E2160@3.0GHz upgrade

[gorman42]

Hi! I currently use for my HTPC (XBMC based, under Windows, no GPU assisted decoding) an E2160 o/c at 3.0.

Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3.

I wanted to know whether, not changing motherboard I could simply switch to an E5200 o/c it to 3.5 or something.

Cooling solution is a XP120, mounting a Noctua NF-S12-800 fan.

I need the upgrade because, unfortunately, VC-1 decoding in FFMPEG is still single threaded and I can't playback properly straight Bluray backups.

 

[E4300]

BD playback should not be an issue with E2160@ 3.0GHz. Problem is the lack of a powerful GPU or some sort of software conflict. Any improvement with E5200 @ 3.5GHz will be marginal at best.

 

[gorman42]

Well, it's not a problem for h.264 content, since h.264 decoding is multithreaded in FFMPEG (which is what XBMC's video player is based on). VC-1 content is still decoded in a single thread and there the CPU struggles.

I read reports that with a Core 2 Duo E7200 8.5x412 ~3.5GHz the same content I have problems with plays fine.

BTW, GPU is 8800GT but the thing is that on XBMC GPU decoding is not happening. It's all CPU.

 

[E4300]

If you believe that E2160 @ 3.0GHz is the bottleneck, then upgrading to an E7xxx @ 3.5GHz will be a waste of $ because of the marginal gain in performance. The only logical choice is a cheap overclocked Q8200/Q8400/Q9400 (3.3-3.6GHz). AMD's P II quads are also acceptable, although the Intel quads will be a little faster at the same core speed.

 

[gorman42]

... I don't know if I'm explaining myself properly. The VC-1 decoding happens on a single thread, clock speed (with the same core architecture, obviously) is far more important than the number of core. The CPU usage on a quad core would be 25%, not more, and still lead to bad performance at 3.3 GHz.

 

[Lonyo]

Is the playback pegging the CPU at 50% in task manager?
Have you tried setting affinity etc?

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: gorman42
I wanted to know whether, not changing motherboard I could simply switch to an E5200 o/c it to 3.5 or something.

I don't think that would be a very good upgrade. You'd be going from 1mb cache at 3ghz to 2mb cache at 3.5ghz (and that's assuming you can get 3.5). It might be enough to do what you're trying to do, but I would personally go for more of an upgrade just so future bases are covered.

The sucky part about this upgrade is that your choices have wildly different prices.
E5200 is $70
E7400 is $120
E8400 is $168

I think the E7xxx might be a good choice. At your current bus speed, it would run at 3.5ghz.

 

[gorman42]

Yes, the CPU is at 50% and I lose frames. Decoding is single threaded, again.

Regarding what ShawnD1 is saying, I don't understand... are you implying that the E7400 or E8400 offer more overclockability potential? Meaning I'd be "surer" of reaching close to 4.0GHz?

Also, does cache really make a difference in decoding performance?

 

[Gikaseixas]

the E8000 series have the fastest core and come @ higher mhz rates so you'll be able to OC to maybe 3.8 or more.

 

[jesterb84]

Originally posted by: gorman42
Yes, the CPU is at 50% and I lose frames. Decoding is single threaded, again.

Regarding what ShawnD1 is saying, I don't understand... are you implying that the E7400 or E8400 offer more overclockability potential? Meaning I'd be "surer" of reaching close to 4.0GHz?

Also, does cache really make a difference in decoding performance?

Sorry, not to seem to question the obvious but when you say 50%, you mean (core1: 100%, core2: 0%) right? Not (core1: 50%, core2: 0%).

I'm just interested to know, how badly are you skipping when playing Bluray (i.e. is it super choppy or just a bit)? Also, keep in mind that some E2160s can go up to 3.2GHz - have you tried that as an interim solution to see whether that solves the issue?

I would also try what Lonyo said regarding setting affinities. I know there are some multicore compatibility issues with particular software which would make them run slower unless single core affinity is enabled (i.e. The Last Remnant loading times in Vista).

 

[Spoelie]

People need to learn to read:
1) software is single threaded, adding more cores will do nothing, adding cache and clockspeed will
2) he is running linux, not windows -- no task manager, different scheduling algorithms
3) only issue with VC1, not H.264, ...

@OP depends on how bad the skipping is now. If a core 2 @ 3,5-4ghz can't decode it then it is not feasible to use that decoder/video stream combo with ANY current tech and i'd advise trying to find another decoder.

 

[magreen]

Ummm, OP stated windows.

 

[jesterb84]

Originally posted by: Spoelie
People need to learn to read:
2) he is running linux, not windows -- no task manager, different scheduling algorithms

Originally posted by: gorman42
Hi! I currently use for my HTPC (XBMC based, under Windows, no GPU assisted decoding) an E2160 o/c at 3.0.

Totally agree with you, people do need to learn to read.

Originally posted by: Spoelie
@OP depends on how bad the skipping is now. If a core 2 @ 3,5-4ghz can't decode it then it is not feasible to use that decoder/video stream combo with ANY current tech and i'd advise trying to find another decoder.

Agreed again, that presents big inefficiencies on the software side if a Core2 @ 3GHz or so can't decode properly (even with a single core).

 

[AzN]

xbmc runs on OPENGL.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: gorman42
Hi! I currently use for my HTPC (XBMC based, under Windows, no GPU assisted decoding) an E2160 o/c at 3.0.

Motherboard is Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3.

I wanted to know whether, not changing motherboard I could simply switch to an E5200 o/c it to 3.5 or something.

Cooling solution is a XP120, mounting a Noctua NF-S12-800 fan.

I need the upgrade because, unfortunately, VC-1 decoding in FFMPEG is still single threaded and I can't playback properly straight Bluray backups.

edit: corrected mistake in my post.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

I disagree with some of the previous statements. An E5x00 would be one hell of an upgrade - Double the cache, higher clock speeds, and more efficient IPC than the E2xxx. An E7x00 would be an even better upgrade and the E8x00 would be the best upgrade you can do.