Hello,

I am wanting to use a SFF Dell GX240 or GX280 as a knoppmyth frontend device. I do not own the Dell yet, so that is why I am asking instead of just trying it out myself.

I read that people are using these on the forums, but are these computers capable of outputting a 720p/1080i signal with the proper graphics card without any hangups? I think the GX240 is a 1.7GHz, and the GX280 is a 2.8GHz. I am well aware that other hardware matters, but their processor speed seems to be a good comparison point for starters.

Also does knoppmyth tend to have hardware issues with these Dells as a frontend device if all you are wanting to do is playback, and not capture? Thanks in advance!

I have a GX240. I've configured it to be a diskless frontend. I changed the default graphics card from a radeon something with shared memory to a low profile fx5200. I can't remember if I added more RAM though.

It did appear to work with no problems though. Oh, and I was only playing back SD dvb-t type tv.

It should be noted I have only had it hooked up to my test system. Since I have recently moved house I have more pressing things to be working on (like putting in a working shower . I'm mid-tile of the shower cubical at the moment and am putting off continuing by typing this) so haven't put it into full time usage.

Once the electrician has been, the shower is working and I have a kitchen again....

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Version:R8
Intel C2D 7400, Nvidia 5600 via HDMI to Samsung B37B650TW (PAL), Asus P5QL-E mobo, 4Gb PC6400 DDR2 ram, Samsung Spinpoint 500 Gb & 1Tb drive, Nova-HD-S2 (x2)

I haven't tried it, but sure would if it worked for HD. I recently set one up at Church, and it was a sweet little box. Nearly silent, small, cute. Ran XP like a champ, and it's got built-in speakers (I nearly spit diet coke out my nose when I heard the XP boot music, when there were no speakers attached).
So MythTV aside, they're definitely great boxes for a second computer, or kid's computer, or in our case, computers for office workers. And if they turn out to be powerful enough (maybe with an nVidia 6200 add-on) for HD, I'm defintely getting one. Or two...

I'm now seriously planning on building an HD frontend for an as-yet-to-be-purchased LCD HDTV for the basement. I'd really like to get a GX260 (about $200 at geeks.com) which is P4 3.0Ghz.
I don't know what chipset is on the mobo graphics.....

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=GX280P430-2B&cpc=SCH

Does anyone have an HD front-end running on this? It would be pulling shows from my (near) Dragon 1.1 system, and wouldn't have any tuners of its own. In fact, it would be a good candidate for running diskless.
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Chris