new user, new install, a few questions

[Datphysh]

Greetings,

I'm preparing a dedicated box as a media center and have a few questions for the GB-PVR gurus.
My basic system setup will be as follows.

AMD atholon xp +3000 @ ~2.15gig
Soyo kt600 dragon ultra MB
-onboard Cmedia 6 channel audio
1 gig system ram
VisionTek Radeon X1300 with 512 onboard video ram
Haupauge PVR250
windows 2k
2 HD
-1 40 gig seagate (of questionable speed and buffer)
-1 250 gig maxtor 7200 RPM with 16mb buffer

My intention, is to have a basic windows install on my seagate drive with near nothing but software needed for media purposes. And on the maxtor, I intend a 1-2 gig partition for virtual memory, a ~48 gig partition for liveTV buffer, 100 gig for media (ie my cd collection, movies, etc etc) and a 100 gig partition for television recordings.

So, my questions are these. Firstly I ask the guru's on this board if these set-up with my given hardware is ideal? Second, should I adjust any of these partition values? Would I be better off with a larger live tv buffer (I know it depends upon how long I want to be able to have my signal paused, so how long does a ~48ish gig partition give me of liveTV, it's probably excessive, but... I don't know, that's why I come to you)... and does lastly, does GB-PVR even benefit from running on a seperate hard drive from where it the encoded video goes? or would I suffer performance loss because of it?

ummm, heh, I think that's mostly the extent of my questions for now. I appreciate your time and input

Physh

[HtV]

I think running fom a different hdd is always ok, it keeps your recordings safe in case of a system breakdown, ie having to format.
The 48 gigs for live tv seems quite large, afaik when you watch live tv (in timeshiftmode), it will start a new recording when a new program starts. so unless you regularly watch 24 hr shows, you won't need so much space.
You only have one tv-card so I don't think there's a need to make a seperate drive for livetv. They are deleted after some time so you won't notice them at all.

[Datphysh]

I understand what your saying about the size. I agree it's excessive, but since I don't know how much time comparable to file size in time shift mode. Coming from Mythtv, the livetv buffer could get quite large. As for having it on a seperate partition, I was view the buffer in the same sense as windows swap file, ie constantly changing size. With it on a dedicated partition it should (in my theory anyhow) help to prevent overall system slow down due to fragmentation. As for being on a seperate drive, well that again is viewed in the same sense as windows swap file, where having it on a seperate, faster drive, in some cases can increase performance by reducing bottlenecking to one hard drive.

In the end, it's all just a theory

[HtV]

In the end, it's all just a theory

Your system is fast enough so you probably wouldn't even notice if you did all from one partition.
edit: I keep thinking that 48 gigs is a waste because you probably never will use more than 10 gig.

[notjoe]

I got a PVR500. I can record two different shows at the same time or record one while watching another channel and i dont even notice a slow down off it and its all off a single 120GB with a single partition.

The box is an XP 2000 w/512MB of ram and when compared to your extra horsepower and ram i think you should be fine.

However, saving recorded shows on seperate drives is always a wise choice.

[HtV]

It's always nice when someone agrees

[notjoe]

It's always nice when someone agrees

Great minds think alike