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Low-end C2Ds E3500
- Thread starter Pug
- Start date
Hey Pug,
As far as I'm aware most modern video cards (inc IGP parts) can decode Full-HD so there is no need for a beastly CPU to handle that!
I'm not familiar with that chip you mentioned? how much does it cost and what is the approx budget for your little project?
As far as I'm aware most modern video cards (inc IGP parts) can decode Full-HD so there is no need for a beastly CPU to handle that!
I'm not familiar with that chip you mentioned? how much does it cost and what is the approx budget for your little project?
Associate
- Joined
- 15 Nov 2004
- Posts
- 1,745
- Location
- London
I've got a Celly E3200 - it's a beast! Runs very cool, can be clocked very high if needed and smashes Atom's etc. Makes a great HTPC CPU, have it paired with an Intel Fly Creek mobo (X4500HD).
Also have a Penitum Dual Core - E5300, again would do this job perfectly, recommended.
Also have a Penitum Dual Core - E5300, again would do this job perfectly, recommended.
Cheers people. The product code I used was from memory, so was probably wrong.
I am building a HTPC which I may drop my GPU into for LANs. Primarily running win 7, videos in 1080p (mkv primarily) and not much more - plugging into an mATX board with an IGP (cheap, suggestions?) budget is tight, ideally less than £200 (have case and psu).
I COULD go atom, but that's more expense for an inferior product, and used 6300s etc are £35 odd, and these cpus are the same new, retail. Just wanted to make sure they weren't crippled. If those cpus you mentioned are going spare, email me in trust to discuss.
Thanks folks.
I am building a HTPC which I may drop my GPU into for LANs. Primarily running win 7, videos in 1080p (mkv primarily) and not much more - plugging into an mATX board with an IGP (cheap, suggestions?) budget is tight, ideally less than £200 (have case and psu).
I COULD go atom, but that's more expense for an inferior product, and used 6300s etc are £35 odd, and these cpus are the same new, retail. Just wanted to make sure they weren't crippled. If those cpus you mentioned are going spare, email me in trust to discuss.
Thanks folks.
Hey Pug,
I've built a few HTPC's and have until recently always used an undervolted Intel® Core™2 Duo processor . . . however I think you should be giving the new AMD hardware a very close look as they have some stonking good products for sale at a very attractive price, for approx £100 you could buy a decent Dual/Tri-Core CPU and a fully featured* uATX motherboard using either the 780G or new 785G chipset, that will handle all your HTPC duties with ease and be real easy on the wallet!
*high quality IGP, Firewire, SATA RAID, 8:1 audio, PCI-E 2.0 slot for GPU, etc etc . .
I've built a few HTPC's and have until recently always used an undervolted Intel® Core™2 Duo processor . . . however I think you should be giving the new AMD hardware a very close look as they have some stonking good products for sale at a very attractive price, for approx £100 you could buy a decent Dual/Tri-Core CPU and a fully featured* uATX motherboard using either the 780G or new 785G chipset, that will handle all your HTPC duties with ease and be real easy on the wallet!
*high quality IGP, Firewire, SATA RAID, 8:1 audio, PCI-E 2.0 slot for GPU, etc etc . .
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Associate
- Joined
- 26 May 2008
- Posts
- 1,808
From what I have read the AMD platforms with 785G are the ones to go for with IGP but the graphics are easilly outdone by most graphic cards? As such I am wondering if I would be better off sticking a silent GPU in one of my old PC's instead.
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If the G41 chipset comes with Intel® GMA X4500 IGP and HDMI out then that will be good enough for your needs, the IGP will take over decoding HD content with no trouble at all, the CPU you have in mind should also handle day to day use with little effort also but won't offer stellar performance in CPU intensive tasks such as Video Encoding (DivX etc).
The newer AMD processors based on Propus/Rana/Regor cores offer a more rounded processor for the same money as what Intel are offering, this would be better if you intended to use the HTPC for other duties such as gaming and media production . . . . the AMD 780G and newer 758G just are better than anything Intel® can offer, in particular the latest 785G features a Radeon HD4200, DX 10.1, SM4.1, 500MHz Core (overclockable to 800MHz-1GHz), 40 unified Shaders, UVD2.0, up to 512MB Hypermemory, VGA/DVI/HDMI output, Dual Display, yada yada . . . the board also features a full fat PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot should you later decide to plop in a nice beefy GPU, 5-6 SATA II ports include RAID options, Firewire, eSata etc, an amazing BIOS with tons of useful overclocking/undervolting features . . . AMD basically currently *own* the budget HTPC arena no contest!
I would say if you can pick up a used Intel® LGA775 uATX motherboard and processor then go for it but if buying new I would seriously urge you to give your hard earned cash to AMD as they really need it right now and are offering tremendous value for money! look into an AMD Athlon II X3 425 and a AMD 785 combo at approx £100 inc
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thanks Wayne, i'll investigate. Though the gaming side of things is pretty irrelevant, as it'll have an 8800GTS in when i need it to game (and permanently when i upgrade it in my main system).
Do you not think a low end C2D would do 1080p succesfully then (say without a IGP)
Do you not think a low end C2D would do 1080p succesfully then (say without a IGP)
