i3 2100 - Video stuttering. PSU issue?

[bloodiedathame]

I bought a stupidly cheap system on ebay (B75M-ITX) about a year ago, it's basically and HTPC that I keep switched on all the time that runs Plex server, Crashplan and I watch the occasional video (MotoGP) on via a browser. For the most part it is fine but I've noticed that video streaming seems to stutter about once a second, just a tiny delay or duplicate frame.

The PSU is an external block, rated at 80W. I believe the CPU requires 65W. There's an internal SSD and two external hard drives attached, and that's it.

I'm wondering if the stuttering is due to the PSU not being powerful enough, and whether it's worth putting in a mobile chip (35W) to remedy the problem. Or get a different case and an SFX PSU?

Thoughts?

 

[P4Clock]

What res are you watching at. And could this be down to your internet?

Let use have the full system spec including keyboard and so on they all drain of the psu

 

[bloodiedathame]

VGA to my TV at 720p. Hardwired internet to the box and all my other machines/consoles/things stream fine at higher resolutions so I'm sure it's not that.

Spec is:
i3 2100 @ 3.1
Asrock B75M-ITX
4GB Geil RAM
Intel 64GB SSD
2x external M3 Samsung portable drives
K/M is an USB IR cheap piece of crap

 

[pandem0nium]

Is DVI or HDMI an option? You can get interference with vga.

 

[bloodiedathame]

I could probably test it with one of the two but can't use it permanently, out of inputs on my TV.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Has the bitrate of the streams gone up or the codec has changed?? It could be simply the CPU is starting to struggle a bit??

 

[DragonQ]

Browsers pretty much never play video completely smoothly, they just aren't built for it. The other issue you might have is viewing content with a different frame rate to your refresh rate, especially if the stutter is a pretty constant once a second. Or it could simply be that the video provider is useless and the stuttering is part of the video and there's nothing you can do about it (this was the case with Sky Go when I used it a couple of years ago, not sure if it's still the case).

 

[bloodiedathame]

All valid points. TV is a trusty old Sony KDL40V4000. I can't remember off the top of my head if the same thing happens with Youtube but will test that.

 

[pandem0nium]

Try Edge instead if using windows 10. It can be a little easier on your hardware for videos.

 

[GWANGY]

DEF sounds like your frame rates , especially if its a very regular stutter. One other thing it could be is your anti-virus calling home once a second . It would not be down to your PSU that would show in random shutdowns resets and possibly being unable to power your usb disks properly.
NB your cpu is rated at MAX 65w , it is almost never going to use that especially in the situation you describe..
Also vga to tv can be problematic .. its a bit oldhat, if possible maybe get a super cheap gfx card with hdmi ??

 

[bloodiedathame]

I'm wondering if heat could be an issue, idles at about 50. Haven't seen it go over 70. I think it often runs at 65 when watching videos. There is no cooling to speak of in the case, the heatsink is a very slim frostflow IIRC, and it's in a cabinet so gets pretty toasty.

 

[pandem0nium]

I'm wondering if heat could be an issue, idles at about 50. Haven't seen it go over 70. I think it often runs at 65 when watching videos. There is no cooling to speak of in the case, the heatsink is a very slim frostflow IIRC, and it's in a cabinet so gets pretty toasty.

70 is fine. Can run up to 90 or so safely. I'd monitor the temps though anyway with something like HMmonitor to get the max.