Can't make a decision on a mobo...HELP!!

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CrashGawker

Gawd
Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
630
I'm replacing my second generation HTPC (My original one was a K62 like 550mHz system with an AIW 32 about 5 years ago) and thanks to the new software options and new technologies I can finally do a REAL one instead of a windows interface half ass one. Only problem is I'm not having an easy time getting my hardware listing put together. Here's the basic rundown of things I AM sure about.

Software: MythTV under Fedoracore
CPU: AMD nothing under 2.0gHz
RAM: 1GB Corsair XMS
HDD: SATA 250GB 7200 X 3
Cap Cards: A pair of Hauppage PVR-500s
Video out: Nvidia based passive cooled with S-video out and DVI (for when I get s TV with HDMI)
Wireless LAN

Case isn't relevant and I'm going with another Enermax Liberty for the PSU because I love mine.

The problem I'm running into is the obvious preference for the 939 processors and a complete lack of motherboards in 939 that aren't all PCI-Xpress based. I don't WANT to run pci-xpress because the cards are too expensive and too powerful for this application which would be wasting it. Obviously for the above stuff I need two PCI slots for the cap cards and another for the wireless NIC but I also want the ability to upgrade to a higher level sound card in the future if I want which means I'd need 4 PCI slots and an AGP which isn't available in 939 that I can find.

I think my major fault here is that I'm not up on my hardware enough to know what is and what isn't a good brand of motherboard. Can anyone help me out with this?
 
So EPoX is a good brand? I know that Asus is good and I think MSI is good too. I know from personal experience that Chaintech is garbage but is there a good list of makers broken down into cheap crap and quality hardware?

well I suppose it's a good thing it's got 5 PCI slots on it because with only a pair of 1.5 SATA headers I'll have to throw a 3.0 card in to run all three of my hard drives. Is it possible to boot from an expansion card without having a hard drive on any of the mobos normal channels?
 
Well my wife and I are TV people. I'm the one who's truly obsessed but she's pretty hardcore herself. The way I figure it...if I want to record something and she wants to record something and there's a _______ on (movie/ballgame/whatever) Then in theory I'd need at minimum 3 tuners. One for each program and one to watch the game. Really I think my thoughts on the topic are to build the system once so that I won't have to do it over again later when I decide it's missing something or not powerful enough to do what I want to do. Plus keep in mind eventually I'll want to pop a HDTV card in there as well once I get myself a HiDef TV which would require yet another slot. In fact I'm starting to question the plausibility my overall plan because of the complete lack of motherboards with the features necessary to create the machine I'm building in my head.

Would a dedicated backend be a better (though probably more expensive) choice? Maybe a system with no need of high level sound, and just enough of a video card to drive the system during setup. With a high end processor for the encoding work and nothing but the pair of cap cards and a wireless NIC? Then of course I can build the frontends with upgrades like HQ sound and throw in a HDTV card for the front end machine actually hooked up to my HDTV. I just wish there was a really good forum for MythTV so I could talk things over with the gurus of that system. What do you guys think? Better to go with a heavy headless backend and specialized frontends?
 
Definately stick to your plan of 4 tuners. It sounds like you need them. I've got 4 in mine I live alone. Often times there something interesting on I want to record and I would run out of tuners. Also, I only have 2 cable boxes, the other two tuners just get basic cable. Works out well.
 
Thanks that makes me feel a little less wierd...I was begginning to think I had some kind of problem for thinking I needed 4 tuners. But hey it made sense to me...I'm now trying to price out a dedicated backend system and see how much that'll run me and then I'll price dedicated frontend setups to see how affordable it's not going to be. I'm still thinking it'll be better in the long run to split things up though.
 
CrashGawker said:
Thanks that makes me feel a little less wierd...I was begginning to think I had some kind of problem for thinking I needed 4 tuners.
Click to expand...
I recommend atleast two tuners but three is what most need realistically.

I don't understand people with single tuner systems. :confused:
 
CrimandEvil said:
I recommend atleast two tuners but three is what most need realistically.

I don't understand people with single tuner systems. :confused:
Click to expand...


There too many good shows on at the same time nowadays. Two is a must at the minimum.
 
Single tuner life is difficult indeed. I have a splitter that runs one coax to the back of my TV for Basic viewing by changing the TV channels while my tuner card dutifully records whatever it's recording.

After I upgrade my main machine (in sig) I'll be looking at a twin tuner card.
 
CrimandEvil said:
I recommend atleast two tuners but three is what most need realistically.

I don't understand people with single tuner systems. :confused:
Click to expand...
Yeah I followed the same thought process and came to the conclusion that three was a must have. But I figured since there's no triple tuner cards I'd HAVE to have two cards and since I have to have two cards why not just throw another tuner in just in case right?

BTW for any of you who run MythTV is it possible to have a backend for basic work and still have the ability for your frontends to capture to your backend? Specifically if later down the road I go HD could I throw an HD card into the frontend I use on my HD monitor and use it to capture to my backend machine? Like can I capture HD to the hard drives on my backend and use the backend resources to process and encode it or will I just have to have a really tough frontend for that application?

EDIT TO ADD: The reason I ask is if I CAN do it that way I can build my backend into a mATX system as well as the frontends. Otherwise I'm going to have to look at full size system hardware for the backend and I'd prefer to keep things small after building my last system into a monsterous full town.
 
If you have a good spot out of the way I'd go with full ATX in a bigger tower for your server.

Mines tucked away in the basement in a monsterous Coolermaster CM Stacker. That was probably the best single thing I bought for the HTPC server. It now houses 10 hard drives, and I dont have any PCI slots left either on the Asus full ATX motherboard I went with, with the RAID card and HD OTA card in there. Although I could swap out both PVR-150's for PVR-500's.

Just like having an extra tuner, build you server bigger than what you need to accomodate upgrades since it sounds like you're fairly serious about this.
 
I kinda feel the same way but the problematic factor I'm finding is that for all the hype surrounding it...pci-xpress is the biggest pain in my ass and most completely useless thing in the world to my project here.

Because of the encoding/decoding involved and the probability that I'll be going to HD capping/encoding down the road I want a beefy CPU in the system of which 939 seems to be the most prevelant (meaning to me it must have advantages over the 754) and there is a serious lack of 939 motherboards out there that feature the things I feel like I need/want because of the spread of pcix slots. Essentially I've not found any real use for things like PCIE X1 and X4 slots because none of the hardware I want to USE is available in those interfaces. (To my knowledge)

I don't bother to keep myself up to date on new tech anymore because I just don't have the budget for it (yes I know reading is free but why bother if I can't afford to buy stuff?) I'm starting to wonder if I should just forget the newer 939 stuff and just try and track down another K8N-E Deluxe like I'm using in my main rig and running a 754 processor instead. At least then I'd have the motherboard features I want.

BTW I really thought about that Stacker but I'm not sure how comfortable I am spending that much of my limited funds on a case. How is it as far as noise with the stock gear? My new system is running a 120mm PSU, two 80mm, and 3 120mm radiator fans, and while it's a billion times better than your average air cooled rig it's far from silent. In fact I'm thinking a dedicated noisy backend would be better in the long run because fewer parts in the frontends means less cooling which means less noise.
 
CrashGawker said:
In fact I'm thinking a dedicated noisy backend would be better in the long run because fewer parts in the frontends means less cooling which means less noise.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I was suggesting.
 
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