Asrock Ion 330 issue

[totallymaxed]

Hi Andrew,

the real issue with NC30's, or indeed any Atom based Core's, is the Regen processing overhead - the Atom really is not ideal for this type of processing

could u explain more about the regen processing, what exactly is it and what will i notice in every day use?

since my my mobo broke i am looking how to build a new core/hybrid and 1 of the key features would be energy efficiently, this is where the ion performance really well.
but if i have to wait 5 minutes after i press a key, its not worth it.

i am thinking about using 2 or 4 gb of ram will this change anything for the ion?

thanks
br,
Raymond

Whenever you make changes to your LinuxMCE (or Dianemo/Cascade) system that require the UI to be changed in some way...change of resolution on an MD or adding a new Room or Entertainment Area...or one that requires a new device configuration of some kind then a 'Full Regen' will be needed. This regen process runs on your Core and is a compute intensive task that will stress any of the current Atom class processors. A 4-5 MD configuration with a modest number of controlled devices (1 x IP Cam, 2 lights & 1 x rs232 controlled audio amplifier) can take in excess of 2 hours to regen on an Atom based Core. Now if your systems config is unlikely to change ever then you might accept this - however our experience is that systems do need regens now and then and in the end we have found that the regen processing bottleneck is in the end unlikely to be acceptable to many users.

The regen performance will not directly affect your everyday performance...but on an Atom based system your Core will essentially be unusable while a regen is being processed. Adding more RAM will not improve the regen performance.

All the best

Andrew

[RayBe]

thanks Andrew for your clear explanation.
it helps me a lot.

do u recommend a specific cpu, i was thinking in the lines of:
AMD Athlon II X3 400e, Triple-core 2,2GHz
or
AMD Athlon II X2 235e, Dual-core 2,7GHz

wich is better, more cores or greater Ghz.

All the best,
Raymond

[totallymaxed]

thanks Andrew for your clear explanation.
it helps me a lot.

do u recommend a specific cpu, i was thinking in the lines of:
AMD Athlon II X3 400e, Triple-core 2,2GHz
or
AMD Athlon II X2 235e, Dual-core 2,7GHz

wich is better, more cores or greater Ghz.

All the best,
Raymond

I would suggest using a mid priced dual core processor with a reasonable amount of cache - the AMD Athlon II X2 235e, Dual-core 2,7GHz would seem to meet that general spec pretty well. We build our Dianemo Core's using server grade motherboards/processors/memory but our Cascade product line uses consumer grade hardware (Intel based though).

My home core however is a Dianemo unit we no longer manufacture and is based on a Gigabyte 945 motherboard with a single Core 3Ghz Intel processor... it works fine though.

All the best


Andrew

[posde]

wich is better, more cores or greater Ghz.

imho it makes logical sense to get > one cores, as we have a bunch of services that run in parallel (MySQL, DCERouter, UpdateMedia). I don't think you will find a big difference after going to > one core.

[RayBe]

ok thanks all for your help,

would it make sense to get a intel instead of a amd system?
if so wich?

br
Raymond

[totallymaxed]

ok thanks all for your help,

would it make sense to get a intel instead of a amd system?
if so wich?

br
Raymond

Why not look through the user setups pages on the Wiki - http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Category:User_Setups

I agree with Posde that Dual Core is better...really there is little to choose between Intel and AMD in real world usage as a Core - don't get hung up on 'bleeding edge' processor features...you dont need them. The more important decision is to choose a motherboard that is well supported so that its various I/O features are working 'out of the box' so to speak. So looking at the user pages is a very good place to get that info.

The point i was making about my home system is that even though it is in no way 'bleeding' edge technology in terms of its motherboard/processor/memory it performs very well and until it dies from hardware failure i will not be replacing it. So choose a well supported board with a mid-priced/performance processor option and 2gig of RAM to start with and you will well served for some considerable time.

All the best



Andrew

[RayBe]

Ok, thanks or your excelent advice, i was already looking into the user setups on the wiki
I wanna get a mobo with lots of sata and pcie connectors on it so it can be expanded if i need to,
Been interested in gigabyte 770 and 870 series as they have a lot of connectivity on them.

Thanks a lot,
I will post a wiki of my setup if i get it up and running

Br

Raymond