Posts: 860
Joined: Aug 2008
Reputation:
3
2009-01-22, 16:09
Hey all.
Making an HTPC (as a lot of ppl probly are/have been).
Of course I want it to be able to handle 1080p stuff. And I've read the recommendation 3GHz dual core Intel chip to guarantee things run smoothly.
I read that a few months ago, has there been much improvement in FFShow that would require a lesser CPU since then?
Also, skins are so image-heavy these days. 1080, 720 backgrounds etc.
My folder art (folder.jpg) are always about 512KB, sometimes a bit more. (for films).
For music, usually half that.
My current system is 1.6GHz dual core 1GB ram. (media stored locally). When using coverflow in mediastream or Wall view in Aeon, flicking through the images is very very choppy (slow).
The system is showing maybe 10 or more 512KB images on screen at once, and then there's the fanart backgrounds on top of that. My current system struggles a bit with this load.
Is this something that a higher amount of RAM would help? Or would it be more cpu-based. Basically I plan to use a wiimote to scroll left and right through the media in coverflow view (with acceleration hopefully). And don't want any hiccups. Am I asking too much of xbmc or is this possible?
(on the xbox, this is another story completely, often losing artwork from display altogether).
Thanks all.
Posts: 163
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation:
3
manxam
Senior Member
Posts: 163
PantsOnFire, people's luck with the new ffshow-mt (multithreaded) hasn't been too good. Last time I checked, processor usage was actually INCREASED instead.
That being said, go for the most powerful (in mhz) two core processor that you can place in that board--quad core is wasted currently. I'm running 2GB of ram and it seems sufficient under Vista.
Cheers!
Posts: 429
Joined: Jan 2009
Reputation:
1
well, for a htpc its not all about horsepower, get something low wattage that wont need a huge noisy fan, something like an amd 5050e. Also for HD content its more about the graphics chip/card ability then sheer horsepower from the cpu. Once again go with something like a nvidia 8300 on board chip, faster response and once again no big noisy fan needed. Just my opinion, take it for what it's worth.
TC
Loft - Intel I5-3570K, Asus P8Z77-LX, Corsair 16GB DDR3, AMD HD 7700, AOC 27" LCD
Bedroom - Intel I3-530, Intel DH55HC, Corsair 4GB DDR3, Nvidia G610, Samsung 37" HDTV
Living Room - Intel E8400, Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia G610, Samsung 52" HDTV
Posts: 163
Joined: Jan 2005
Reputation:
3
manxam
Senior Member
Posts: 163
tcman, XBMC does not currently (and won't for quite some time) support hardware acceleration. So, in this instance sheer horsepower is the only answer. Video card choice will not matter.
Posts: 36
Joined: Dec 2008
Reputation:
0
I'd stay away from any AMD chips. I have an AMD 4850e oc'd to 2.73ghz, and it chokes on half the 1080p content I've tried (and a couple of xvids for some reason). If you're willing to setup DXVA software and configure XBMC to use an external player for content you have problems with, you can get by, but you'd be better off sticking with an Intel.
My E8400 Intel has perfect playback on everything I've tried. You can get away with a slower C2D depending on how aggressive you're willing to overclock your cpu. Check out avsforums.com to get some opinions. The extra $50 bucks for the 8400 is probably worth the piece of mind, though.
Posts: 36
Joined: Dec 2008
Reputation:
0
2009-01-22, 21:44
(This post was last modified: 2009-01-23, 01:21 by Evil Elvis.)
My 4850e and E8400 systems are both pretty quiet; just get an aftermarket heatsink/fan that can fit in your case. You also want to pay attention to the power source, since they can be loud (check out silentpcreview.com).
Edit: you might want to check out avsforums for info on the 8300; I think they might have have some sound limitations, like not being able to output 7.1 or 8 channel audio over the HDMI cable. If that's important to you, you might want to go with a 730i motherboard with a built-in 9300/9400.
Posts: 102
Joined: Nov 2008
Reputation:
11
2009-01-22, 21:55
(This post was last modified: 2009-01-22, 21:56 by quake101.)
My 4850e works well (running windows, ubuntu 8.10 was about 30% less proformance) for most content. With that being said, I wouldn't mind a CPU with a little more kick. I plan on putting in a 7750 (Kuma core and 2MB L3 cache) and putting the 4850e in my desktop or another htpc.
Note: The 7750 is a very cheap upgrade and can be overclock very easy if needed. If you are running an AMD machine I believe this would be a wise upgrade.
Posts: 40
Joined: Oct 2005
Reputation:
0
Hi,
Can someone please clarify what D2C or C2D means in reference to Intel E8400 ?
Cheers
X
Posts: 1,736
Joined: Oct 2008
Reputation:
14
hehehe
Core 2 Duo or Dual Core
Posts: 860
Joined: Aug 2008
Reputation:
3
Cheers for the replies folks, any debate is better than none of course.
But my topic had 2 parts :\ I was wondering what hardware made a difference to the user experience, in terms of 'is it smooth when doing this...' for example. (coverflow, Wall view).
This is the area im not clear on. Im clear on cpu and what is required for 1080p but that was only part of my query.
thanks to the guy who mentioned about the changes in ffdshow (possibly resulting in need more cpu).
Posts: 429
Joined: Jan 2009
Reputation:
1
quad cores or dual cores for xbmc , which would perform better?
Thanx
TC
Loft - Intel I5-3570K, Asus P8Z77-LX, Corsair 16GB DDR3, AMD HD 7700, AOC 27" LCD
Bedroom - Intel I3-530, Intel DH55HC, Corsair 4GB DDR3, Nvidia G610, Samsung 37" HDTV
Living Room - Intel E8400, Gigabyte GA-E7AUM-DS2H, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia G610, Samsung 52" HDTV
