2012-11-01, 11:00
Before I start building my HTPC I decided to upgrade my desktop PC. I hope my experience would help you in making decisions regarding HTPC.
I bought:
- AMD APU 5500 (I was also considering 5600K but it was unavailable in my local store)
- Asus F2A85-M
- Kingston HyperX 2x4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM XMP (KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX)
- Samsung 830 Series SSD 128GB
- DVDRW: Asus DRW-24B5ST SATA
Additionally I used some devices from my old PC:
- 2 x 2,5" HDD (1x5400rpm; 1x 7200rpm)
- CPU cooler: Scythe Ninja
- old Enlight 300W PSU (I'm quite sure that energy efficiency at low levels is poor)
- muilti card reader
- mid tower case
My first impressions:
- boot time is amazing, it takes ca 10 second from pushing the power switch to start using Win 7
- At Idle (in Windows) total power consumption is about 38W (please note that I'm using inefficient PSU and 3x HDDs). I assume it can be lowered by ca. 10W if disable 2x HDDs (in HTPC SDD is enough) and use better PSU
- During 1080p playback - 55W
- At stress test (4x Stress prime, MSI Kombustor, 2x 1080p video playback) - power consumption is 95-105W. In PCMarkthe peak was 100W. However during boot total power consumption was even 127W. (All settings in BIOS are at default, so I assume it can be optimised a little bit)
- CPU Temperature: In 99% time of normal use of PC, the CPU fan with huge heatsink (like my Ninja) probably can be switched off.
CPU Fan - OFF (only fan in a case is in PSU, but it runs at 600rpm): idle: 35C, 1080p playback: 40C. After 20min of stress tests CPU temp was almost 60C and CPU fan has switched on)
I haven't tried it with XBMC yet, but I assume that power usage and temperatures should be similar.
UPDATE: Presented figuers were measured with "balanced profile" enabled in Asus software. If change to "max power" profile power consumption raised by ca. 15W in stress. However for HTPC needs maximal power is usually not needed.
I bought:
- AMD APU 5500 (I was also considering 5600K but it was unavailable in my local store)
- Asus F2A85-M
- Kingston HyperX 2x4GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM XMP (KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX)
- Samsung 830 Series SSD 128GB
- DVDRW: Asus DRW-24B5ST SATA
Additionally I used some devices from my old PC:
- 2 x 2,5" HDD (1x5400rpm; 1x 7200rpm)
- CPU cooler: Scythe Ninja
- old Enlight 300W PSU (I'm quite sure that energy efficiency at low levels is poor)
- muilti card reader
- mid tower case
My first impressions:
- boot time is amazing, it takes ca 10 second from pushing the power switch to start using Win 7
- At Idle (in Windows) total power consumption is about 38W (please note that I'm using inefficient PSU and 3x HDDs). I assume it can be lowered by ca. 10W if disable 2x HDDs (in HTPC SDD is enough) and use better PSU
- During 1080p playback - 55W
- At stress test (4x Stress prime, MSI Kombustor, 2x 1080p video playback) - power consumption is 95-105W. In PCMarkthe peak was 100W. However during boot total power consumption was even 127W. (All settings in BIOS are at default, so I assume it can be optimised a little bit)
- CPU Temperature: In 99% time of normal use of PC, the CPU fan with huge heatsink (like my Ninja) probably can be switched off.
CPU Fan - OFF (only fan in a case is in PSU, but it runs at 600rpm): idle: 35C, 1080p playback: 40C. After 20min of stress tests CPU temp was almost 60C and CPU fan has switched on)
I haven't tried it with XBMC yet, but I assume that power usage and temperatures should be similar.
UPDATE: Presented figuers were measured with "balanced profile" enabled in Asus software. If change to "max power" profile power consumption raised by ca. 15W in stress. However for HTPC needs maximal power is usually not needed.
