I want to re-build my myth box to be significantly more power efficient. Using a “Kill-a-watt” to measure power draw at the wall, my current system consumes 138 watts idle, 190 watts maxed out. My system is able to handle 3 concurrent recordings and simultaneous hidef playback, without XVMC. I’d like my new “low power consumption” system to be equally capable.

I’d be very interested in knowing what configurations others are using for a low-power-consumption, hidef-capable system, and how much power their systems draw. Based on what I’ve read, it sounds like the Intel E4500 could be a good CPU choice, but I also want to be sure I use a low-power-consumption video card. Spec’s on my system are below – thanks for your help!

Marc

My current system is as follows:

• CPU - Pentium D-930
• Mobo – Asus P5P800
• 2GB PC-3200 RAM
• Video – Nvidia 6200LE
• 3 Tuners – Hauppauge PVR-150; HD-5000; Kworld 115
• 2 hard drives – Maxtor 400GB IDE + Western Digital “green” 750GB SATA II
• Power consumption: 138 watts idle; 190 watts peak.

I think the Pentium D is the big problem.
Core 2 Duo or Amd X2 would be more efficient, with less power/heat.
There are some mobos out now with nVidia 6150 chips - they seem to run Vista/Aero fine. I wonder if they'd handle Myth HD playback? IMO, an X2 or Core2Duo MoBo with integrated Myth-capable video and audio would be a great way to start.
I just replaced my desktop Mobo with one of these - I don't have the model handy... an Asus X2 board with nVidia 6150 that supports (no kidding) VGA, DVI, S-Video and component. It comes with a little daughter card module that plugs into a header, giving RGB HDTV right out the back. NO IDEA if this works in Myth. But it would be slick if it did.
Ok, I found the board model: Asus M2NPV-VM
It's discontinued, and I paid too much. But I needed it immediately and a local computer store had it. CompUSA closed, and we don't have FRY's anywhere near me.... sux.

Thronsoft, thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of integrated video, as I do believe it saves power, but I need 3 PCI slots for my 3 tuners. The micro-tax board only has 2 PCI slots, and I haven't found any boards that have both integrated video AND 3 PCI slots...

Marc

Use the hdhomerun. According to this guy, it only draws 6 watts:

http://sprinkleofcocoa.blogspot.com/2006/12/hdhomerun-networked-hdtv-tuner.html

That's a great option for starting new, but if you already have 3 PCI tuners, switching to HDHomeRun only makes sense if you're trying to run on Solar power or something.

Yeah -- I'd rather not spend $169 to replace my 2 digital tuners, although it would reduce the number of required PCI slots. Having said this, I do need to run the experiment to understand how much of the power those 3 tuner use.

Marc

I believe there are still several micro ATX Intel boards that have 3 PCI slots. Most from other manufacturers have two PCI, 1 PCI-e x16, and 1 PCI-e x1. Does your case Need micro ATX? I don't know which Intel IGP can handle HD playback well. And I suppose that differs between 720p, 1080i and 1080p.

You might have to go with older stock, or second tier manufacturer with a non-Intel chipset to find three PCI slots. If you can't find a suitable three PCI board, you'd only have to replace one tuner with a PCI-e card. Bet you could sell the replaced one on here.

How much transcoding to other formats do you do? That seems to be the dividing line between and Core 2 and and AMD. If you're not trancoding, you only need enough CPU horsepower for playback. A dirt cheep Athlon X2 will do that.

The newer 45 wat AMD's are very budget priced and light on the power usage. Though wait a couple of weeks for the ones ending in 50 - latest revs.

Silent PC Review's current favourite hard drives are the WD Green Line. Quiet, cool, and low on the power draw. Though they are 5400 RPM, and a little slower access time, but that probably wouldn't affect this situation. The seem to idle at a very low power level.

My case does not require micro-atx. I was under the mistaken impression that I couldn't get a full-sized ATX board with on-board graphics, but I now realize that is incorrect.

I do transcode some stuff from mpeg2 to mpeg4 using mencoder, so I need to be able to do 3 recordings, 1 "niced" transcode and playback all at the same time -- current box can do this.

I currently have one of those 750GB Western Digital 5400RPM green hard drive and they are great.

Any thoughts on the AMD Athlon 4450E 2.3GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor processor?

Edit: I'm new to the AMD line of processors -- how does the previous processor compare to the AMD Athlon X2 BE-2350 Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor?

Marc

I can't help but get the feeling that Tom's Hardware lost some graphics cards and CPU's off their charts in their transition to the new owners/new look.

They don't have the 4450 and a few others on there yet. I had to choose some processors that kind of bracket the speeds and price points you wanted, but here's a link to customized list for you. Just play with the "Choose Benchmark" dropdown. For example look at HD playback, h.264 encoding, DivX encoding, in addition to the Xvid in the link.
Tom's Hardware CPU Benchmarks

The Black Edition processors are unlocked so they can be easily overclocked. For a cool, quiet, energy efficient HTPC, something you probably wouldn't consider doing.

Just sell the other tuners.... nbd....

I do multiple recordings and transcodings with an Athlon 3200+ (single core socket 754). HD playback is usually fine with transcoding set to low. I have a 6200 card that carries most of the video work. So this chip should be fast enough to do all you want and then some.

My KM box started out with a AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (2.2GHz) single core processor (65W). The motherboard is an Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard with an nvidia 6150 graphics chip onboard. That has enough graphics power to playback 1920x1080 HDTV shows just fine. The machine has 2 IDE hard drives in it. My original reason for having 2 hard drives is gone. I think if I moved back to only 1 hard drive I could save some energy.

With an Antec Earthwatts 80% efficient power supply, the machine took 89W idle and 130W under load. I later put in a dual core AMD processor to make transcoding and commercial flagging go faster. It is faster now, but the dual core processor runs hotter than the single core.

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KnoppMyth R5.5, Asus A8N-VM CSM (nvidia 6150 onboard video), AMD Athlon 64 dual-core 4200+, two 1GB sticks DDR 400, HD-3000 HDTV card, PVR-150 card, Iguanaworks RS-232 IR receiver/transmitter, Pioneer DVR-110 DVD burner

ChapmanI -- Fantastic pointer to the TOm's Hardware performance charts -- clearly shows that any of those processors will be faster than what I have now.

mogator88 -- thanks for the info. Any idea how much power you are using? Also, what tuner cards are you using?

neutron68 -- great info, thanks!

Marc

No idea how much power I'm pulling. I was going to buy a kill-a-watt the other day in fact, but right now I can't justify putting any more $$ into my setup so its got to stay the way it is.

My tuner cards are the air2pc "ebay specials" that usually sell for under $50.

Marc,

There's been some discussion of greener pc's here as well.

http://knoppmyth.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18095

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Mike
My Hardware Profile