Intel or AMD for SageTV PC?

[CadErik]

I currently have an AMD 2500+ and a MSI VIA based motherboard. It's giving me some serious troubles with standby (I'm 90% positive it's the motherboard). So I plan to either switch to an Intel (Socket 775) or AMD (Socket 939). Does anyone have a good experience with either one and would have some micro ATX motherboards to recommend?

Thanks

Erik.

[mayamaniac]

For stability, always go with intel CPUs and motherboards. If you go with AMD, make sure the motherboard is using nvidia nForce4 chipset and not VIA. But the intel Core 2 duo currently is outperforming AMD's dual cores, so you might want to get intel instead.

[waltraud]

Hi,

I am currently running an AMD X2 3800 on an Asus A8N-E and the system is running rock solid.
If you are using the PC exclusively for Sage a Core Duo would probably be overkill. My CPU utilization is usually around 10% while watching TV and goes up to 30-50 (~80% for one core the other is still at around 10%) when watching AVIs on the MVP.
I had some bad experiences with memory lately (especially DDR2) so I would definitely recommend running e.g. Prime95 to stress test system to make sure that the hardware is ok.
As CadErik said you should stay away from VIA but go for an NVidia chipset instead.

[Crashless]

I would definitely build any new system with a Core 2 Duo. The only way I see it as overkill is if you never plan on using your system for HDTV. If you're staying with SDTV for a long while, then a core solo would be fine, but the price difference isn't too big, why not get 2 cores?

I've read a lot of good things about NVidia's new 600 series motherboard chipset, so I would take a close look at that when building too.

[mayamaniac]

Even if you are not using HD, it can still be CPU intensive if you have multiple MVP extenders running at the same time, and on top of that, if you have comskip and video conversion processings, the new feature in v6. And if you throw HD in that mix, I don't think it can ever be overkill if you want flexibility in terms of expanded future functionalities out of your current media server.

CadEric, if you go with micro ATX, you might as well consider the Mac mini core duo.

[waltraud]

Sorry. Didn't think about HDTV

It's not really common in the "Old World" yet.

[lobosrul]

First off, if your interested in HDTV the most important thing you can do is buy a good video card and use nividia Purevideo. I'd recommend at least a 7600GT.

I'm an AMD fanboy, but yes Intel is kicking AMD's ass these days. But if your looking for a bargain, AMD is where its at. Definantly get an Nvidia 4 chipset if you go that route.

An AMD CPU is no less reliable than an intel cpu. There are some cheap mobos that might give you problems.

Bottom line is, even with the CPU you have now, with the right decoders and vid card you should have no problem even with HD playback. Upgrade if you want faster encoding or your a gamer. EDIT: I guess MVP's are cpu intesive too, so add that.


I'm running a 4400+ BTW. My CPU usage is very low, the only playback that even comes close to 10% CPU usage is hi-def h.264's.