In this section I introduce the hardware used for my multimedia computer project. I'm running MythTV frontend and backend on different machines.
1. Frontend hardware
2. Backend hardware
1. Frontend hardware
Motherboard and CPU
I chose Abit NF7-SL V2.0 as motherboard. It features nVidia nForce2 chipset and is meant for AMD Athlon XP processors. One of the main reason to choose this board was that it includes nForce2 MCP2-T Soundstorm technology, delivering Dolby Digital 5.1 sound via optical SPDIF. Ever more, this feature was possible to get work even in linux. The downside of NF7-SL V2.0 was that it has small, noise making chipset fan in it. However, I replaced the fan with Zalman ZM-NB32K heatsink. That solved the noise issue.
For CPU I chose AMD Athlon XP 2700+ which runs at 2.17 GHz. I bought my piece second hand almost at no cost. The CPU is based on Thoroughbred core and the maximum heat production is 68 W. I picked up GlacialTech Igloo Silent Breeze 462 III as processor cooler after consulting processor cooler tests. It is quiet cooler with only 19.0 dBA noise level.
Graphics card and Digital TV card
My choise was Gainward GF FX 5200. It has 128 MB DDR memory and tv-out support. More importantly, the GPU is cooled down with heatsink thus being totally silent. Even more, the chipset is very well supported in linux environment and many others have chosen it as well. Fanless graphics card was essential for making the MythTV computer as quiet as possible.
Since I'm having separate backend machine, the DVB card is attached to the backend hardware
Case and Power supply
Computer case turned out to be one of the most expensive components in my set up. Still, I went for it because I could use in the future too. I chose SilverStone Lascala-Series SST-LC03S which is designed as DVR case. It is a full ATX case providing enough expansion options. The original cooling fans kept too much noise so I replaced them with Papst 612FL with only 16 dB noise and Papst 8412N/2GMLE with 19 dB noise level. Now I can barely hear any unwanted sounds.
Silent operation in mind, I bought Nexus Silent Power NX-3500 Special Edition 350W ATX to supply power to my system. It is a quality power supply and I have been so satisfied with it that I even bought second one for my server computer.
Remote controller and irDa
I wanted universal remote controller but wasn't willing to spend too much money on that. Medion MD4689 8-in-1 is a budget remote that still performs good in its job. I can control my Samsung TV and Yamaha amplifier with this universal remote. Of cource I needed infrared receiver too. I bought mine from ir-Ben. Their Ir-receiver works fine with lirc in linux and has proven itself to be a good choice.
Besides using Medion as remote controller, I also use Mythetomer which is a software remote control for MythTV. It is available for Nokia Internet Tablets such as N800 and N810, and S60 multimedia phones such as N73 and N95, for example. Especially the version for Internet Tablets is great because of the touch screen abilities.
Other components
These really don't matter but I listed them in case you are interested. My frontend system has 2 * 512 MB DDR 400 MHz PC-3200 memory and 160 GB Samsung Spinpoint P80 harddrive. The harddrive features NoiseGuard and SilentSeek technologies providing silent operation. I also have NEC-3550 DVD-RW optical drive to listen CDs, watch DVDs and burn recordings to DVDs. My hardware configuration has no keyboard except for the installation and setup phase.