cool cpu for htpc?

[trueimage]

what should I be looking at.

mainly for ffdshow stuff, so clockspeed is king I think.

anyone with an htpc feel free to give me pointers... single core? dual core? intel? amd? 939 or 754? onboard video or not?

 

[chilled]

It all depends on your budget. If all you want to do is TiVo stuff maybe a single core will be fine. If the sky is the limit then you could pick up a core duo compatible motherboard and a core duo to suit.

If not then you might need to make do with a Turion/Sempron 25W + S754 mobo which will be a fair bit cheaper. Make your HTPC case a little bit bigger and you'll probably be able to get a PentiumD or A64 in there. It probably won't be as cool though.

 

[n19htmare]

I nice affordable choice would be the Pentium M Dothan. I'm thinking of doing the same thing... it's a nice cool running cpu.
Myabe a solo core as chilled said, but if budget is no limits... then no doubt a core duo.

 

[trueimage]

yeah i think core duo is out of my price range.

I am looking to play DVDs, xvids of varying bitrates and resolutions (max 720p probably) and 720p and up .ts files
I will be using the ffdshow / zoomplayer combo for upscaling and video enhancement.

From what I've been reading, ffdshow is clock speed dependant and not dual core compatible (as in it doesnt take advantage). I don't know how low in mhz I can go before I can't really tweak the videos aggresively like I will probably want to.

A quick pricewatch search gives me about 210 at the cheapest for pentium m dothan, and that is only at 1.73 ghz, so that might not be a viable option. I will probably have to stick with amd for the coolness (temp) idea.

 

[trueimage]

well, I think I've chosen my motherboard, the MSI K8NGM2-FID w/ Geforce 6150, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, SATA II, 1394, PCI-E x16, DVI

is has nVidia's Pure Video in the onboard video chipset, so maybe the cpu will be taxed less. I will just undervolt my A64 3200+ and see how cool I can get it, and geta dual core, or at least single core opteron for my main machine.

 

[BassBomb]

3200 is already pretty cool, what case are you gonna run ?

 

[trueimage]

Antec Minuet II is what I just ordered, cheap, which is the key to this setup.
I can justify the 3200+ and just spend a few extra dollars for a new desktop cpu, where I can o/c it. I will want to probably run stock or less volts in the htpc.

All depends on the temp in there and the noise.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Considered using a Celeron-M? Not sure about the mobos, but you can get the CPUs for ~$35 in FS/FT.

 

[frankgomez75]

Originally posted by: WhoBeDaPlaya
Considered using a Celeron-M? Not sure about the mobos, but you can get the CPUs for ~$35 in FS/FT.

No a chance in hell is a Celeron M gonna run FFDSHOW. Better get a 3200+ MINIMUM AMD CPU for FFDSHOW

Preferably a 3800+... pickup a nice Zalman HSF for keeping it quiet too

EDIT: As it stands... Dual Core has no additional benefits. The apps do not take full advantage of the second core in a HTPC

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: frankgomez75
No a chance in hell is a Celeron M gonna run FFDSHOW. Better get a 3200+ MINIMUM AMD CPU for FFDSHOW

WTF are you talking about? Celeron M != Celeron D. The modern Celeron M is pretty much a Dothan chip like the Pentium M (or Banias if an older chip) and performance is REALLY close to the Pentium M. The BIG difference is lack of SpeedStep for power savings.

Also, why wouldn't any other Celeron run FFDSHOW?