Intel Vs. AMD in HTPC Build

[smitbret]

With 120mm fans on the heatsink and the PSU I wouldn't think noise is going to be much of an issue. I wouldn't get more than 2, and probably only 1 fan that I would set up as an exhaust fan at the back of the case. That's what the PS3 uses. My WD Live Hub uses an even smaller fan than that and it's virtually silent. You'll probably be ok without any other fans, but you could always unplug 'em if they end up too loud.

 

[smitbret]

With 120mm fans on the heatsink and the PSU I wouldn't think noise is going to be much of an issue. I wouldn't get more than 2, and probably only 1 fan that I would set up as an exhaust fan at the back of the case. That's what the PS3 uses. My WD Live Hub uses an even smaller fan than that and it's virtually silent. You'll probably be ok without any other fans, but you could always unplug 'em if they end up too loud.

 

[Arkitekt]

There's an xbitlabs link in this thread that shows quicksync performance with the i3-2120+. Look there.

Ok I will look there

As a side note, NCIX has a combo deal on, get the Gigabyte H77M-D3H for $100 or the ASRock H77 Pro 4-M for $106 and then the Intel i5-2320 is $160, is this a good deal?

The ASRock has a CIR header and the Gigabyte does not. Is the i5's stock cooler sufficient enough to not get a aftermarket low profile one?

 

[smitbret]

That Xbit article is a good read and shows how much more efficiently the Intel CPUs are, but leaves out an important factor and that's how many tasks the CPU is being asked to perform. OP claims that he could be asking the CPU to perform up to 3 tasks at a time:

1) Playing video from the HTPC to his TV

2) Streaming video file to his Roku XD

3) Transcoding on the fly for the Roku.

Regardless of speed, within reason, more cores/threads is going to be an advantage.

 

[Arkitekt]

That Xbit article is a good read and shows how much more efficiently the Intel CPUs are, but leaves out an important factor and that's how many tasks the CPU is being asked to perform. OP claims that he could be asking the CPU to perform up to 3 tasks at a time:

1) Playing video from the HTPC to his TV

2) Streaming video file to his Roku XD

3) Transcoding on the fly for the Roku.

Regardless of speed, within reason, more cores/threads is going to be an advantage.

I will have 2 Roku's that could streamed/transcoded to at the same time as playing media on the TV. Although, most often, the one Roku will usually just be running Netflix for the kids.

In talking about threads/cores, would a i3-2120 with 2 cores and 4 threads due to hyperthreading perform multiple tasks roughly the same as an A8-3850 with 4 cores and 4 threads?

 

[smitbret]

That Xbit article is a good read and shows how much more efficiently the Intel CPUs are, but leaves out an important factor and that's how many tasks the CPU is being asked to perform. OP claims that he could be asking the CPU to perform up to 3 tasks at a time:

1) Playing video from the HTPC to his TV

2) Streaming video file to his Roku XD

3) Transcoding on the fly for the Roku.

Regardless of speed, within reason, more cores/threads is going to be an advantage.

 

[Binky]

I'm not sure why you'd need more than the i3-2100/2120/2125/2130 (or whatever they're named). It's a beast for an htpc. I just replaced an AMD setup with one and it's damn near perfect both thermally and performance-wise.

 

[Aikouka]

I'm not sure why you'd need more than the i3-2100/2120/2125/2130 (or whatever they're named). It's a beast for an htpc. I just replaced an AMD setup with one and it's damn near perfect both thermally and performance-wise.

I use an i3-2100t in my "server", and it works great for what I need. My downstairs HTPC (not the ATV that I mentioned earlier) is a little bit older, and uses an i3-540 that works fairly well. I definitely like the power usage on the low wattage 't' CPUs.

I was hoping that Ivy Bridge would drop the wattage on the low-end processors even further, but if I remember correctly, it isn't. Maybe I'll have to hold out for Haswell!

 

[skillyho]

For what it's worth, my HTPC is a A4-3400 (dual core @2.7GHz, with integrated 6410D) and I use it for Netflix/Hulu/Crunchyroll etc all in HD without any issues. It also plays 1080p .mkv's without any problems, as well as HD avi/divx/xvids.

I have Plex on my Roku 2 XS in our great room and I'm able to stream those 1080p .mkv's without any issue whatsoever to my other TV (house is on wired gigabit Ethernet). Plex is pretty robust as is, and doesn't require much trans-coding due to it's diverse on the fly playback.

 

[Arkitekt]

Blinky, if that is the case then I would probably settle on the i3-2120 if it is capable of handling the multi-tasking I would like it to.

What about the i3-2105? it is $15 more then the i3-2120 and has HD-3000 graphics. It isn't on the Xbit link that was posted earlier, but I would assume it would have the same if not better numbers than the i3-2120. Other then the difference in HD graphics and 200 MHz, they seem to be identical according to comparison Intel.com

 

[smitbret]

Does Plex just remux instead of transcode when possible?

 

[Arkitekt]

Does Plex just remux instead of transcode when possible?

I asked Plex on twitter what formats it supports for Direct Streaming, this is the response I got:

"Direct Plays MP4 only, afaik, can play remuxed H.264 (e.g. MKV) or transcode everything else."

 

[Aso]

Blinky, if that is the case then I would probably settle on the i3-2120 if it is capable of handling the multi-tasking I would like it to.

What about the i3-2105? it is $15 more then the i3-2120 and has HD-3000 graphics. It isn't on the Xbit link that was posted earlier, but I would assume it would have the same if not better numbers than the i3-2120. Other then the difference in HD graphics and 200 MHz, they seem to be identical according to comparison Intel.com

The i3-2105 will have worse numbers than the i3-2120. Look at the Xbit lab link again, they have the 2120 and the 2125 which are identical except for the 2125 has the HD 3000 graphics. In almost all the benchmarks they have exactly the same numbers.

 

[Arkitekt]

so the i3-2105 would then be comparable to the i3-2100 just with HD-3000 graphics?

If that is the case then my question is, is HD-3000 that much better than HD-2000 in terms of HTPC transcoding/encoding and playback to warrant an i3-2125 instead of just an i3-2120 or i3-2130? Also, would the lower TDP of the i3-2120T be beneficial or is 65w sufficient?

 

[Binky]

The HD2000 or 3000 graphics should usually make no difference. The 2120t comes with a cost - lower performance. You should look at some reviews if you decide to go that route. The regular 2120 is still very cool and very low power. The standard heatsink is more than enough.

 

[Arkitekt]

The HD2000 or 3000 graphics should usually make no difference. The 2120t comes with a cost - lower performance. You should look at some reviews if you decide to go that route. The regular 2120 is still very cool and very low power. The standard heatsink is more than enough.

So something like the CoolerMaster GeminII m4 would be uneccessary?

 

[smitbret]

So something like the CoolerMaster GeminII m4 would be uneccessary?

Well, the fan would probably be significantly less noisy than the stock HSF. If it were me building an HTPC and noise were important, I'd still opt for the HSF with the bigger diameter lower RPMs

 

[Binky]

I'd try the stock heatsink first with whatever CPU you buy. You probably don't need anything more. The worst case is you have to remove the motherboard to mount a different heatsink. Best case is that you save spending ~$40 on a heatsink to cool a $100 CPU.

Also, if you're really looking at the GeminII, you may want to look at the big shuriken.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1278-page7.html

 

[Arkitekt]

I'd try the stock heatsink first with whatever CPU you buy. You probably don't need anything more. The worst case is you have to remove the motherboard to mount a different heatsink. Best case is that you save spending ~$40 on a heatsink to cool a $100 CPU.

Also, if you're really looking at the GeminII, you may want to look at the big shuriken.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1278-page7.html

Hmm, thought the M4 was pretty good, apparently it is not lol.

The Big Shuriken apparently covers up the first 2 RAM slots on a 4 RAM slot board, it has a clearance of 32mm, would this be an acceptable substitute? I don't think it cover's up the RAM.
Scythe Shuriken Rev.B

EDIT: Apparently the Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B limits DIMM height to 39mm, does anyone know the rough height of GSkill ripjaws low? If it is not short enough I could always switch to low profile Corsair Vengeance (If I decided to get the cooler that is)

 

[smitbret]

I wouldn't get too caught up in performance numbers for your purposes. Although the mentioning of the fan vibrations would probably scare me away from the M4. Just about any HSF with a large 120mm fan is going to be quieter than the stock HSF so I wouldn't even mess with itn but you may want to try it out.

Since it looks like Plex will simply remux rather than transcode where possible, you probably will actually transcode even less than you think so anyone of those CPUs will work fine and heat's not going to be an issue.

 

[Rio Rebel]

I wouldn't get too caught up in performance numbers for your purposes. Although the mentioning of the fan vibrations would probably scare me away from the M4. Just about any HSF with a large 120mm fan is going to be quieter than the stock HSF so I wouldn't even mess with itn but you may want to try it out.

Since it looks like Plex will simply remux rather than transcode where possible, you probably will actually transcode even less than you think so anyone of those CPUs will work fine and heat's not going to be an issue.

Agreed. For someone new to this, who is not looking for gaming performance, I would strongly suggest the i3 (sandy bridge) route. The AMD route is not enough of a savings to deal with the possible driver issues, imo (not that the "driver issues" are a knock on AMD, but as mentioned earlier, you are much more likely to have difficulties with drivers on an AMD setup. I have found this to be true personally as well as in AVS forums.)

Don't pay a lot more just to get more cpu power. An i3 is fine for what you want.

 

[Arkitekt]

Thanks for all the input guys

I think I have finally decided and will go with the i3-2120 (I can get it for $115 CAD which is a good price).

For motherboards I am looking at the Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H ($89) and the ASUS P8H77-M Pro ($121).

The ASUS has 1 more forward SATAIII ports (6 instead of 5, not really a big worry to me), a plethora of media ports in the rear, 2 chassis fan slots (opposed to 1 on the gigabyte), and an eSATA port (might come in handy?). Both BIOS are apparently really good, however the Gigabyte does have 3D bios (user friendly?)

Is the ASUS worth $30 more? they both have 3 year partial limited warranties, and I am not sure what each of their customer support is like. Should I perhaps start another thread to ask this question?

 

[Rio Rebel]

The motherboard question is for you to answer. You do not need any of those things for an HTPC that can do what you have described. Whether some of those features are worth it to you, is not really in the scope of an htpc but whether you might want to add them.

My thought is to keep it straightforward and do not inflate the cost unnecessarily. The SSD is not necessary, but a good thing to have. An extra SATA III and eSATA port is not something you would likely need. A good cpu cooler and case ventilation is a good use of the extra 30 bucks.

 

[Arkitekt]

The motherboard question is for you to answer. You do not need any of those things for an HTPC that can do what you have described. Whether some of those features are worth it to you, is not really in the scope of an htpc but whether you might want to add them.

My thought is to keep it straightforward and do not inflate the cost unnecessarily. The SSD is not necessary, but a good thing to have. An extra SATA III and eSATA port is not something you would likely need. A good cpu cooler and case ventilation is a good use of the extra 30 bucks.

That's a good point. I wanted to go with H77 because it has USB3.0 and SATAIII and is future-proof a bit. The Gigabyte I think provides excellent value for the money. Does anyone have any experience with their 3D Bios? I also can probably daisy chain any case fan's together and connect them to a single 4 pin molex, or I could get the Sunbeam multi fan controller.

 

[Arkitekt]

Also was curious, would 8Gb of DDR3 be overkill?

I was going to get 4Gb of the Ripjaws Low but they would be just a little too high if I chose to get an aftermarket cooler such as the Scythe Big Shuriken 2 Rev.B. I was then looking at the low profile Corsair Vengeance, but I could get 8Gb's of the G.Skill Ares low profile for $10 more than the 4Gb Corsair Vengeance.

I know that transcoding is CPU intensive, I was thinking of just getting something like Handbrake to convert all of my files during the night into MP4 with H264, would that be as CPU intensive? or does that require RAM?