HD3200 vs. Nvidia8200

[Top44]

Hi Guys,

I´m going to buy Hardware for the HTPC working with Mythbuntu 9.04.

Did some of you guys have ever build such a HTPC with the HD3200 or Nvidia8200 Onboard Graphics ?

What would you Prefer ?
Are there Advantages for the Nvidia Chip ( MPEG2 Encoding ) ?

I Just want to Watch TV and Play Some Movies, no BD or HD stuff.

greetz and thanks!

[jbman]

8200 works great with VDPAU

[ian dobson]

Hi,

Go NVIDIA the drivers have fewer problems under Linux/Mythtv.

Regards
Ian Dobson

[epi 1:10,000]

Go with the nVidia solution as it has better video decoding support. As far as I know ATI doesn't allow for any off-loading of video playback to the GPU in Linux.

[JugeHuge]

I have HD3200 and i would suggest to go Nvidia camp.. ATI have pretty crappy support on linux currently.. If you just look TV and some movies, no HD stuff, then you can stick also with ATI..

[pnauta]

Go for NVidia, I had to change motherboards because ATI support for 9.04 is still lacking. The open drivers don't work properly and the proprietary drivers don't work at all.

[SiHa]

+1 for nVidia. When I first installed Myth a year ago, I spent a week trying to get the ATI drivers for the integrated Radeon to play nice.
Finally bought a second-hand FX5200 off eBay, and had a it running from a fresh install in <15 mins.

[Barky]

I suppose I could ask this question in this thread:

What is the cheapest solution for full 1080p hd watching and recording (at the same time)? Though I doubt I would actually do that, I would like to have the option open and "overshoot" performance wise. I'm very interested in building an HTPC with mythtv but don't want to spend more than I need to. Just recently built a corei7 rig and don't need to spend that much :P

[ian dobson]

I suppose I could ask this question in this thread:

What is the cheapest solution for full 1080p hd watching and recording (at the same time)? Though I doubt I would actually do that, I would like to have the option open and "overshoot" performance wise. I'm very interested in building an HTPC with mythtv but don't want to spend more than I need to. Just recently built a corei7 rig and don't need to spend that much :P

I'd say:-

Core2Duo e5200 or better
Intel chipset mATX motherboard
2Gb DDR2 ram
NVIDIA 9300GT (for VDPAU support)
Digital Tuner card.

My frontend as these specs and I can playback 1080p without any problems (10-15% cpu load) using the VDPAU backports.

Regards
Ian Dobson

[Barky]

I'd say:-

Core2Duo e5200 or better
Intel chipset mATX motherboard
2Gb DDR2 ram
NVIDIA 9300GT (for VDPAU support)
Digital Tuner card.

My frontend as these specs and I can playback 1080p without any problems (10-15% cpu load) using the VDPAU backports.

Regards
Ian Dobson

thanks man, I'm using your build as a template for mine. What are you using for a power supply? Are your backend specs a lot mroe than this? I'm planning on using a backend/frontend on the same pc, just connected to the tv using hdmi or vga, so this pc will be doing all the encoding as well.

[ian dobson]

Hi Barky,

I'm using a 300watt SFX powersupply on the frontend.

My backend is alot larger than it really needs to be:-
Intel Q9550 (Quad Core C2D 2.8GHz)
8Gb DDR2 RAM
4 x 2Tb WD harddisks (3 in a RAID5 array and one as Backup)
Dual Gb lan
NVidia 9600GT (underclocked with a BIOS hack)

If your running a combined frontend/backend make sure you have enough ram (2Gb) and enough disk space.

Regards
Ian Dobson

[Barky]

Hi Barky,

I'm using a 300watt SFX powersupply on the frontend.

My backend is alot larger than it really needs to be:-
Intel Q9550 (Quad Core C2D 2.8GHz)
8Gb DDR2 RAM
4 x 2Tb WD harddisks (3 in a RAID5 array and one as Backup)
Dual Gb lan
NVidia 9600GT (underclocked with a BIOS hack)

If your running a combined frontend/backend make sure you have enough ram (2Gb) and enough disk space.

Regards
Ian Dobson

Excellent! I had a 300 watt power supply in mind anyway. Planning on getting a 1 TB HD to start out with, I doubt I will ever fill it up. I don't even watch tv that much, I just like projects like these. The total cost of the rig would be $408 which is really dirt cheap, especially compared to those other DVRs