Budget CPU for budget HTPC build..

[cebalrai]

The celeron g530 I'd like to spend ~$50-$60 on the card..

$50 will get you a 5570.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102874

If you can pay $70 you can get an HD 6570, which is almost the same thing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102934


Both are what you'd be getting with a Llano APU.

 

[SirJangly]

Really? I imagine the celeron+ one of these cards beats the a4-3400, which is what I would have bought. The 5570 seems to be the best bang for the buck..

 

[SirJangly]

Going with the 5570 within the hour unless there is a significantly better alternative

 

[cebalrai]

Really? I imagine the celeron+ one of these cards beats the a4-3400, which is what I would have bought.

Well, yeah but you paid like 40% more for it. You kinda get what you pay for.

 

[Arkaign]

$50 will get you a 5570.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102874

If you can pay $70 you can get an HD 6570, which is almost the same thing.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102934


Both are what you'd be getting with a Llano APU.

Kind of. The discrete 5570 will offer a little better performance than typical llano setups, for several reasons, clock speed, memory sharing, and cpu performance. Also you don't have to invest in super fast DDR3 with a discrete setup.

A6 3600 and 3650 : 320 Radeon Cores, 443Mhz GPU, up to 1866mhz DDR3 (shared with CPU)
A8 3800 and 3850 : 400 Radeon Cores, 600Mhz GPU, up to 1866mhz DDR3 (shared with CPU)
That $50 5570 : 400 Radeon Cores, 650Mhz GPU, 1600Mhz DDR3 (dedicated)

The 5570 has the 5670 GPU, but with lower voltage and clock settings. They can be overclocked at least 100mhz on ram and gpu on stock volts even with the crappy stock heatsink/fan setups they have, though I don't recommend it on the fanless cards.

 

[SirJangly]

If it helps. I got the celeron for $10 and the 5570 for $30 before the $10 rebate

 

[Arkaign]

If it helps. I got the celeron for $10 and the 5570 for $30 before the $10 rebate

gold! should be a very good experience.

 

[cebalrai]

Kind of. The discrete 5570 will offer a little better performance than typical llano setups, for several reasons, clock speed, memory sharing, and cpu performance. Also you don't have to invest in super fast DDR3 with a discrete setup.

With RAM being so cheap I see no reason not to spring for DDR3 1866 no matter what.

 

[Arkaign]

With RAM being so cheap I see no reason not to spring for DDR3 1866 no matter what.

Eh?

(egg prices as of today)

Cheapest 8GB DDR3 set of 1333 is $37.99
Cheapest 8GB DDR3 set of 1866 is $74.99

Cheapest 4GB DDR3 set of 1333 is $23.49
Cheapest 4GB DDR3 set of 1866 is $46.99

:\

I definitely agree that with systems more on the enthusiast level, go ahead and spend the extra bucks, but for low-end and HTPC it kinda puts a damper on the Llano setups, which are far more sensititive to ram speeds than any other configuration due to the shared GPU bandwidth needed. They really suffer with the lower speed memory.

 

[jacktesterson]

my sempron 130 is rock solid @ 3.4 ghz, using onboard 4250... and is single core.

i've never met a movie i cant play @ 1080p with over 20% cpu utilization.

Probably dirt cheap compared to a e-350 setup, and more powerful im guessing even though single core. mine wouldnt unlock though, i got a lemon that way, most do unlock. (mine wasnt stable at stock)

I am just using the stock cooler from a 1055t and it never runs higher than 35

 

[tweakboy]

Grab a geforce 8600 or 8800 GT dirt cheap! under 90 dollars for 8800 and 60 to 70 dollar 8600 GT

or equivlant. 9600 GT ... etc... so youll have a decend solid video card. Dont go too cheap on it, it has to have quality htcp so it has to be something in the 8xxx series for geforce and 4650 for ATI.. thx gl

 

[Arkaign]

Grab a geforce 8600 or 8800 GT dirt cheap! under 90 dollars for 8800 and 60 to 70 dollar 8600 GT

or equivlant. 9600 GT ... etc... so youll have a decend solid video card. Dont go too cheap on it, it has to have quality htcp so it has to be something in the 8xxx series for geforce and 4650 for ATI.. thx gl

Op already getting 5570, which is a great HTPC card. Has the same GPU as 5670, but lower clock speed/heat.

 

[cebalrai]

Eh?

(egg prices as of today)

Cheapest 8GB DDR3 set of 1333 is $37.99
Cheapest 8GB DDR3 set of 1866 is $74.99

Cheapest 4GB DDR3 set of 1333 is $23.49
Cheapest 4GB DDR3 set of 1866 is $46.99

:\

I definitely agree that with systems more on the enthusiast level, go ahead and spend the extra bucks, but for low-end and HTPC it kinda puts a damper on the Llano setups, which are far more sensititive to ram speeds than any other configuration due to the shared GPU bandwidth needed. They really suffer with the lower speed memory.

Pretty much every benchmark/review I've seen of Llano uses either DDR3 1333 or 1600. So you could say it "suffers" without 1866 but I'll call it a bonus. :awe:

 

[cebalrai]

my sempron 130 is rock solid @ 3.4 ghz, using onboard 4250... and is single core.

i've never met a movie i cant play @ 1080p with over 20% cpu utilization.

Probably dirt cheap compared to a e-350 setup, and more powerful im guessing even though single core. mine wouldnt unlock though, i got a lemon that way, most do unlock. (mine wasnt stable at stock)

I am just using the stock cooler from a 1055t and it never runs higher than 35

Strange. I've successfully unlocked 3/3 Semprons, however one of them wouldn't boot without slightly more voltage. Have you tried that?

 

[Arkaign]

Pretty much every benchmark/review I've seen of Llano uses either DDR3 1333 or 1600. So you could say it "suffers" without 1866 but I'll call it a bonus. :awe:

Look at the dropoff in performance, even 1600 takes a hit, but 1333 just takes it off at the knees.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-a8-3850-llano,2975-6.html

 

[podspi]

1600 looks like the sweet spot to me.

 

[SirJangly]

I'm curious guys.... Is there A way to get the integrated graphics from the celeron working with the 5570?

 

[Arkaign]

I'm curious guys.... Is there A way to get the integrated graphics from the celeron working with the 5570?

AFAIK, that's what Z68 mainboards are for. I wouldn't worry though, the 5570 is very low power, and if you have your power mgmt settings fairly aggressive when the box isn't in use, there really won't be any significant difference in terms of power usage and heat vs. onboard passthrough graphics.

The 5570 is vastly superior to the Intel IGP anyway.

 

[mosox]

Now make sure you use the video acceleration and take the load off the CPU. I can't find in my bookmarks the guide, maybe someone in here ahs a good link. I found only this

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6450-review/4

LE Great deals BTW.

 

[SirJangly]

Hey guys, aside from the GPU, which hasn't come in yet, everything is running. I seem to be running around 50*C idle and 55/57*C at load. Is this normal in small cases? Everything is so cramped inside. I was thinking of modding the case to have a 120mm blowing the hot air hot. Is thiis necessary? Have any other tips? Thanks so much

 

[SirJangly]

Not sure if it makes a difference, but hit a max of 59*C while running the Windows Experience test....

 

[hoorah]

my sempron 130 is rock solid @ 3.4 ghz, using onboard 4250... and is single core.

i've never met a movie i cant play @ 1080p with over 20% cpu utilization.

Probably dirt cheap compared to a e-350 setup, and more powerful im guessing even though single core. mine wouldnt unlock though, i got a lemon that way, most do unlock. (mine wasnt stable at stock)

I am just using the stock cooler from a 1055t and it never runs higher than 35

I built a WHS 2 server for my fathers business based on a sempron 130, and was surprised at its speed (for a $30 processor too!). I wondered how well it would do as a media center, but never had a chance to run any tests on it before I shipped it out. I knew about the core unlocking, but for just file serving I didn't bother. Someday, if he wants to turn it into a workstation I might try to unlock.

System only used 50W idle, which isn't as low as some of these new systems, but cost pennies to build.

 

[cebalrai]

Semprons are seriously underrated for tasks like this. $26 bucks for all the CPU you'll ever need in a file server or HTPC?

 

[Arkaign]

Semprons are seriously underrated for tasks like this. $26 bucks for all the CPU you'll ever need in a file server or HTPC?

I support this statement 110%. And having the AM3 socket gives you a great drop-in upgrade path should you decide to repurpose the box for midrange gaming or whatnot. Honestly a PhII + decent GPU is a good gaming experience in most titles so long as you don't expect miracles in the most extreme settings.

Zacate and Atom don't impress me much.

 

[cebalrai]

I support this statement 110%. And having the AM3 socket gives you a great drop-in upgrade path should you decide to repurpose the box for midrange gaming or whatnot. Honestly a PhII + decent GPU is a good gaming experience in most titles so long as you don't expect miracles in the most extreme settings.

Zacate and Atom don't impress me much.

AM3? Try AM3+. Then you can shift gears from Semprom to Bulldozer if the need arises.