P5K-E as a HDTV server

I just bought a P5K-E motherboard to use as a media server along with the
OnAir HDTV USB device. Has anyone packed this MB in a smallish footprint
case without burning it up?

It's got a heat pipe for the support chip that "exits" near the I/O
backplane. I haven't even bought memory or a CPU for it yet, since I'd like
to find out what will run the coolest yet have enough horsepower to deal
with on-the-fly HDTV decoding.

I'm going for very low noise and very low power consumption but enough
horspower to get the job done. The very cheap Acer Inspire laptop I have is
*almost* fast enough, but it gets the audio and video progressively more out
of synch and so isn't good enough for real-world use. I am assuming that
won't be an issue with the kind of CPUs and video cards that the P5K-E
supports. Any thoughts would be welcome.

I've been considering an Intel E6600 at 2.4GHz for the CPU and perhaps an:
Asus EN8800 GTX w/768MB for the video card but I'm going to look around
more before making a final decision on those items as well as what kind of
memory to use. As a NON-pioneer, for the most part, I usually look to see
what other people are using successfully and what sort of apps they use to
try to determine what memory to use. I most likely won't overclock - in
fact I might even underclock since I don't need to overkill the problem and
I want to consume only as much electricity as the problem requires.

Since I want it to be as energy efficient as possible I'd like it to draw
the fewest watts possible to do the job when awake, and consuming very
little voltage when asleep. I've been looking at a number of "deep green"
PC power supplies - does anyone have any recommendations?

The last Asus machines I built were P5A's (and they're all still running,
24x7!) so I am a little rusty on some of the new connectors and missing old
ones
(no more PS/2 mouse cable!) as well as other issues but the basical
technology doesn't seem to have changed much.

While I want the machine to be able to run Vista, I will probably run some
Linux variant at some point. The OnAir device takes HD and analog video
signals from on the air or from a cable connection and send them into the PC
via a USB 2.0 connection. The OnAir's got me locked into Windows for the
time being.

I like the features of the board and its Intel P35 chipset: 12 USB 2.0
ports, 1x eSATA port and the S-ATA port disable which allows disabling any
installed internal hard driven, built-in magnetized WiFi adapter, DDR2-1066
memory, ADI SoundMAX 7.1 High-Definition audio, Firewire and two LAN
connections. There appears to be ample space for even huge CPU coolers.

I realize that high-definition content will requires far more available
bandwidth than WiFi can deliver. IIRC it's between 1.3MB/s and 1.8MB/s for
content encoded at 720p.

One of the things that interests me the most is AI Nap. Is anyone using it?

Eric

Eric Wolfe wrote:
I just bought a P5K-E motherboard to use as a media server along with the
OnAir HDTV USB device. Has anyone packed this MB in a smallish footprint
case without burning it up?

It's got a heat pipe for the support chip that "exits" near the I/O
backplane. I haven't even bought memory or a CPU for it yet, since I'd like
to find out what will run the coolest yet have enough horsepower to deal
with on-the-fly HDTV decoding.

I'm going for very low noise and very low power consumption but enough
horspower to get the job done. The very cheap Acer Inspire laptop I have is
*almost* fast enough, but it gets the audio and video progressively more out
of synch and so isn't good enough for real-world use. I am assuming that
won't be an issue with the kind of CPUs and video cards that the P5K-E
supports. Any thoughts would be welcome.

I've been considering an Intel E6600 at 2.4GHz for the CPU and perhaps an:
Asus EN8800 GTX w/768MB for the video card but I'm going to look around
more before making a final decision on those items as well as what kind of
memory to use. As a NON-pioneer, for the most part, I usually look to see
what other people are using successfully and what sort of apps they use to
try to determine what memory to use. I most likely won't overclock - in
fact I might even underclock since I don't need to overkill the problem and
I want to consume only as much electricity as the problem requires.

Since I want it to be as energy efficient as possible I'd like it to draw
the fewest watts possible to do the job when awake, and consuming very
little voltage when asleep. I've been looking at a number of "deep green"
PC power supplies - does anyone have any recommendations?

The last Asus machines I built were P5A's (and they're all still running,
24x7!) so I am a little rusty on some of the new connectors and missing old
ones
(no more PS/2 mouse cable!) as well as other issues but the basical
technology doesn't seem to have changed much.

While I want the machine to be able to run Vista, I will probably run some
Linux variant at some point. The OnAir device takes HD and analog video
signals from on the air or from a cable connection and send them into the PC
via a USB 2.0 connection. The OnAir's got me locked into Windows for the
time being.

I like the features of the board and its Intel P35 chipset: 12 USB 2.0
ports, 1x eSATA port and the S-ATA port disable which allows disabling any
installed internal hard driven, built-in magnetized WiFi adapter, DDR2-1066
memory, ADI SoundMAX 7.1 High-Definition audio, Firewire and two LAN
connections. There appears to be ample space for even huge CPU coolers.

I realize that high-definition content will requires far more available
bandwidth than WiFi can deliver. IIRC it's between 1.3MB/s and 1.8MB/s for
content encoded at 720p.

One of the things that interests me the most is AI Nap. Is anyone using it?

Eric

I'm not sure I understand what the 8800GTX is for. That particular card uses
a brute force method for video acceleration. Actually, the low end of the
family has better video acceleration features (true for both ATI and Nvidia).

The trick is, to make sure that the video card's dedicated video engine,
accelerates what you plan on playing on the screen. Then it is possible
to use a low end video card, plus a low end CPU. If you aren't gaining any
benefit from the video card, then the processor has to be better endowed.

The Conroe-L is a single core processor with a 35W power rating. It is
half of a Core2 Duo, with less cache. A reviewer comment here, rates it
as a "4GHz Celeron" in terms of performance. It is probably a bit less than
that.

Intel Celeron 440 Conroe-L 2.0GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116038

For HDTV playback, I might be tempted to try an 8500 or 8600.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=1
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/ (list of cards and their GPUs)

ATI apparently, on paper, handles a bit more HD content in hardware.
But a feature doesn't exist, unless there is a driver to make it go,
so as of today, they are equal solutions.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...tecture_9.html

Here is a head to head benchmark of the competitors accelerating VC1
playback. Dunno what the driver situation is here.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3.../index.x?pg=10

The previous page is H.264.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3...0/index.x?pg=9

Hard to tell whether that Conroe-L would be enough for movie playback
or not (because I don't know if a single core of their high end dual
core, is doing the work or not). The machine would probably not be doing
much else, than playing the movie. With the single core, you have all
activities sharing the processor, so it will behave a lot like an AthlonXP.

You could always experiment with the Conroe-L, then upgrade if it turns
out to be too weak. Or overclock it a bit.

Paul

"Paul" wrote in message ...
Eric Wolfe wrote:
I just bought a P5K-E motherboard to use as a media server along with
the
OnAir HDTV USB device. Has anyone packed this MB in a smallish
footprint
case without burning it up?

It's got a heat pipe for the support chip that "exits" near the I/O
backplane. I haven't even bought memory or a CPU for it yet, since I'd
like
to find out what will run the coolest yet have enough horsepower to deal
with on-the-fly HDTV decoding.

I'm going for very low noise and very low power consumption but enough
horspower to get the job done. The very cheap Acer Inspire laptop I
have is
*almost* fast enough, but it gets the audio and video progressively more
out
of synch and so isn't good enough for real-world use. I am assuming
that
won't be an issue with the kind of CPUs and video cards that the P5K-E
supports. Any thoughts would be welcome.

I've been considering an Intel E6600 at 2.4GHz for the CPU and perhaps
an:
Asus EN8800 GTX w/768MB for the video card but I'm going to look around
more before making a final decision on those items as well as what kind
of
memory to use. As a NON-pioneer, for the most part, I usually look to
see
what other people are using successfully and what sort of apps they use
to
try to determine what memory to use. I most likely won't overclock - in
fact I might even underclock since I don't need to overkill the problem
and
I want to consume only as much electricity as the problem requires.

Since I want it to be as energy efficient as possible I'd like it to
draw
the fewest watts possible to do the job when awake, and consuming very
little voltage when asleep. I've been looking at a number of "deep
green"
PC power supplies - does anyone have any recommendations?

The last Asus machines I built were P5A's (and they're all still
running,
24x7!) so I am a little rusty on some of the new connectors and missing
old
ones
(no more PS/2 mouse cable!) as well as other issues but the basical
technology doesn't seem to have changed much.

While I want the machine to be able to run Vista, I will probably run
some
Linux variant at some point. The OnAir device takes HD and analog video
signals from on the air or from a cable connection and send them into
the PC
via a USB 2.0 connection. The OnAir's got me locked into Windows for
the
time being.

I like the features of the board and its Intel P35 chipset: 12 USB 2.0
ports, 1x eSATA port and the S-ATA port disable which allows disabling
any
installed internal hard driven, built-in magnetized WiFi adapter,
DDR2-1066
memory, ADI SoundMAX 7.1 High-Definition audio, Firewire and two LAN
connections. There appears to be ample space for even huge CPU coolers.

I realize that high-definition content will requires far more available
bandwidth than WiFi can deliver. IIRC it's between 1.3MB/s and 1.8MB/s
for
content encoded at 720p.

One of the things that interests me the most is AI Nap. Is anyone using
it?

Eric

I'm not sure I understand what the 8800GTX is for. That particular card
uses
a brute force method for video acceleration. Actually, the low end of the
family has better video acceleration features (true for both ATI and
Nvidia).

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. I spec'ed that card because it
was one of the few that I could confirm via review that ran without
incident. I also chose it because my experience (admittedly quite dated)
with recording video in the past always meant going with a high-end video
card if I didn't want dropped frames or other artifacts.

The trick is, to make sure that the video card's dedicated video engine,
accelerates what you plan on playing on the screen. Then it is possible
to use a low end video card, plus a low end CPU. If you aren't gaining any
benefit from the video card, then the processor has to be better endowed.

I agree wholeheartedly! The big issue is to figure out which cards do HDTV
processing without problems. Lots of the high-end video cards seem quite
dedicated to 3D game playing, which I assume is a very different sort of
task than HD TV decoding.

The Conroe-L is a single core processor with a 35W power rating. It is
half of a Core2 Duo, with less cache. A reviewer comment here, rates it
as a "4GHz Celeron" in terms of performance. It is probably a bit less
than
that.

I've never been a fan of Celerons but that's based on very outdated
experience with 400MHz Celery's in Abit motherboards. It's probably not
particularly relevant to today's CPU's. It would make a good starting point
however, and if I need more CPU, I'd end up with a "swap testable" CPU in
the odds and ends bin.

Intel Celeron 440 Conroe-L 2.0GHz 512KB L2 Cache LGA 775 $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116038

I like the price, but I'm thinking that I probably would like to get a dual
core CPU because it's more likely to be able to support multiple HDTV
streams. There's a device called the HomeRun HDTV
http://www.9thtee.com/hdhomerun.htm that I am thinking of getting to replace
the OnAir GT unit because it seems to put an incredible strain on the USB
port and hence makes recording to an external USB drive problematic.


For HDTV playback, I might be tempted to try an 8500 or 8600.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=1
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/ (list of cards and
their GPUs)

Thanks! That article said:

"Obviously these days most third party DVR applications have been made
obsolete by the advent of Microsoft's Media Center 10-ft UI, but when the
competition was tough, ATI was truly on top."

I hope that's not true. Media Center seems to be crawling with DRM and all
sorts of other bad things that the RIAA, MPAA, Disney & Hollywood want but
expect end-users like you and me to pay for. Somehow, when considering MS
products these days I feel like a captured revolutionary in Garibaldi's days
being told: "If you want to be buried after we shoot you, you had better
begin digging your own grave."

I'm not 100% sure but I recall a lot of talk about how poorly it handled
multiple tuners. What I am trying to do is emulate the ease of use and
functionality of my Panasonic DVREH75V without the hassle of having to
off-load the recorded video to DVD from the internal proprietarially
formatted HD. The Panasonic has great interactivity with the TV guide. You
look at the listings, point and shoot, basically. There are several serious
downsides though. No easy offloading is the biggest gripe, but the fact
that it's not HD capable and that I am at the mercy of my local cable
company as to whether they provide the TV Guide signal are other
considerations. As I type, I realize I should post this paragraph in a
different newsgroup. I just wanted to give you an idea of what I was going
to use the device for. To record HDTV, store it and pipe it through the
house over my ethernet network. Currently it's 100, but soon it will be
gigabit.

ATI apparently, on paper, handles a bit more HD content in hardware.
But a feature doesn't exist, unless there is a driver to make it go,
so as of today, they are equal solutions.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...tecture_9.html

Ah, ATI. I've just switched or more correctly, I'm upgrading my ECS K7S5AP
machines from ATI-Radeon based cards to Biostar 6800XE boards. I just got
tired of futzing with ATI drivers. So far, so good except for a slight drop
in hard drive transfer rates I'm still trying to run down.

Here is a head to head benchmark of the competitors accelerating VC1
playback. Dunno what the driver situation is here.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3.../index.x?pg=10

The previous page is H.264.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2007q3...0/index.x?pg=9

Hard to tell whether that Conroe-L would be enough for movie playback
or not (because I don't know if a single core of their high end dual
core, is doing the work or not). The machine would probably not be doing
much else, than playing the movie. With the single core, you have all
activities sharing the processor, so it will behave a lot like an
AthlonXP.

There's the rub. It's really hard to tell what the load on the CPU will
look like until you actual hook up all the components and software.

You could always experiment with the Conroe-L, then upgrade if it turns
out to be too weak. Or overclock it a bit.

That sounds like the best gameplan. I think I will buy the cheapest CPU I
can get and run some tests and keep it as a spare only because I remember
how hard it was to troubleshoot a dead CPU without an extra one to swap out!
It doesn't seem that the fast chips get marked down as much or as quickly as
they used to when a new, faster chip or chip line comes out. Oh well.

Paul, thanks for taking the time out to respond so thoroughly. I really
appreciate it!

Eric