knoppmyth.net

cecil · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 12:28 am Post subject: Atomic Ant

# CASE: In Win BM 639
# PSU: 120 Watt (see above)
# MOTHERBOARD: Intel D945GCLF2
# CPU: Atom 330 (see above).
# RAM: 2 Gigabytes.
# CPU HEATSINK: See Intel link.
# NORTHBRIDGE HEATSINK: See Intel link.
# CD/DVD-RW: Slimline TSST dual layer DVD burner.
# HDD: 500 Gigabyte WD
# GRAPHICS CARD: Sparkle nVidia GeForce 8400 GS w/ 512 MB (PCI).
# SOUNDCARD: See Intel link.
# TUNER CARD: Hauppauge HVR-850
# REMOTE CONTROL: TBD.
# WIRELESS KEYBOARD: Phillips SWK-8630

I'm really happy with the Atomic Ant. The loudest thing is the Northbridge heatsink fan combo. Please note, this system is Tier 1 with R6. While R5.5 did boot w/ AA, I didn't test it extensively.

graysky · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1754 Location: /dev/null

Have you tried playing HD content encoded to x264 on this setup? 1280x720 or 1920x1080? As I understand it, x264 is more CPU intensive than xvid or mpeg-2.
_________________
KM user since R4

christ · Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 268 Location: Ottawa, Canada

hah. you beat me to the punch. I was curious about essentially the same thing. I'm on the quest for HD playback and looking for a processor and video card combo to ensure a decent lifespan (what ever that really is).
And ideally not relying on VDPAU in the short term.

The parameters that seem to matter are CODEC H.264 vs VC-1 and bitrate. Much content is in H.264 (say from the cableco) and it is certainly more intensive for decoding than mpeg or divx/xvid. VC-1 may be even more onerous though. It is usually on Bluray (where you can get really high bit rates in theory; say 45Mbps) or with HDPVR (my desire) where it can get up to 15Mbps.

I think if I can find a combo that does say 15Mbps in VC-1 without VDPAU then I'm probably good.

Cecil, do you have any data on either the Atomic Ant or the Parcel to answer this?

Marc Allan Feldman · Joined: 18 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

I have been reading about problems running s-video out under linux with the D945GCLF2 .

Have you found a solution for this?

Regards,

Marc

cecil · Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 6:57 pm Post subject:

Due to work work, getting R6 ready for SCALE and other life issues, I'm not have time to play w/ VDPAU on AA or Parcel. Davilla did post some performance numbers on his Atom. That is the same model that is in AA. @Marc as I'm not using the videochip on the D945GCLF2, I'm not using it's video out.

christ · Joined: 24 Dec 2007 Posts: 268 Location: Ottawa, Canada

Thanks.

For others, I believe the thread is the following:
http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19169

useful information for AA.

C

graysky · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1754 Location: /dev/null

graysky · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 1754 Location: /dev/null

@Cesman - What are the idle/load temps of the GPU on the passively cooled 8400GS that you've used in the machine? I'm sure you know, but if case you didn't, you can get the temps either from nvidia-settings (GUI) or from nvclock -i (shell).

Thank you!
_________________
KM user since R4

jzigmyth · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:13 am Post subject: Re: Atomic Ant

davilla · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 95

If you are pushing decoded 1080p, then PCI gets saturated, but you're not pushing decoded 1080p across the bus with vdpau. The encoded bit stream is pushed. This drops the bus transfer rate many orders of magnitude and makes 1080p over PCI possible.

Side note, this also means that a 1X pci-e nvidia card would also be fine :)

jzigmyth · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 10:14 am Post subject:

davilla · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 95

jzigmyth · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 7:23 am Post subject:

cecil · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:40 pm Post subject:

davilla · Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 95

hehe, I hear you cecil.

BTW. vdpau is running now under XBMC for Linux with working overlays using openGL.