HTPC setup, what CPU

Psycronic · 10th July 2009, 12:19 AM

I'm putting together a HTPC, with a ATI HD 4550, GB GA-M61PME-S2P, 2 x 80GB HDDs, Antec NSK 2480 with 430w earthwatts supply and 1GB DDR2 (already have from an old system).

But I'm not sure if I should use an x2 6000+ or a x2 3800+. I've got both of these lying around and am thinking of using the 3800 only so I can use the 6000+ for a Xen or VMware box

HyRax1 · 10th July 2009, 12:40 AM

I'm not familiar with the AMD equivalent but in Intel land, I'm happily using an E5200 without any problem for everything up to 1080p.

As for gfx cards, I recommend ditching ATi/AMD and go NVidia as I find them to be much better performers in the HD decoding department.

The bulk of burden for any Media Centre (Linux or Windows) is the displaying of the video with any post-processing jobs (such as cutting commercials out of FTA TV) a distant second place.

The more you can dump to dedicated hardware, the better. Leave the CPU to do what it does best - managing the whole she-bang and telling everyone what to do.

AgentRex · 10th July 2009, 1:49 PM

have you considered a AMD 4850e or a 5050e? with a 780G or better chipset mobo? i've got the 4850e and works wonders on a 1080p plasma, i OC it here and there and still runs cool and great.

timsarg · 10th July 2009, 1:58 PM

i have both a 5200+ and 6400+ running in htpc displaying 1080 and no worries with content

DrClaw · 10th July 2009, 2:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psycronic

I'm putting together a HTPC, with a ATI HD 4550, GB GA-M61PME-S2P, 2 x 80GB HDDs, Antec NSK 2480 with 430w earthwatts supply and 1GB DDR2 (already have from an old system).

But I'm not sure if I should use an x2 6000+ or a x2 3800+. I've got both of these lying around and am thinking of using the 3800 only so I can use the 6000+ for a Xen or VMware box

Looks like heaps of grunt for a HTPC.

My system :

E6600
ASUS P5WDH mobo
2gb ram
ATI 4350
1TB WD GP drive
DigitalNow TinyTwin usb tuner

Has more than enough grunt to decode 1080p - only sits on 40-50% cpu. Watching free to air, CPU barely touches 10%

I'd just run whichever runs cooler - heat/fan noise is my biggest issue in the HTPC.

$0.02

[EDIT: That's running Vista 32bit at the moment, soon to be W7 32bit. Don't think there's 64bit drivers for the tuner yet otherwise i'd give that a shot]

Oppressa · 10th July 2009, 2:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AgentRex

have you considered a AMD 4850e or a 5050e? with a 780G or better chipset mobo? i've got the 4850e and works wonders on a 1080p plasma, i OC it here and there and still runs cool and great.

+1 4850e or the newer 5050e (both 45w) and 780g or 790gx both with builtin graphics for sure. Designed for HTPCs and hidef content.

Spectre87 · 11th July 2009, 2:23 PM

Though if you can't get hold of one of the AMD 'e' CPU's, I just built another media center with a 780G board, and a 5000 x2 and it runs at ~60 load with 1080p content. This is running Vista 64bit, soon to try 7

DraGoN-BoY · 12th July 2009, 2:28 AM

I'm running a 4850e for my HTPC and it works fine with HD playback.

seb · 12th July 2009, 2:35 AM

power tests at silentpcreview show for many HTPC tasks Intel 65W CPU systems draw less current in action than the AMD 4850e systems.

And of course an N330 ION board draws the least of all.

Power Consumption

Zotac Geforce 9300-ITX with E7200 CPU idles at 35W and plays Rush Hour at 40W.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article943-page5.html

Zotac ION N330 system idles at 22W and plays Rush Hour at 24W.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article952-page5.html

Asus M4A78-HTPC idles at 34W and plays RSUH HOUR at 56W. with 4850e.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article948-page5.html

790 Chipset ATX boards idle at 38W and play RUSH HOUR at about 46-60W, depending on vid settings, with X2 4850e.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article919-page6.html

sorry forgot 780g chipset: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article807-page7.html

of course the older chipsets for the Intel CPUs are terrible in this respect: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ec3e9959ef2637

Spectre87 · 13th July 2009, 2:10 PM

I think you have to take into consideration the cost of those ITX boards.

Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX is around $300 + (E7200 $170) = $470
Zotac ION N330 is $370 (dual core)

Vs

GA-MA78GM-US2H $110 + 4850e $100 = $220

Geodude · 13th July 2009, 2:20 PM

I have a htpc with a E5200 and a ati 4350 and it happily does 1080p content, i am on windows xp, running mediaportal.

Good luck

Statts · 15th July 2009, 10:26 AM

780G or 790GX and 4850e or 5050e for the win. Won't find better performance for the dollar at 1080p. I love my 780G/4850e setup!

li21 · 24th July 2009, 4:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Statts

780G or 790GX and 4850e or 5050e for the win. Won't find better performance for the dollar at 1080p. I love my 780G/4850e setup!

So we're talking integrated Graphics in motherboards?
Will they do the job for Bluray, large HD x264 for Window Media Centre / XBMC?

10th July 2009, 12:19 AM	#1
Psycronic Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Penrith Posts: 330	HTPC setup, what CPU I'm putting together a HTPC, with a ATI HD 4550, GB GA-M61PME-S2P, 2 x 80GB HDDs, Antec NSK 2480 with 430w earthwatts supply and 1GB DDR2 (already have from an old system). But I'm not sure if I should use an x2 6000+ or a x2 3800+. I've got both of these lying around and am thinking of using the 3800 only so I can use the 6000+ for a Xen or VMware box __________________ \| Nikon \| Sigma \| Cokin \| Manfrotto \| Crumpler \|

10th July 2009, 12:40 AM	#2
HyRax1 48656C6C6F20576F726C6421 Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: At a desk. Distro:Ubuntu Posts: 7,077	I'm not familiar with the AMD equivalent but in Intel land, I'm happily using an E5200 without any problem for everything up to 1080p. As for gfx cards, I recommend ditching ATi/AMD and go NVidia as I find them to be much better performers in the HD decoding department. The bulk of burden for any Media Centre (Linux or Windows) is the displaying of the video with any post-processing jobs (such as cutting commercials out of FTA TV) a distant second place. The more you can dump to dedicated hardware, the better. Leave the CPU to do what it does best - managing the whole she-bang and telling everyone what to do. __________________ If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?

12th July 2009, 2:28 AM	#8
DraGoN-BoY Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Melbourne & Perth Posts: 2,838	I'm running a 4850e for my HTPC and it works fine with HD playback. __________________ Laptop: Clevo P150EM\|i7-3630QM\|8GB 1600Mhz\|7970M 2GB\|Sandisk 240GB SSD\|95% Gamut Matte\|Audioengine A1\|Dell 3008WFP\|Aktimate Mini Server: AMD 4850e\|MA780G-UD3H\|Lian-Li V2100+\|Highpoint 2320: 8xWD 1TB\|Adaptec 5805: 8xWD 1.5TB\|HX-620

12th July 2009, 2:35 AM	#9
seb Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 1,680	power tests at silentpcreview show for many HTPC tasks Intel 65W CPU systems draw less current in action than the AMD 4850e systems. And of course an N330 ION board draws the least of all. Power Consumption Zotac Geforce 9300-ITX with E7200 CPU idles at 35W and plays Rush Hour at 40W. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article943-page5.html Zotac ION N330 system idles at 22W and plays Rush Hour at 24W. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article952-page5.html Asus M4A78-HTPC idles at 34W and plays RSUH HOUR at 56W. with 4850e. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article948-page5.html 790 Chipset ATX boards idle at 38W and play RUSH HOUR at about 46-60W, depending on vid settings, with X2 4850e. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article919-page6.html sorry forgot 780g chipset: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article807-page7.html of course the older chipsets for the Intel CPUs are terrible in this respect: http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums...ec3e9959ef2637 Last edited by seb; 12th July 2009 at 2:48 AM.

13th July 2009, 2:10 PM	#10
Spectre87 Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Perth Posts: 387	I think you have to take into consideration the cost of those ITX boards. Zotac GeForce 9300-ITX is around $300 + (E7200 $170) = $470 Zotac ION N330 is $370 (dual core) Vs GA-MA78GM-US2H $110 + 4850e $100 = $220 Last edited by Spectre87; 13th July 2009 at 2:14 PM.

10th July 2009, 1:49 PM	#3
AgentRex Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 205	have you considered a AMD 4850e or a 5050e? with a 780G or better chipset mobo? i've got the 4850e and works wonders on a 1080p plasma, i OC it here and there and still runs cool and great.

10th July 2009, 1:58 PM	#4
timsarg Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 2,719	i have both a 5200+ and 6400+ running in htpc displaying 1080 and no worries with content

11th July 2009, 2:23 PM	#7
Spectre87 Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Perth Posts: 387	Though if you can't get hold of one of the AMD 'e' CPU's, I just built another media center with a 780G board, and a 5000 x2 and it runs at ~60 load with 1080p content. This is running Vista 64bit, soon to try 7

13th July 2009, 2:20 PM	#11
Geodude Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Canberra Posts: 105	I have a htpc with a E5200 and a ati 4350 and it happily does 1080p content, i am on windows xp, running mediaportal. Good luck

15th July 2009, 10:26 AM	#12
Statts Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Radelaide, SA Posts: 2,109	780G or 790GX and 4850e or 5050e for the win. Won't find better performance for the dollar at 1080p. I love my 780G/4850e setup! __________________ Desktop: Windows 7 Ultimate HTPC: Windows 7 Home Premium, MediPortal 1.3 Microserver: Solaris 11, ZFS, Windows Server 2k8 R2 VM Portable: Nexus 4 (Android 4.2.2), Nexus 7 (Timur's USB-ROM)