minimum spec for 1080P MKV

elrasho · 17 Feb 2011 at 20:30

I'm building a media center PC purely for playing 1080P MKV movies. I will be using VLC Media player so was wondering what would be the minimum spec for this?

I was thinking:

Intel Celeron E3300 Socket 775 2.5GHz 1MB L2 Cache
1GB ram
Asus HD 4350 512MB DDR2
250GB HD

I want to connect it to my LAN via a switch so I can transfer media around my house too. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

elrasho · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:14

Here's the spec I've decided on:

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What do you guys think?

DragonQ · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:22

Are you streaming the files? 320 GB won't get you much 1080p content (25 films, maybe a few more).

Not sure if that CPU can handle 1080p, someone else can help with that I'm sure.

elrasho · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:23

No the 1080P MKV files will be loaded onto the Samsung hard drive and played off there. The ATI 5450 will be doing all the work when it comes to playing 1080P and it's more than up for the job, unless I'm mistaken

BornEvil · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:42

Conserder an MATX AMD solution. Built in HD4200 series GPU is on par with sandybridge.

Athlon II x2 is faster than an intel e3xx. 1gb ram is really no good with win7.

Buy into ddr3, it is cheaper and faster than ddr2

Overal AMD setup is much cheaper for htpc. Personally I would not spend money on s775/ddr2 stuff as of this time

BornEvil · 17 Feb 2011 at 23:54

Also, VLC uses purely CPU power to decode. You wanna use something like Mpc home cinema or your bog standard Wmp12.

elrasho · 18 Feb 2011 at 00:12

Thanks for the advice, just watched some 1080P stuff on MPC Home and it looks way better than in VLC

although my GPU usage didn't increase, do I need to set it to use GPU?

BornEvil · 18 Feb 2011 at 00:29

On mpc home cinema, it is set to use GPU by default if it is a supported file.

you should be using DXVA, look out for it in the lower left corner. that means it is using the GPU to decide and making use if the GPU hd playback features.

You don't have to worry about GPU usage. As decoding HD Content does not take a lot on any (with hd processing) dedicated GPU, let alone a 5850 (I assume you tested on your rig in sig).