Which CPU is the best choice

[Ken C]

The current HTPC is powered by an Intel 3.0 gHz P4 (Northwood). The plan is to buy a new motherboard (Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G) and xfer the E6400 Core2Duo (Conroe) from my desktop. And drop in a new quad core, say either the Q6600 or Q9300, ( depending on the stimulus check arrival ) into the desktop.

The question, is the E6400 any 'faster' than the current 3 gHz P4 ? Or should the new quad go into the HTPC and my desktop stay with the E6400 ?

I will be adding a HDHomerun to the existing four Hauppauge 150's

[Ken C]

Ok, think I found the answer, assuming this chart is valid,

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

The E6400 benchmarks faster than the 3 gHz P4. So, the E6400 will take over the Sage machine residing in the Gigabyte mb with 3 gig of ram. It will have 4 - 150 analog tuners and an networked HDHR.

No changes planned for the server, 3.2 gHz P4 with 2 gig of ram. Any need to upgrade it ?

And, with a quad core in the desktop, AOE should just scream !!

Now, I need to find some use for an Abit AI7 mb and a P4.

[Lucas]

I have recently built a SageTV Client PC with a GA-P35-S3G and a 6550 dual core cpu. It's at least 4 times faster than my 2.8Ghz P4 CPU on my server.

I am thinking of updating my server but in my case I do some transcoding on the server. Otherwise there's no need really to upgrade the server.

You could do any CPU intensive work on your desktop.

What I did with an old mobo+cpu combination is to built a NAS PC out of it using NASLiteV2 or even Windows for connecting a few drives and using it to store imported videos. Just a thought.......

[Ken C]

Thanks Lucas. And I am thinking of another use for the old mb. It will become the HO railroad brains. That will be the sixth computer !!! Sure hope XP Pro is still available.