Where's the bottleneck? HTPC
#1
I built a computer for a friend of mine using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856101117 and a http://www.frys.com/product/7095831?site...IN_RSLT_PG with an I-5 2500k and http://www.frys.com/product/6897836?site...IN_RSLT_PG; using ubuntu x64 as his OS.

I'm about to build my own and am not satisfied with his performance, thus the reason I am asking for advice on where the bottleneck might be.

I am open to suggestions with reasons that support.
Future build will include win7 x64 ultimate lightened down Samsung, Vertex, or Crucial SSD, 8GB Ram Not sure if I will go 1800 for spd or not, GB Lan mobo, and an AMD 7xxx series 1GB or higher GDDR5 OC'ed GPU (haven't quite narrowed it down yet), due to the most up to date UVD3 and so on.

The goal is for each component to provide silky smooth response regardless of workload, while up-converting all forms of media (primarily streaming via 1channel, watchseries, and icefilms). Those darn compression artifacts really tick me off!

I am currently running a Presario Athlon 64 170u with 4GB 800 Hz Ram, Zotac GF-210 1GB, with win7 x64 Ultimate that's been lightened up.


Your' help is greatly appreciated!
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#2
(2012-12-18, 23:51)nathansperf Wrote: I built a computer for a friend of mine using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6856101117 and a http://www.frys.com/product/7095831?site...IN_RSLT_PG with an I-5 2500k and http://www.frys.com/product/6897836?site...IN_RSLT_PG; using ubuntu x64 as his OS.

I'm about to build my own and am not satisfied with his performance, thus the reason I am asking for advice on where the bottleneck might be.
The only bottleneck I see in your friend i5 is the lack of ability to play intensive games.....

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#3
My buddy, nor I do any gaming.... just HTPC stuff and various multitasking. His multitasking consists of low intensity stuff like solitare, xbmc, 10 tabbed browsing, downloading all at the same time.

Mine will be shared network streaming, possibly trans-coding to remote devices......along with the obvious h264 media on HD and BD discs, and 3D as well.

I know I may be going a little overkill- BUT, I want a little overhead available for the future Wink
The primary aspect as I stated is up-converting low quality media to look it's best! His setup is below par for my standards.
Any specific mobo's I should be aiming at that would best match the direction I am goingHuh?
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#4
(2012-12-19, 00:47)nathansperf Wrote: Mine will be shared network streaming, possibly trans-coding to remote devices......along with the obvious h264 media on HD and BD discs, and 3D as well.
The i5-2500k should be able to do all of that....if you want the latest technooligy, you can opt for the latest "Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)" with HD4000 iGPU....since you don't do game, you might not need a discrete GPU....

>Alienware X51- do it all HTPC
>Simplify XBMC configurations
>HOW-TO Bitstreaming using XBMC
I refused to watch movie without bitstreaming HD audio!
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#5
Did you enable up scaling in xbmc? And scaling won't do much for media with compression artefacts.
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#6
Here is my question on the HUB, so no need to duplicate anything Smile http://www.xbmchub.com/forums/htpc-syste...#post24478

@teeedubb: what's the navigation path to get to up scaling selection?
I am currently using eden.
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#7
(2012-12-18, 23:51)nathansperf Wrote: I'm about to build my own and am not satisfied with his performance, thus the reason I am asking for advice on where the bottleneck might be.

What aspect of performance do you not like? Is it too slow to open programs, lots of waiting for disk access, stuff like that? Or something else?
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#8
"The goal is for each component to provide silky smooth response regardless of workload, while up-converting all forms of media (primarily streaming via 1channel, watchseries, and icefilms). Those darn compression artifacts really tick me off!"

Response time not just in xbmc is pretty sad for what I would expect from an SSD (not sure if it's the board/ I think it's an x58?- or both the board and SSD.

That, the buffering and varius link's response time, and the picture quality from SD to BRD sucks using his intel HD 3000! The intent is to do whatever is possible starting at the hardware level to upconvert and minimize bottlenecks/ throughput Wink
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#9
On m,y PC using Total Home Theater 5 trial w my GF-210 tested the wors media including cam's before deleting them - saw an AMAZING IMPROVEMENT!
So, I know that the tech is available at least on the software side- I want to star off at the ground level (hardware) to implement this. I know that both my buddies HD3000 and my GF-210 are nearly on par with eachother and are performing at the same level at the display.
Attempting to go through the basics and work my way up.... one step at a time Smile I don't really think I'm asking for the moon, am I?
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