Skulltrail PVR?

[Nick Burns]

As we've been told by many a poster here, it really doesn't take that much horsepower to run a PVR. It really comes down to a good graphics card and the throughput of your harddrives.

Given that, can you imagine a PVR built on the new Intel Skulltrail board?

It can take 2 of Intel's fastest chip the QX9775. Based on the latest street prices - Each QX9775 will set you back $1500. The board is $650.

That's $3650 and you haven't even added in the cost of case, graphics and HDD. Unfortunately, it still uses DDR2 memory. You'll also need the proper case.


Of course this board is really geared towards gamers and people with money to burn.

[Asmordean]

My Core2Duo can achive about 45FPS DIVX encoding (Standard Def). That sucker could probably pull 330+FPS. Ever feel the need to convert a 1 hour MPEG2 into a DIVX in 6 minutes?

[Greg Caulder]

Originally Posted by Asmordean

My Core2Duo can achive about 45FPS DIVX encoding (Standard Def). That sucker could probably pull 330+FPS. Ever feel the need to convert a 1 hour MPEG2 into a DIVX in 6 minutes?

Originally Posted by Nick Burns

As we've been told by many a poster here, it really doesn't take that much horsepower to run a PVR. It really comes down to a good graphics card and the throughput of your harddrives.

Given that, can you imagine a PVR built on the new Intel Skulltrail board?

It can take 2 of Intel's fastest chip the QX9775. Based on the latest street prices - Each QX9775 will set you back $1500. The board is $650.

That's $3650 and you haven't even added in the cost of case, graphics and HDD. Unfortunately, it still uses DDR2 memory. You'll also need the proper case.


Of course this board is really geared towards gamers and people with money to burn.

Where do you guys get your reviews at. Just because you read it off engadget doesn't mean it is the best thing out there.


For gaming you gain about 20% increase in FPS.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/...t_3/page9.html


For Divx video encoding you see about 2% increase in encoding rate. The only thing increased in the decoding rate.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/..._3/page23.html

This defiantly proves you have no understandings of computer hardware related to computer software whatsoever.


It is mainly best for huge floating point calculations, such as CAD based programs, or 3D-Rendering - Cinema 4D, 3D-Studio Max(huge textures with billions of polygons. Games are meant for speed on demand. And these applications are not developed for 8 simultaneous threads of processing to each core. Neither is the Divx encoder. Only 4 cores. Another factor is the 12MB of cache per CPU, most programs on the market aren't optimized to use it all efficiently. So it will jsut be a waist.


In reality these are primarily for SERVERS, not you little old home server that you run, but hardcore servers. That run SQL databases that fully utilize x64 tech, and possible virtual infrastructure environments.

[Nick Burns]

Granted, I linked to the stock Intel board, which Tom's Hardware reviews (and I have read). I would never go with stock as they rarely have anything for the pro-consumer.

Asus and Falcon Northwest have already built their own boards/system based on the Skulltrail, all geared towards the "Ultimate gamer" (and first bragging rights). The Falcon Northwest system will set you back $10,000+. And I certainly wouldn't put a system like this together for a simple PVR either, it certainly would be waste.

But for the enthusiasts, it's exciting to see this kind of hardware coming out. It can only get better from here.

[sportz103]

Originally Posted by Nick Burns

And I certainly wouldn't put a system like this together for a simple PVR either, it certainly would be waste.

Clearly its better suited for a link machine

[Joe The Dude]

Originally Posted by sportz103

Clearly its better suited for a link machine

That gives me an idea...
Perhaps such a powerfull Link Machine could actually run a PlayStation 2 Emulator (that's optomized for such a set-up) at full-speed with AA and AF...


While it would be very convienent to have near instant access to a full library of Video Games from the dawn of the VG Era, all the way up to last Gen (and possibly PS3 or Xbox360? or am i over-estimating it?), on one's Link Machine, the initial cost is rather steep.