Hi,

I'm looking for a recommendation for a motherboard that will definitely work with Mythwelcome.

Recently I've been having some power related problems - initially, this meant I could not turn the computer of and now I'm having severe problems trying to get MythWelcome to work.

I've decided it's probably a flaky motherboard, so in an effort to fix this problem I will solve it with money. Actually, with the price of electricity at the moment and the lack of time I have to pursue this, I think this is the smartest solution. I intend to reuse all my other bits of kit for my mythbox.

I had a quick look at the Dragon2 specs. And I can't seem to find anywhere in the UK stocking an Intel DG965WH, so I've had a quick look around at possible alternatives.

I've turned up these two contenders:

ASUS P5B http://www.ebuyer.com/product/113965/show_product_overview
Gigabyte GA-EP31-DS3Lhttp://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=866078

Does anyone use either board? Pros and cons? Suggestions for alternatives?

The only criteria I have is it must support Mythwelcome, (ie it works for you) have 3 pci slots would be nice (so I can use all three of my tuner cards) and its socket 775 (so I can use my Intel P4-D chip in it.)

Many thanks for reading.

Kind regards,
Chris

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

Since no one is replying, I saw this board: DFI BIP35-T2R
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-041-DF

The product description states:

If it works with Mythwelcome etc. we shall see. Off to do a google search.

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

I dunno if it'll work w/ APCI wakeup, but in general DFI boards are bullet proof. I love my LT P35-T2R (not used with mythtv).

FYI, DFI generally releases products in three flavors: DK, LT, and UT.

The DK is usually a stripped down version of the LT. In some cases the DK will lack BIOS features that the LT has. In general, the DK usually has an inferior cooling for the chipset (NB/SB) in comparison to the cooling on the LT. The UT in general has better cooling (3rd party bolt on stuff) than the LT. I actually saw this is a disadvantage because the cooling for the UT version of my board was so massive that I couldn't fit the TRUE-120 on the CPU. Also, the return policy on the UT sucked because the NB cooler needed to be installed by the user and as such, most vendors do not allow exchanges unless the board is DOA. These trends many not be true for all DFI boards, but they are for the P35-T2R series.

Anyway, unless you plan to overclock the FSB, the cooling on the LT is plenty in my experience. That said, for a mythtv box, I don't think you can go wrong with the DK. Most of us running KM aren't overclocking our systems - if anything, HTPC's should be underclocked (or at least voltage minimized) to minimize heat and thus cooling to dissipate that heat (i.e. the need for loud fans, oversized heatsinks, etc.).

As to the LT board, I've been running my X3360 @ 8.4x400 on this board since day 1 and it has been rock solid. NB temps are usually under 54 °C with the factory HS and that's under a full load. Most of the time it idles around 43 °C or so depending on the room temp.

Again, DFI makes very stable products in my experience. I'll never own another brand looking forward based on my experience with this board (used to be a die-hard Asus person until the P5B-Deluxe).

Be sure you let us know how it goes!

_________________
Retired KM user (R4 - R6.04); friend to LH users.

Hey Graysky,
Thanks for the recommendation. As it happens I managed to get my current board working under APCI. Yay Mythwelcome! I think it came down to upgrading the psu, a fresh install and perhaps being a bit more thorough. Also using the suggestions by marc.aronson in this thread http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=18587&start=15.

This has saved me a few £££.

I also agree with your sentiments about under volting and under clocking. AN easy way to save a few pennies. Though with the recent price hikes on power here, it may amount to pounds. So glad I got Mythwelcome and wake-to-record working.

Many thanks.

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

As it turns out, my current Abit AW8 mobo does work with myth's mythwelcome. Hooray! Unfortunately it really doesn't play nice with my Hauppauge Nova-T500.

I reinstalled 5.5 (clean install and reinstated a backup of my original dbdump as seen here - by novellahub towards the end page 1. Went through the necessary setup: followed the howto on the wiki (with some additions from marc.aronson to kick the BIOS successfully -see previous post for link) and all good.

So I tried to replace one Nova-T with the Nova-T500. I took the card furthest from the graphics card (furthest left as the one nearest has the ir dongle plugged into it) added the Nova-T500 and shutdown fails to work, therefore no Mythwelcome.

Remove Nova-T500, and replace with regular Nova-T everything works properly again.

Very weird. I believe the dual tuners are connected via a usb hub on the PCB. I think this iw what is being flaky, perhaps not unmounting when a shutdown request is received, so just hangs.

Anyone else seeing any similar problems with dual tuner cards? Or is it just mine?

Many thanks.

_________________
Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)