[MPlayer-dev-eng] DMA or not DMA

[Joey Parrish]

On Wed, Nov 24, 2004 at 06:36:43PM +0100, Arpi wrote:
> > maybe you're using the wrong kind of machine...
> > you should try a bi-opteron box instead of that lowly P4 machine. it 
> > should be fast enough for just about anything...
> > the problem here is not the P4 but that the processor to northbridge 
> > bandwith is maxed out. in effect, the same link is used to connect the 
> > processor to the memory and the PCI/AGP busses.
> > 
> > remember, the pci bus on a machine can only do 1056Mbit/s, and a 
> > noncompressed 8 bit 4.2.2 video is about 165Mbit/s
> > 
> > if you use a dual opteron box, you'll have tons more bandwith available 
> > to the pci/pci-X busses and it should work without a problem.
> 
> a dual opteron will
> - cost lots of money
> - will have heating problems (when running 24/7 for weeks in a small closed
> room or box)
> 
> even the 3ghz p4 is over our target, i hoped that an 1ghz p3 or 2ghz p4
> will eb far enough, knowing that 250mgh p2 could decode and display one
> such stream with a g400 with no problem.

Well, if northbridge bandwidth is the issue, you could get a dual
pentium at a lower clock rate and achieve speedup at lower cost.

--Joey

-- 
"I tell you:  one must still have chaos in oneself to give
birth to a dancing star!" --Nietzsche