AMD E-350 vs Intel Celeron (G530?) for HTPC build

[yugo23]

Both systems would cost almost the same, with Intel (with MSI mini ITX board) being just a bit more expensive.
Would both of these be equally suited for HTPC, or maybe one of these would have an advantage in some areas?

 

[jpeyton]

The E-350 has better integrated graphics, but the G530 has a lot more CPU horsepower. The tradeoff is that the E-350 uses a lot less power.

I would get the G530 personally.

 

[BTA]

G530 by a mile. Especially if you plan to run the Netflix app from within Windows Media Center.

I don't think it's even really a comparison. The E-350's integrated graphics is okay but it really barely matches sandybridge's iGPU. This is only in gaming which neither is really useable for anyway. The difference is CPU power is huge.

For HTPC uses the G530 will give you a better experience by far.

 

[Jimmah]

Funny, I am also considering these two system types.

From what I've gathered, jpeyton and BTA are spot on, the Celeron's raw processing power is leagues above the E-350 and leaves you with a lot of headroom for other things later on. I've been reading about the E-350 vs G530, and while yes it is better with wattage it is only by a small margin, with the E-350 needing to stay at a higher % for longer periods vs the G530 barely working at all and sleeping most of the time.

A good friend of mine has an E-350 and with a wattage meter he see's 27w draw while playing an HD movie, other anecdotal accounts have the G530 systems using 30-40w playing similar quality files.

Personally I will be buying a similar system for my M350 today.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Rather than starting a new thread, would a Celeron G530 be a good cpu for a small home server?

 

[fffblackmage]

For a home server, either would work (not a cpu-intensive task). If anything, the limiting factor is usually the network speed.

The benefit of going with the E-350 for a home server is the lower power consumption.

For an HTPC, I would go with the G530. When it works right, the IGP on the E-350 can handle HTPC duties, but it doesn't always work, like with HD flash video (netflix or whatever). The much more powerful G530 is capable of handling HD video in all cases (AFAIK) without the help of an IGP.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Celeron G530 easily. At idle they should consume a similar amount of power, but under load the Celeron will consume around 15-20W higher. It's also around 3x more powerful than the E350, however, and the TDP numbers by Intel are kinda shifty. Getting a 35W dual-core instead of a 65W yields a savings of 5W and decreases efficiency.

At full load the Celeron shouldn't consume more than 40W or so.

 

[fluffmonster]

I'm about to build a new home server and am inclined to go with the e-350...should be plenty capable cpu for the task, and the asus pro micro-atx board has a fanless hs and is reputed to have a pretty good gigabit NIC. Seems just about perfect.

 

[Jimmah]

Rather than starting a new thread, would a Celeron G530 be a good cpu for a small home server?

it would be huge overkill but good nonetheless, like what fffblackmage said, you're limited by network speeds. Even a 775 celeron is up to the task of pushing data.

Back on topic, right now I don't see the point of getting the E-350 over a G530. Price is the same, both available in the same form factor, both take cheap DDR3, both do HD playback, Celeron is about 10-15w max more power with 2-4x the processing power.

 

[mfenn]

I dunno if anybody has mentioned this yet, but the G530 is a way better choice.

Basically, fffblackmage is right on. When GPU acceleration for video decoding is working properly, the E-350 is perfectly sufficient. However, when you run into that app that doesn't behave (Netflix), you will be glad to have the option to switch over to pure software decoding.

 

[yugo23]

Many thanks for all the replies. I will deffinitely choose G530.

 

[Jimmah]

Many thanks for all the replies. I will deffinitely choose G530.

Let us know how the build goes, I will do the same, it is good to have as many opinions for modern htpc's as possible.