Time to spec another PC! HTPC this time...

Percy1983

well my server let's me use my tv tuners on my phone or any other pc with an internet connection. also shares the tuners over my network so my other pcs can use them.

irisandalex

Percy1983 wrote: »

well my server let's me use my tv tuners on my phone or any other pc with an internet connection. also shares the tuners over my network so my other pcs can use them.

Aha, I'm with you, I thought you were talking old school landlines....

Percy1983

How about:
http://www.ebuyer.com/281336-amd-llano-a6-a3500-2-1ghz-socket-fm1-3mb-l2-cache-retail-boxed-ad3500ojgxbox

Something like:
http://www.ebuyer.com/274051-asrock-a75m-a75-socket-fm1-7-1-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-a75m

irisandalex

Percy1983 wrote: »

How about:
http://www.ebuyer.com/281336-amd-llano-a6-a3500-2-1ghz-socket-fm1-3mb-l2-cache-retail-boxed-ad3500ojgxbox

Something like:
http://www.ebuyer.com/274051-asrock-a75m-a75-socket-fm1-7-1-channel-hd-audio-matx-motherboard-a75m

Pretty impressive! Only thing is that it doesn't have old fashioned UltraDMA PATA input, which would be handy.

Do you know what the advantage is of this GPU on a chip, over a motherboard with integrated GPU? Cheaper? Faster? Lower power?

I've been looking at this motherboard, which is a fair bit more expensive:

http://www.dabs.com/products/asus-am3--amd-880g---sb850-ddr3-atx--radeon-hd4250--7JG1.html

Percy1983

PATA http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-in-1-Sata-to-IDE-IDE-to-Sata-HDD-Converter-C18-/180901915616?pt=UK_Computing_Drive_Cables_Adapters&hash=item2a1e982be0

The overall advantage is cheaper and massively more power efficient as well as less heat so less cooling and less noise.

As mentioned my HTPC is based on one for those very reasons, I did go for more powerful version, but the tuners being feesat HDx2 and freeview HDx2 plus transcoding for streaming etc

With that the only drawback is they can't fit as much power in there, as in if you wanted all out gaming then it would be separate graphics/cpu, but thats not really relevant for this.

irisandalex

Have you got any references you can pass me showing the energy efficiency gains of an APU vs CPU + integrated graphics?

Thanks for the PATA/IDE converter link. Any idea how that affects performance of the PATA drive, compared to an onboard connection for it?

Percy1983

Struggling to find details on power consumption, its hard as they other more graphical grunt than the intels but consume a little more power. With that the i3s cost nearly twice as much.

With that at full tilt it will use around 70 watt with an idle around 30 watt, if I I think back to the spec of your last build that probably uses around 70 while idling and around 130 at full tilt.

Essentially the CPU-GPU single chip is just more efficient, in short its the way of most laptops now for that very reason.

irisandalex

I guess you've seen figures for the onboard graphics chip power usage then have you?

Percy1983

I knew I had somewhere:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-785g-chipset,2381-15.html

Based on the 785g but the 880g is similar spec.

I will go back to the stb idea, what do you plan to use the media pc for, as there is some excellent boxes if its just TV.

I know in my cases, its freeviewHD/freesatHD integrated into a single guide sharing tuners across other devices, massive music storage, DVD/Blu-ray/HD-DVD playback as well as general internet when wanted. So as you know no stb does all that.

The other thing with power consumption is getting it to sleep when not in use, if you do go ahead I will give you some pointers on the best setup software wise.

irisandalex

You've convinced me on the Llano, if nothing else because the motherboards are a fair bit cheaper (or at least those that feature a S/PDIF).

I see that motherboard is the cheapest ebuyer do, with S/PDIF, so it's now just whether I should get one with more space (ATX) or more ram slots.....

Definitely no to a set top box.