[Mini-ITX] i3-2100 (2x3.1Ghz) + GT210

eskro Wrote:less CPU % usage

My cpu playing full BD hovers around 20%, so I am still failing to see why anyone would turn DXVA on with an intel cpu if the cpu is powerful enough to do the decoding in software.

I understand you guys are trying to educate, but you are simply mistaken on this one, i3-2100 is just fine for BD playback, you get no frame drops, no pixilation, no macro-blocking, etc, if you don't turn on DXVA on.

And why would someone as knowledgeable as bluray turn on DXVA on his kids rig when the cpu is capable of doing it perfectly?

some are obsessed with Power Consumption.

eskro Wrote:some are obsessed with Power Consumption.

That makes no sense eskro, because a separate GPU card (which is what you and others recommend for an Intel build) is going to use more power than the i3 is going to use to do the same thing in software.

I agree that the iGPU is lacking, but some of the problem is in DXVA also. DXVA is by default disabled so it baffles me as to why some turn it on and then shout that the intel machine doesn't work.

voip-ninja Wrote:Please explain why on earth you think you need DXVA turned on, what is it doing for you?

voip-ninja Wrote:And why would someone as knowledgeable as bluray turn on DXVA on his kids rig when the cpu is capable of doing it perfectly?

If you understand the purpose/function of DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA), you should know why HTPC users uses it. But here is short explaination on it-

My wife and kids like to do multiple tasks in the background while watching movie on their i3 PC, and DXVA is a great option to maximize CPU usages. DXVA function is primarily use to reduce the workload of the computer’s CPU, allowing the computer to execute other functions more efficiently. DXVA is available in most major media players and GPU's....

voip-ninja Wrote:That makes no sense eskro, because a separate GPU card (which is what you and others recommend for an Intel build) is going to use more power than the i3 is going to use to do the same thing in software.

no no no...
i think u miss understood me...
i was talking about using an i3 build only (without using a seperate gpu card)..
Turning DXVA ON, your HTPC will consume less...

bluray Wrote:If you understand the purpose/function of DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA), you should know why HTPC users uses it. But here is short explaination on it-

My wife and kids like to do multiple tasks in the background while watching movie on their i3 PC, and DXVA is a great option to maximize CPU usages. DXVA function is primarily use to reduce the workload of the computer’s CPU, allowing the computer to execute other functions more efficiently. DXVA is available in most major media players and GPU's....

Bluray, I know exactly what DXVA is, so please don't patronize me. If the PC was busy enough that it did not have the 20-30% CPU available to run XBMC smoothly then I have serious doubts that DXVA would make much of a difference.

I think that you should be willing to admit that most users who turn DXVA on

1. don't even know what it does.
2. turn it on because it's there.
3. don't understand that in some case it can make things worse

Intel i3 cpu can decode full BD using about 25% cpu power. That doesn't leave enough for "background tasks"? What are you doing, encoding movies in the background? If that's the case, I suspect that your usage is not typical of most here, who simply want to watch a movie smoothly, which the intel CPU can do.

http://forum.xbmc.org/showpost.php?p=994...stcount=25

voip-ninja Wrote:Bluray, I know exactly what DXVA is, so please don't patronize me. If the PC was busy enough that it did not have the 20-30% CPU available to run XBMC smoothly then I have serious doubts that DXVA would make much of a difference.

I'm not at all try to patronize you bud! You asked for explaination, and I provided explainations. You can try editing HD video/ripping BD video, and try to watch blu-ray on it at the same time. Woman love to do multitask (not me), and DXVA is a great option when need it. If i3 can come up with firmware to solve DXVA issue, it will be a great option for some users!

Hey Eskro,

What do you think of this build with a Ceton cablecard card in it?

. . . . Running ubuntu and xbmc?

Looks like a perfect system to do this.

Thanks to eskro for putting together these recommended builds. It seems like a great time-saver to have parts that are known to work together, however; I've bought the components for this one and am finding that the CPU fan does not physically clear the PSU when I try to install the motherboard into the case. I've confirmed that the part numbers for the case and for the CPU kit match those in the list. I haven't built a system from scratch in many years, so maybe I'm missing a common trick, but there seems to be no obvious way of making it work. Does everyone just expect to put in an aftermarket heatsink/CPU fan these days? Is there a low-profile (and hopefully low cost) unit you can recommend?