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rldev · 2013-12-02, 19:48

Hello Friends,
I was hoping some of you could recommend a cpu for what I want to setup.

I want to build an htpc strictly for live tv and pvr usage. I want to keep the price as modest as possible. I already picked up a NAS enclousre and an ssd from the weekend sales. While I was going to go with a Zotac ID12, I think I want to move my PCIe 4 tuner Ceton card into this build.
So this machine needs to be able handling recording four shows at once. With up two 3 extenders running at once. It should work for both XBMC and Winodws Media Center.

On my current system I run a Phenom II x4 840 with 8GB. But this is also my work station. I want to isolate the media server from my workstation as it has proven to sometimes be a headache when there is a problem. I am looking for something that will be able to be run in a small case, stay cool and is energy efficient and quiet. Of course it has to be to handle my needs for a media center pc. I don't play games.

CaptainPsycho · 2013-12-03, 01:25

Recording digital TV is no cpu intensive task.
So if you don't need 3D just take a cheap dualcore celeron and you're fine.

rldev · 2013-12-03, 02:22

When I had an Athlon x2, the two cpu cores were not enough as they would always max out. I don't know how a Athlon x2 would compare to a modern day celeron or i3 or AMD apu. Ceton recommends a core per extender simultaneously running, but I find that to be a bit much.

CaptainPsycho · 2013-12-03, 11:20

Hmm, can it be that the pc has to decode the tv-stream somehow?
In germany the normal tv-stream is free, so it just has to be forwarded or saved to hdd.

And one core is quite unspecific. :-(

**Dougie Fresh** · 2013-12-03, 20:53

A Core i5-4430 is only $190 so it's not so bad. That's only $50 more than an i3. And later it would make a good workstation if you want to change your HTPC to the next greatest thing. If you live near MicroCenter an i5-4570 is $160. Shop around and I bet you can find a decent Haswell i5 deal.

nickr · 2013-12-03, 21:40

(2013-12-03, 02:22)rldev Wrote: When I had an Athlon x2, the two cpu cores were not enough as they would always max out. I don't know how a Athlon x2 would compare to a modern day celeron or i3 or AMD apu. Ceton recommends a core per extender simultaneously running, but I find that to be a bit much.

If that is so then WMC must be hugely inefficient. You could run mythbackend on a celeron with 2G RAM for half a dozen clients.

**Dougie Fresh** · (This post was last modified: 2013-12-03, 22:41 by Dougie Fresh.)

(2013-12-03, 21:40)nickr Wrote:
(2013-12-03, 02:22)rldev Wrote: When I had an Athlon x2, the two cpu cores were not enough as they would always max out. I don't know how a Athlon x2 would compare to a modern day celeron or i3 or AMD apu. Ceton recommends a core per extender simultaneously running, but I find that to be a bit much.
If that is so then WMC must be hugely inefficient. You could run mythbackend on a celeron with 2G RAM for half a dozen clients.

Each extender is similar to an RDP session on the machine. Extenders are just dumb clients.

CaptainPsycho · 2013-12-04, 01:20

(2013-12-03, 22:40)Dougie Fresh Wrote: Each extender is similar to an RDP session on the machine. Extenders are just dumb clients.

Ah and so everything has to be done by cpu and no hw acceleration on gpu is available ... Confused

**Dougie Fresh** · 2013-12-04, 01:57

(2013-12-04, 01:20)CaptainPsycho Wrote:
(2013-12-03, 22:40)Dougie Fresh Wrote: Each extender is similar to an RDP session on the machine. Extenders are just dumb clients.

Ah and so everything has to be done by cpu and no hw acceleration on gpu is available ...

Media files are treated differently and use a different protocol so they are either streamed or transcoded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Med...r_Extender