I’m still working on getting my parent’s iMac loaded up with what they need.
I’ve also got another project going. MythTV.

I’ve got an old 900MHz AMD Athon chugging away on Fedora Core 6 with MythTV up and running.
However, I’m pretty sure that machine will choke on the first pixel of video it sees.
Here is what I’ve decided to go with and I’ve also listed the items I was comparing.

It looks like I’ll be out $719.00 (USD) plus shipping and handling.
Compare that to a TiVo with the subscription and stuff and I think over time I’ll come out ok.

PVR Software: MythTv
Computer OS: Red Hat Fedora Core 6
AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor $109.00 CPU
GIGABYTE GA-M59SLI-S5 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI $185.00 Motherboard
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5/1G $70.00 x 2 RAM
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 $135.00 hopefully will work with my analog cable
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 $110.00 hdtv ready but has s-video, too
StreamZap IR Remote Control $40 I’m lazy whilst watching the boob tube. Get over it.

———– The contenders ———-

I’m looking at the following CPUs (Dual Cores using AM2 socket):
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.6GHz Socket AM2 Processor $229.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ 2.4GHz Socket AM2 Processor $189.00
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor $140.00
AMD Athlon 64X2 3800+ 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor $109.00

While I would love the top end, I’m hoping loading up with the Hauppauge and the NVIDIA card will suffice
and I can comfortably get away with a 2 GHz AM2 processor. I can always upgrade later.

Motherboard (something compatible with NVIDIA graphics cards):
EPoX EP-AF590SLI2 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI $175.00
No firewire on-board might be a touch of a problem.
4X DDR2 533/667/800 Dual Channel RAM
Dual PCI-E x 16 SLI slots
2x PCI
1x PCI-E
Dual Gigabit LAN
8 Channel Audio w/ SPDIF

GIGABYTE GA-M59SLI-S5 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI $185.00
Supports 16GB RAM
Firewire OnBoard
2 PCI-E 16x
1 PCI-E 8x
2 PCI-E 1x
2 PCI
external SATA device support
1 Gigabit Network Controller
SATA 2
SPDIF
4x DDR2 400/533/667/800 Dual Channel RAM 1.8v ECC
Loaded with other stuff including hardware monitoring


MSI K9N4 SLI-F NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI $85.00
8GB RAM maximum
2x PCI-E 16x
2 PCI-E 1x
2 PCI 3.3v or 5V PCI


EPoX EP-AF550GPRO nVidia GeForce 6100-430 $83.00
4x DDR2 533/667/800 Dual Channel DIMM 1.8v non-ECC
4 PCI v2.3 connectors
1 PCI-E
1 PCI-E 16x

Tuner Cards
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 500 $135.00
Though I’m not thrilled with some reviews, others are good. Apparently the PVR 250 has a better picture. Also, something to do with there are two versions of the PVR 500. The good one (REV A) has the Philips converters and the bad one (REV B) has some crappy Samsung ones. I’ll risk it and return the bad one if it poses a problem.

pcHDTV HD-5500 $130
Again. I’ve heard many good things about this. However, I currently don’t have HDTV, nor do I have an HDTV antenna.
I will probably add this to the mix once that gets ironed out. Just not for now.

Video Card
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 $110.00
I want a decent, inexpensive 7xxx series NVIDIA video card and this seems to fit the budget (whatever it is).

Remote Control
StreamZap IR Remote Control $40
Not sure I’ll go this route, but I don’t wnat an RF remote in the house. We’ve got enough electronics buzzing around in here.

RAM
Kingston 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5/1G $70.00 x 2