Quad core a must for Home Theatre?

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 19:30

My media pc seems to be struggling at the moment

Windows 7
Dual Core 6420 stock
4GB RAM
2TB storeage
3870 GFX

Running Blurays it slows down quite badly even after a fresh install. Would a Q6600 be of benefit or a higher speed from the 6420 ?

mr griffin · 26 Nov 2010 at 19:43

is it not more due to the gfx card than the cpu?. I have a dual core E8400 pared with a anti 4850 and it seems to have no problems at all.

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 19:50

Not sure really, it copes with everything else i throw at it. Suppose i could do with upgrading to something with hdmi out though. Any recommendations?

Chris1712 · 26 Nov 2010 at 20:20

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-118-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=168

What I use, even does HD Audio bitstream.

manbearpig · 26 Nov 2010 at 20:23

Possibly the graphics card, people use Intel atom processors for media PC's and they seem to run fine.

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 20:44

Looks like the way to go then, thankyou for your suggestions

jak731 · 26 Nov 2010 at 20:51

The 3870 should be able to cope with bluray, it has 320 stream cores compared to 80 with the card specced above. Not sure if it supports video accelerated playback or not though, if it doesn't then it is the cause, if not i'm not sure.

SpeedFreak · 26 Nov 2010 at 21:04

never needed. I'd be concerned with finding a "fast enough" processor that has low tdp.

Dangerous Dave · 26 Nov 2010 at 21:30

What software are you using to play the blu-ray ? I think you must have another issue as I have two HTPCs one with a E6600 and the other a low speed AMD x2 processor (can't remember the model off the top of my head) both use under 5% CPU usage when playing a blu-ray using onboard 8200 & 9300 graphics cards. I used to use a 2600 XTX with a E6600 on another motherboard and it played blu-ray/HD-DVDs with no issue and the cpu under 5% using TMT3.

It may be your software setup isn't using hardware decoding on the graphics card for playing the blu-ray although in saying that my E6600 can do a software decode with 60-70% CPU usage and it is not really that much quicker than a E6420. What CPU usage do you have when playing a blu-ray ?

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 21:30

It was running 2ghz quite comfortably for 18 months but, after a rebuild i never bothered clocking it again. Will give it a boost and see how she behaves.

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 21:31

Dangerous Dave said:
What software are you using to play the blu-ray ? I think you must have another issue as I have two HTPCs one with a E6600 and the other a low speed AMD x2 processor (can't remember the model off the top of my head) both use under 5% CPU usage when playing a blu-ray using onboard 8200 & 9300 graphics cards. I used to use a 2600 XTX with a E6600 on another motherboard and it played blu-ray/HD-DVDs with no issue and the cpu under 5% using TMT3.

It may be your software setup isn't using hardware decoding on the graphics card for playing the blu-ray although in saying that my E6600 can do a software decode with 60-70% CPU usage and it is really that much quicker than a E6420.

Using powerdvd

Dangerous Dave · 26 Nov 2010 at 21:33

CS||nuTs said:
It was running 2ghz quite comfortably for 18 months but, after a rebuild i never bothered clocking it again. Will give it a boost and see how she behaves.

I did an edit after posting what is the CPU usage like when playing a blu-ray ?

Chris1712 · 26 Nov 2010 at 22:08

jak731 said:
The 3870 should be able to cope with bluray, it has 320 stream cores compared to 80 with the card specced above. Not sure if it supports video accelerated playback or not though, if it doesn't then it is the cause, if not i'm not sure.

This aswell, I use a 3870 in other desktop and it playsback hd content absolutely fine. You need hardware acceleration aka DXVA enabled.

Sparky · 26 Nov 2010 at 22:54

Dangerous Dave said:
I did an edit after posting what is the CPU usage like when playing a blu-ray ?

18-30%

Mongy2130 · 27 Nov 2010 at 11:53

Im running a 6420 at stock with 4gb and 5570 runs all blu rays etc perfectly

You seem to be saying you overclocked it too 2gz before but not now? whats it at the 6420 is 2.13ghz stock

Sparky · 27 Nov 2010 at 12:16

Mongy2130 said:
Im running a 6420 at stock with 4gb and 5570 runs all blu rays etc perfectly

You seem to be saying you overclocked it too 2gz before but not now? whats it at the 6420 is 2.13ghz stock

Yeh sorry typo meant 3ghz

Wryel · 27 Nov 2010 at 16:04

CS||nuTs said:
18-30%

How could it be a problem with the CPU then?

I'd be interested to see the cause of this as I am planning to fit a blu-ray drive in my HTPC and I only have an HD3450 which I thought would be fine.

csmager · 27 Nov 2010 at 16:24

As above, it's not the CPU that's an issue. I can play direct rips from BD on my Revo 3610 (Intel Atom 330 and Nvidia ION GPU) without any problems.

Conanius · 27 Nov 2010 at 23:18

my htpc is a Wolfdale 2.66ghz c2d, 2gb DDR2, and an ATi 2400

Bluray, HDDVD, 1080p MKV's etc.... all run sweet as a nut with no dropped frames, stuttering, anything.....

Quad core is way over the top for a htpc!

easyrider · 27 Nov 2010 at 23:48

the 3 series card is the problem

Get a 5450 and all will be dandy