Best CPU for HTPC

[Big.Wayne]

I see all my cases as pieces of furniture so I like them to look as good 5 years down the line as they do now

Yup I understand that!

When playing games at 1080p with say an ATI 5850, what will be the bottleneck, CPU or GPU?

GPU, for more info please visit the Graphics Card forum for endless debate on the subject

seriously that kind of money not many people will lose sleep over - hardly what I'd call a premium

Look after the pounds and the hundred of pounds look after themselves . . . .as you so flush you can make a voluntary donation of £13 to every person who gives you helpful advice in this thread as a consultancy fee

That's always been the case and it's good advice but if you followed that advice ALL the time then you'd never have anything --nice--. Sometimes impulse buys can be good!

Buy what you want, don't mind us giving out opinions on what we think you need!

I'm very up with eco/low voltage computing and will always encourage people to buy hardware that is low voltage, I'm just saying I believe the *e* versions are not any different from the regular versions, you just paying a premium for them to pre-test the chip and change the VID. not a biggy as you say!

I understand though when you give advice to people that's what you have to say everytime as you don't want to be responsible for people spending more than they need to

I'm giving you free advice with your best interests at heart, you may see the little extra expenses as nothing to loose sleep over but I am seeing you as part of 45 million contingent. As always its your money and you do what you think is best and what makes you feel good!

PC equipment depreciates VERY quickly. That's why businesses can write off PC equipment as having no value after just 3 years (50% depreciation in first year then 25% + 25% for years 2/3)

Thank you for covering the basic rules of depreciation, some may find that interesting . . .

One of the reasons I hate upgrading CPUs is because it either means you're throwing away a perfectly good CPU or you have to buy a new motherboard + ram as well and then you have to find a home for the old kit.

There is nothing to hate? and your not wasting anything, it's called Recycling, its very easy to find a buyer for your older used hardware, in fact the used computer hardware market is booming at the moment as the country goes down the pan amidst the worst financial crysis we had in a long time.

I'm not sure how much more help I can be, you appear to be building a very normal low-voltage gaming machine that will be housed in a HTPC style chassis, apart from the case your build is standard as standard can be and I don't foresee any problems except maybe you overspending, good luck!

 

[Imy]

GPU, for more info please visit the Graphics Card forum for endless debate on the subject

Sorry just to clarify, your answer is based on using the 240E with a 5850? If that's the case I don't need anything faster than the 240E. After all, my Phillips LX3000 only has a 1.6GHz laptop Core 2 in it and can play 12-15GB 1080p .mkvs fine (with CoreAVC installed). With a discrete graphics card I should be able to offload video processing to the GPU anyway.

Look after the pounds and the hundred of pounds look after themselves . . . .as you so flush you can make a voluntary donation of £13 to every person who gives you helpful advice in this thread as a consultancy fee

Hahaha you're absolutely right - I merely meant £13 aint too bad value given the potential benefits (on paper at least)

Buy what you want, don't mind us giving out opinions on what we think you need!

I'm well aware I'm the one asking for opinions here! I just like to debate things

I'm very up with eco/low voltage computing and will always encourage people to buy hardware that is low voltage, I'm just saying I believe the *e* versions are not any different from the regular versions, you just paying a premium for them to pre-test the chip and change the VID. not a biggy as you say!

I'm actually not all that concerned about the power usage itself. I was just assuming that low power meant low thermals and thus low noise, the latter of which I'm very concerned about! If it isn't quiet then the whole project is a waste of time as far as I'm concerned.

I understand it's possible to undervolt CPUs to get them near the spec of their energy efficent equivalents but I was under the impression the energy efficient chips were choice picks by Intel/AMD from each batch, giving them a slight edge no matter what.

Thank you for covering the basic rules of depreciation, some may find that interesting . . .

/sarcasm I was writing from a tax perspective (although didn't make that clear). If you purchase through a business, then aside from the (considerable) tax savings, the kit can be written off and transferred to your name after 3 years.

There is nothing to hate? and your not wasting anything, it's called Recycling, its very easy to find a buyer for your older used hardware, in fact the used computer hardware market is booming at the moment as the country goes down the pan amidst the worst financial crysis we had in a long time.

I know I know you could sell stuff as it gets old.... Personally I'm just too lazy for that. I'm also a hoarder

I'm not sure how much more help I can be, you appear to be building a very normal low-voltage gaming machine that will be housed in a HTPC style chassis, apart from the case your build is standard as standard can be and I don't foresee any problems except maybe you overspending, good luck!

You've been a great help, thanks! I think you're making it sound more simple than it is - the difficulty is in finding the right balance (at least to me).

 

[Big.Wayne]

Sorry just to clarify, your answer is based on using the 240E with a 5850?

I can't see a 2.8GHz processor causing you any problems when paired with a powerful GPU gaming at 1920x1080, of course you will improve framerate if you increase the processing frequency if the card is very capable. The main burden is placed on the GPU at that resolution . . .

With a discrete graphics card I should be able to offload video processing to the GPU anyway

That's a trivial task handled by the better chipsets these days (AMD 785G Chipset Overview)

I'm actually not all that concerned about the power usage itself. I was just assuming that low power meant low thermals and thus low noise

It does however the Athlon II class chips run very cool anyway, I've not got a fan on mine just a big mama heatsink, works well!

if you have the luxury of a chassis large enough to fit a premium heatsink you got no worries, choose *any* Athlon II you feel is suitable and just pair it with a heatsink of your choosing . . .

I was under the impression the energy efficient chips were choice picks by Intel/AMD from each batch, giving them a slight edge no matter what.

I think you made that up!

I know I know you could sell stuff as it gets old.... Personally I'm just too lazy for that. I'm also a hoarder

Well I can't say being lazy is a good trait, In the time I have taken to write these posts I could have easily made a for sale thread in the members market . . .

If you want something to be a pain/hassle then your gonna make it a pain/hassle . . .if you want a task to be effortless and pain free then make it so, it's all in your outlook and perspective! . . .the mind is powerful!

You've been a great help, thanks! I think you're making it sound more simple than it is - the difficulty is in finding the right balance (at least to me).

No problem, I've been doing this a while so a lot of the *fog* has been swept away and things do indeed seem simple.

The complication comes from the bombardment of marketing guff you are having to deal with, its causing more confusion that doing good, I believe this is a deliberate tactic on the manufacturers behalf as most peoples brain will fry trying to wade through the endless sea of variations and eventually they give up and throw a whack of money at something just to cover themselves!

You only have one thing to really focus on and that will be choosing the correct GPU, that will produce the most *Heat* and the most *Noise*

 

[Imy]

I can't see a 2.8GHz processor causing you any problems when paired with a powerful GPU gaming at 1920x1080, of course you will improve framerate if you increase the processing frequency if the card is very capable. The main burden is placed on the GPU at that resolution . . .

OK, good.

That's a trivial task handled by the better chipsets these days (AMD 785G Chipset Overview)

I am really liking the look of the 785G boards.

It does however the Athlon II class chips run very cool anyway, I've not got a fan on mine just a big mama heatsink, works well!

if you have the luxury of a chassis large enough to fit a premium heatsink you got no worries

You've got me interested in running it fanless now! By the way, did you test it prior to lapping? I lapped my TRUE and Q6600 and although it was a bit of fun, I remember thinking at the time whether the cost of the lapping materials (I went down to the shiny bit too) was worth the gain.

I think you made that up!

Hehe naa I read it on a few review sites when looking up these energy-efficient variants. I also remember from when I was overclocking my Q6600 (GO) that some other people had lower stock VIDs on the same CPU. I'm guessing the E and S variants just guarantee a low VID.

Well I can't say being lazy is a good trait, In the time I have taken to write these posts I could have easily made a for sale thread in the members market . . .

Yeah got to admit the members market is a much easier affair than an auction site but there's still the wasted lunch time(s) down the post office I consider. Besides, by the time I usually decide to sell something, I realise it's worth more to me to keep it than to sell it for a few quid (like my P4 system). Heck you should see my mobile phone collection...

If you want something to be a pain/hassle then your gonna make it a pain/hassle . . .if you want a task to be effortless and pain free then make it so, it's all in your outlook and perspective! . . .the mind is powerful!

Yes I have a habit of making simple tasks complicated! I like to think I'm just being thorough though!

The complication comes from the bombardment of marketing guff you are having to deal with, its causing more confusion that doing good, I believe this is a deliberate tactic on the manufacturers behalf as most peoples brain will fry trying to wade through the endless sea of variations and eventually they give up and throw a whack of money at something just to cover themselves!

Yeah manufacturers are no angels with their so called LED TVs (hello Samsung) and their so called unlimited data plans (hello most mobile/broadband providers). With PCs though sometimes I wish I was more naive about things. That way I could just buy something and more than likely be happy with it, rather than worry whether it was the best I could've got or if there was something much better out in a week. Naaa scrap that - the research is almost as much fun as the end product.

You only have one thing to really focus on and that will be choosing the correct GPU, that will produce the most *Heat* and the most *Noise*

Yes I suspect I'll be making a thread in the graphics forum soon (if similar one not already there)

Well I feel a lot more comfortable now getting the 785G/240E package and it's certainly going to be noticeable in the wallet department.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

 

[Big.Wayne]

You've got me interested in running it fanless now! By the way, did you test it prior to lapping?

I didn't lap anything, the heatsink comes with a perfect base!

ThermoLab Baram

£28.99 inc

 

[Imy]

Very nice. Reminds me of a few Zalmans I've seen with mirror finishes. The TRUE on the other hand; you'll be lucky if it's flat.

How does it compare with the Scythe Ninja II Rev. B and Noctuas (with and without fan)?

 

[Big.Wayne]

Get on with it, xmas is coming!

 

[Imy]

I've still got a new tv, stand and speakers to choose yet!

Have chosen the amp though.

 

[feeddagoat]

I'm very up with eco/low voltage computing and will always encourage people to buy hardware that is low voltage, I'm just saying I believe the *e* versions are not any different from the regular versions, you just paying a premium for them to pre-test the chip and change the VID. not a biggy as you say!

You could answer this for definate then but aren't the athlon II xxxe processors just lowered clock speeds to give them that 45w envelope? surely underclocking a normal CPU would give the same results for less voltages on the mobo? After all, thats what they did with the 6core operons to keep their thermal performance down.

 

[Orcvader]

+1 to the Athlon II suggestions. They run really cool aswell. Go for a quad core one with an AM3 motherboard so you can upgrade to hexa core later, that will suit your needs.

 

[chrx]

in the manual of asus m4a785td-v it says
""Playback of HD DVD and Blu-Ray discs • For better playback quality, we recommend that you follow the system requirements listed below. Suggested list CPU AMD® Phenom™ II x3 720 ""

but its overthetop?

 

[Lanz]

I would only get a x3 or x4 if you plan on encoding stuff, creating DVDs from your recordings etc, not needed otherwise.

 

[Dreadhead]

I have an Athlon X2 4850e in an Antec Fusion remote case and that runs at 35 degrees using a fanless Scythe Mini-Ninja. It's a sweet heatsink.

For your gaming HTPC I would consider a AMD Athlon II X4 605e paired with a ATI 4770 which you can mod with a Thermalright cooler to run passively.

Get a couple of Noctua 120mm case fans and the machine should be virtually silent. If it is anything like my HTPC the hard discs will be the most noisy component.
I am considering getting a 30gb SSD for this reason so that I can load the OS from that and stream all my media over the network thus removing this last source of noise.

I suppose the only other fan then will be what is on the PSU. For the record I have found Thermaltake do almost silent PSUs. Or there is a PSU called the nightjar which runs passively too.

 

[Dreadhead]

I would only get a x3 or x4 if you plan on encoding stuff, creating DVDs from your recordings etc, not needed otherwise.

hmmm.. not so sure on this. I have a dual tv tuner in my HTPC which uses a dual core proc. When the tuner is recording a couple of shows simultaneously then the WMC menu navigation can be a bit pants.

The quads are not required.. but will certainly ensure the machine can keep up when the machine is doing more complex tasks.

Besides if the OP would like to game, he may well be recording TV in the background and a quad would let him do this without any issues.

 

[pcoltrane]

That suprises me - with a quad tuner setup and a 4450e I don't have an issue.

 

[chippy08]

I didn't lap anything, the heatsink comes with a perfect base!

ThermoLab Baram

£28.99 inc

Is this is the same cooler as what your using big wayne ?

 

[Lanz]

hmmm.. not so sure on this. I have a dual tv tuner in my HTPC which uses a dual core proc. When the tuner is recording a couple of shows simultaneously then the WMC menu navigation can be a bit pants.

I know what you mean, but I think this can be down to disk IO issues slowing down the system, rather than CPU performance. As when I'm recording a couple of things at once and watching something else, my HD is pretty busy and when you access the guide or something on a different part of the disk, it can be a little laggy. This goes away if you have 2 disks installed, one for the OS and one for recordings.

 

[Big.Wayne]

Is this is the same cooler as what your using

Yup, good bit of kit!

 

[chippy08]

Yup, good bit of kit!

Ok thanks just ordered as i was looking for a cooler that dont need fans as i can direct my case fan to blown down on to it.

 

[Big.Wayne]

i was looking for a cooler that dont need fans

Oh cool another crew in the Passive-Massive!

[edit] hehe just seen your using an i7 920!

Wonder how the Baram running passive will cope with that!