Powerful/power efficient CPU

[Christo]

Im building a relatively high/mid end HTPC using an ITX form factor with hopefully a discrete GPU (possibly the 7750 as it seems to be v low power) and a 200W PSU.
My quandry is the CPU - I use Adobe Premiere Pro and sometimes After effects, so the faster the CPU the better.

Id love an i5 3450/70s, is this crazy talk in terms of power requirements?? Basically what is the most efficient CPU, power to 'grunt'?

Thanks!

 

[Dirtyganker]

Generally speaking, 'powerful' and 'power efficiency' tends to be mutually exclusive, but with IB you stand the best chance of acheiving what you want. Since the lower end of IB is really Core i5 I would say that you're right on the money with the sku's that you mention already. You do pay a premium for the 3450S though, as it is more expensive than it's faster 77w version.

You need to make decision on what your primary requirement is - power efficient go with the 3450S, if processing grunt is more important then go with the regular 3450, but if you decide that really you processing power is really primary then go with the 3570K - it's not much more expensive and is the same TDP as the 3450 (77w) plus you can overclock it as it has an unlocked multiplier.

I think only you can make the decision based on the most important factor - but those models are the ones to look at.

 

[MaxP779]

Any ivy/sandy bridge that meets your performance requirements will suffice, they all use very low power when idle. I have 2400s in my HTPC/server rig and its great, very efficient at idle and load. The whole thing with 5 HDD's uses 30w idle and its a full ATX solution.

I would only get an S version of a CPU if it is cheaper (i snagged a used one), it is simply an undervolted/underclocked regular CPU and not worth paying extra for since you can undervolt/underclock a regular CPU yourself.