Dual Core vs Quad?

[brainy]

Hi guys, I'm looking at buying hardware at the moment and was wondering if LInuxMCE benefits from a quad core or not really?
Dual Core's seem cheap cheap, and the next cheapest quad core is a little jump in price. I don't mind spending the little extra knowing that it will benefit from it in any way.

My other item i'm stuck on is the tuner card. In Aus we use the dvb-t signal but want something that is good and wont skip etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys.

[colinjones]

Highly unlikely to benefit you at all, a dual core is perfectly fine, as is 2GB RAM although you can get away with less, particularly if you aren't building a very large installation. Focus on the video, networking and audio chipsets and search for their model numbers on the wiki and here to confirm compatibility. nVidia is the way to go for video - 6200 up is fine, you may want something in the 8XXX or 9XXX series if you hope to use hardware video decoding acceleration in the future (not currently supported, but coming), but don't go overboard on video as it isn't necessary. Intel NICs are popular (remember you will need 2 NICs for the core). Audio should be fine if the manufacturer has a Linux ALSA driver that is compatible with kernel 2.6.22-14.

For DVB-T, you might want to wait for support of the new HDHomeRun DVB-T that was just released in Australia. The older ATSC version is plug n play compatible with LMCE, and it shouldn't be long before the new version is added. Failing that the only one I can suggest is the only one I have used which is the Nova T 500, but be aware there are some annoying hardware bugs with that... may not affect you, may do... *shrug* But you will find plenty of other suggestions on the forums and wiki for DVB-T. If it works for them, it will work for you, irrespective of which country they are in, as long as it is DVB-T.

[brainy]

Thank you for the guidance!

I do have 1 other query that I cant seem to locate. I know that LMCE has the built in firewall but is there any way I can ignore this and continue to use the current firewall I have in place? I have a smoothwall box in place and was wondering if there is a way to keep it in line as it does port forwarding to a few different machines or if the LMCE replaces the functionality of that box all together... How easy is it to use the LMCE firewall?

I notice you said 2gb is fine, but i had specced 4gb (i've worked out I believe the extra might not get utilised, but its cheap).
I was looking at the Nvidia 250 GTS but also have at home an 8800gts that i can switch it with if you think the 8800gts would be more compatible?

The sound card I have is auzentech x-plosion 7.1 cinema. I hear there is basic linux support for this card but I am currently digging through the wiki to see if it's ok or not (Found creative references but not much else on the wiki). My next step is forum searching so hopefully I can find something about it otherwise, i'll be asking you guys for help with this one! *Think I found someone use that same card so I should be safe.

Thank you for the tip on the HDHomeRun DVB-T card. I'll keep reading to see if any other dvb-t cards will be suitable and compare them. I'm after pci-e dvb-t card as i've run out of pci slots.  I hear there is USB ones like "DigitalNow TinyTwin Dual Digital USB Tuner" but i'll keep forum searching to see if it's any good or if its better to get a pci-e one.

Thanks again for the input/help. Appreciated.

[colinjones]

You will never need 4GB unless you are planning 20 MDs and everything right down to climate controlling the dog's bed! You will probably not even touch your swap file on 2GB, much less need more physical memory, but that's your choice.

You can turn off the firewall on LMCE if you wish, but I would recommend against it. If all you need is firewall security and NAT'ing for forward some ports, you can do that with the one on LMCE. That doesn't mean you have to turn off your smoothwall... they are not mutually exclusive! If you leave your LMCE firewall on, simply forward ports from the smoothwall to the external IP of the LMCE core, then on-forward them again to their destination... very easy to do, and no disadvantage, plus it means you don't have to use your LMCE installation in a non-standard way, so its more supportable.

Don't know about the 250GTS - no harm in trying it if you already have it. But if you already have the 8800 and it isn't being used, then use that. Both will likely require that you follow the Display Drivers wiki article to update the nVidia drivers. For sound, search the manufacturer's web site/downloads/support sections for ALSA drivers and check that there is a version available for 2.6.22-14 kernel.

The HDHomeRun helps with the PCI issue, it is a network device, it doesn't go in anything at all. You just plug it into your Internal network wherever you like. Its a standalone unit, with 2 HD tuners.