least), lots of blocking 
 artefacts so it looks very lousy. By using DVI (and probable upscaling to 
 720p/1080i) picture gets to sh*t. So I abandoned the idea 2 years ago. 
 (VDR-Xine with DVB-C  DVB-S when Euro1080i/HD1 was open for all).

 So best non-HD output would be S-Video (and composite) which hides the 
 blocking and picture errors, and gives stutter free output of the program. 
 RGB starts to show more MPEG features. With Component/VGA/HDMI you 
 probably need to use computer-based output, and I haven't seen stutter 
 free output.

 With this I mean X server config, you cannot get exactly 50Hz output, but 
 you can get 50.04Hz output. That might lead to micro stutter on picture.

 But the list I quoted is the best order in terms of video connection 
 quality, but not the best picture quality for viewer.. :-O


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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-22 Thread Steffen Barszus
covert covert schrieb:

I have made the choice for a BE 2350 since finding a eesff cpu in
Australia is very difficult.

Thanks for the help. Now I can go find a suitable motherboard.
  


Asus M2NPV-VM  -  on vdr-portal.de this board has been on of the 
recommendations (usual topic over there - but mainly german except 
exceptions ) For Heatsink i plan to get a scythe ninja mini (good for 
desktop housings.

bye

Steffen

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-22 Thread Magnus Hörlin
Steffen Barszus wrote:
 covert covert schrieb:

   
 I have made the choice for a BE 2350 since finding a eesff cpu in
 Australia is very difficult.

 Thanks for the help. Now I can go find a suitable motherboard.
  

 

 Asus M2NPV-VM  -  on vdr-portal.de this board has been on of the 
 recommendations (usual topic over there - but mainly german except 
 exceptions ) For Heatsink i plan to get a scythe ninja mini (good for 
 desktop housings.

 bye

 Steffen

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Yes, that's a good choice. I have however replaced mine with an Abit 
AN-M2HD, which I recommend.
/Magnus H

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-22 Thread Steffen Barszus
covert covert schrieb:

Thanks again. The Asus M2NPV-VM looks like a great choice for me since
it is easy to get in Australia.

I am looking at the AN-M2HD now and it also available in Australia.

The Asus has Composite out and the Abit has HDMI. I have VGA, RGB,
S-Vid, HDMI inputs on my TV.

In order of best to worse for quality ?

VGA
HDMI
RGB
S-Video
  

HDMI
VGA
RGB
S-Video

is the order. HDMI is digital und should those provide best quality 
(equals to DVI.

The Abit also has the newer 7050 vs the 6150 on the Asus.

The Asus has the extra module for HDTV output while the Abit has HDMI
attached to the board.

The big question is does the 7050 chipset provide any extra
acceleration in Mpeg2 encoding / decoding to the 6150 ?

  

I think both provide mpeg2 decoding avveleration - XvMC 

So many choices and so many factors.

Yes but its good that there are recently choices :)

Kind regards

Steffen

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[vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread covert covert
About to step into the deep end and build my first VDR box. In fact 2
of them at the same time both with the exact same specs.

All parts are going to be new.

New CPU's are a lot more confusing than the simple days of single
cores at fixed clockspeeds.

My question is what CPU should I chose for good noise reducing , heat
reducing solutions.

For processing power and cost I am looking at AMD AM2 4000 and Intel
Duel Core E2140 and Intel core2 Duo E4400. I am open to other
suggestions as long as they can currently be purchased in store.

Since the system will be spending 95% of it's time idle I want a CPU
that can drop down to the slowest possible clock speed with the least
power consumption. I will also be using temperature controlled fans to
keep it real quiet and any other ways I can find to drop down power
and noise.

Advice on the best CPU choice would be much appreciated.

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[vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Jouni Karvo

hi,


covert covert writes:
  About to step into the deep end and build my first VDR box. In fact 2
  of them at the same time both with the exact same specs.
  
  All parts are going to be new.
  
  New CPU's are a lot more confusing than the simple days of single
  cores at fixed clockspeeds.

I can't help on the choosing CPUs part, but I can share my experience
with a P4 for a VDR.  The thermostatic control fans reduce noise, but
are not really silent.  I replaced both the power unit to a totally
fanless one, and my CPU cooler is Scythe Ninja Rev B, which is totally
silent (had a Zahlman AlCu7000 if I remember correctly, before).

Then I have an additional 120mm fan running slowly inside the box, but
that I cannot hear outside.

The most noise right now comes from my Seagate Barracuda hard drives,
which are pretty quiet, but still noticeable.  Especially one of them
which has probably bad bearings.

I also tried throttling / underclocking the CPU to reduce heat, but my
MB starts an annoying whining noise if I do that, so I could not use
that.

But my advice, if you really want to reduce noise in a VDR, is to go
for fanless choices.

If you don't do other processing, any current desktop processor would
have enough processing power.  For Full HD it could be different,
though.

yours,
Jouni

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Nicolas Huillard
covert covert a écrit :
 My question is what CPU should I chose for good noise reducing , heat
 reducing solutions.

The most efficient CPU are still the VIA ones... Low power, very low 
heat, very low noise.
There are lots of EPIA mobos (Mini-ITX for factor) with fanless CPUs 
around. With these, you get only one PCI slot, but everything is 
integrated on the motherboard.
Using a good laptop-like power block (efficient and fanless), you can 
have a really silent setup (one slow fan for the whole system).

 For processing power and cost I am looking at AMD AM2 4000 and Intel
 Duel Core E2140 and Intel core2 Duo E4400. I am open to other
 suggestions as long as they can currently be purchased in store.
 
 Since the system will be spending 95% of it's time idle I want a CPU
 that can drop down to the slowest possible clock speed with the least
 power consumption. I will also be using temperature controlled fans to
 keep it real quiet and any other ways I can find to drop down power
 and noise.

Drop noise:
* suspend the disk drive with rubber bands
* carefully design the air path inside the case

-- 
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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Marko Myllymaa

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007, Nicolas Huillard wrote:


covert covert a écrit :
My question is what CPU should I chose for good noise reducing , heat
reducing solutions.


The most efficient CPU are still the VIA ones... Low power, very low 
heat, very low noise.
There are lots of EPIA mobos (Mini-ITX for factor) with fanless CPUs 
around. With these, you get only one PCI slot, but everything is 
integrated on the motherboard.
Using a good laptop-like power block (efficient and fanless), you can 
have a really silent setup (one slow fan for the whole system).



VIAs are good, but if you need more processing power then you need to get 
Amd or Intel.


I have following setup and it feels quiet enough, mostly thanks to the 
case design.


Case is Antec's NSK-2400, cpu is AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE, cpu 
cooler is Thermalright SI-97A, motherboard is Asus M2NPV-VM and hard drive 
is WD caviar SE16.


The case has two 12 fans on the side, just next to the heatpipe cpu 
cooler. So, no need for fan for the cpu cooler. Case fans are tricools 
and I run them in the lowest speed.


I can't hear anything from the machine from one meter away.

With Turion cpu you could drop one case fan out.. I haven't tested, maybe 
I could also. My cpu uses 65W of power and if I remember correctly turions 
use something like 25W.




For processing power and cost I am looking at AMD AM2 4000 and Intel
Duel Core E2140 and Intel core2 Duo E4400. I am open to other
suggestions as long as they can currently be purchased in store.

Since the system will be spending 95% of it's time idle I want a CPU
that can drop down to the slowest possible clock speed with the least
power consumption. I will also be using temperature controlled fans to
keep it real quiet and any other ways I can find to drop down power
and noise.


Drop noise:
* suspend the disk drive with rubber bands
* carefully design the air path inside the case

Look the design of Antec's NSK-2400 (or fusion). I think that's very good 
for air flow.



  Marko

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Petri Helin
On 8/21/07, covert covert [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
 On 8/21/07, Nicolas Huillard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  There are lots of EPIA mobos (Mini-ITX for factor) with fanless CPUs
  around. With these, you get only one PCI slot, but everything is
  integrated on the motherboard.
  Using a good laptop-like power block (efficient and fanless), you can
  have a really silent setup (one slow fan for the whole system).
 

 At least 2 PCI slots is a must. I want 2 x DVB-S, 1 x DVB-T, 1 x
 Analog TV. I plan to do this with 1 all in one card and a single
 Skystar2 for the second DVB-S tuner.


You can use two PCI cards with VIA mobos by using a PCI riser with two
slots. I had such a solution with two DVB-C cards.

But if you want crunch and muscle, VIA is definitely not the way to
go. For Intel side I can share you the information that E4*-series is
better in the way that they allow you to use multiplier 6, which
results with standard fsb to 1200MHz when idling. For example E6300
will idle at 1600 MHz. But you should also take care when choosing the
motherboard, because undervolting is the most efficient way to reduce
heat and some mobos (namely all Asrocks) do not allow undervolting.

-Petri

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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Magnus Hörlin
covert covert wrote:
 About to step into the deep end and build my first VDR box. In fact 2
 of them at the same time both with the exact same specs.

 All parts are going to be new.

 New CPU's are a lot more confusing than the simple days of single
 cores at fixed clockspeeds.

 My question is what CPU should I chose for good noise reducing , heat
 reducing solutions.

 For processing power and cost I am looking at AMD AM2 4000 and Intel
 Duel Core E2140 and Intel core2 Duo E4400. I am open to other
 suggestions as long as they can currently be purchased in store.

 Since the system will be spending 95% of it's time idle I want a CPU
 that can drop down to the slowest possible clock speed with the least
 power consumption. I will also be using temperature controlled fans to
 keep it real quiet and any other ways I can find to drop down power
 and noise.

 Advice on the best CPU choice would be much appreciated.

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I think AMD's are perfect for this since they consume less than Intels 
at low load. I have a Sempron 3200 on a mobo with Nvidia 7050 and HDMI 
onboard together with an 80W picoPSU. This gives me a fanless VDR 
frontend that draws only 30W from AC mains during TV replay and cost 
about €200. And at night it gives enough power to do as much h.264 
encoding I need. I guess you'll want DVB cards and disks in your box, 
but I prefer to have them on my server in the attic. If you wait just a 
few weeks you'll have 65nm Sempron's to give you even more processing 
power per Watt.

/Magnus H


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Re: [vdr] Mid range CPU choice

2007-08-21 Thread Steffen Barszus
Magnus Hörlin schrieb:

covert covert wrote:
  

About to step into the deep end and build my first VDR box. In fact 2
of them at the same time both with the exact same specs.

All parts are going to be new.

New CPU's are a lot more confusing than the simple days of single
cores at fixed clockspeeds.

My question is what CPU should I chose for good noise reducing , heat
reducing solutions.

For processing power and cost I am looking at AMD AM2 4000 and Intel
Duel Core E2140 and Intel core2 Duo E4400. I am open to other
suggestions as long as they can currently be purchased in store.

Since the system will be spending 95% of it's time idle I want a CPU
that can drop down to the slowest possible clock speed with the least
power consumption. I will also be using temperature controlled fans to
keep it real quiet and any other ways I can find to drop down power
and noise.

Advice on the best CPU choice would be much appreciated.

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I think AMD's are perfect for this since they consume less than Intels 
at low load. I have a Sempron 3200 on a mobo with Nvidia 7050 and HDMI 
onboard together with an 80W picoPSU. This gives me a fanless VDR 
frontend that draws only 30W from AC mains during TV replay and cost 
about €200. And at night it gives enough power to do as much h.264 
encoding I need. I guess you'll want DVB cards and disks in your box, 
but I prefer to have them on my server in the attic. If you wait just a 
few weeks you'll have 65nm Sempron's to give you even more processing 
power per Watt.
  


Have to agree here :) With AM2 the Athlon 64 EE SFF (35W)* is a nice 
option - or the new BE 2350 with 45W.
Other options are  Socket 754 with the Turions and sempron mobile with 
35W resp. 25W depending on the model (This i have running).

* EE SFF is imortant as the EE has 65W TDP.
* the availability of all options except the BE is not that good i guess 
- don't think you will get it at the store around the corner.
* VIA CPUs are not midrange but low range processing power
* for processing power per watt the two athlons will be the best i guess


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