Which cpu For Htpc Build AM1 or Intel Pentium k
- Thread starter chippy08
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Soldato
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I have a 5350 in my HTPC/browsing/DL machine and it's great, more than snappy enough for things like that. Very happy with it.
If you want to go fanless then the 5350 will be no good as I do not know of any aftermarket coolers you can use with it. My two HTPCs are a G3320 and a G3340 both using decent after market heatsinks with no fans. This allows the temps to stay low and the machine to still be quiet.
Thanks guys i use the am1 5350 now with asrock board but get a few problems
When Watching videos screen can go grey and blocky as other tasks are happening at the same time and it cant handle all tasks and the keep video playing fine.
Windows 8.1 comes up saying windows has run out of memory even with 8gig so thats why i am thinking of upgrading to a faster cpu motherboard
When Watching videos screen can go grey and blocky as other tasks are happening at the same time and it cant handle all tasks and the keep video playing fine.
Windows 8.1 comes up saying windows has run out of memory even with 8gig so thats why i am thinking of upgrading to a faster cpu motherboard
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Seems to be a windows 8.1 problem as its not happened on win 7 so far. Are you using Am1 as well if so which board ?
I run both CPUs in ASRock boards, H97M-itc/ac and AM1H-ITX and both are great for HTPC ( Whilst doing lots of other tasks at the same time) and never one single performance glitch........Much the same with the 5150 for HTPC.
All my units are or will be Samsung 840 pro or 850 evo 128GB boot and 2,5" 1 TB HDD.
All run APU/CPU graphics.
AMD APU has the edge for video in my opinion.
All my units are or will be Samsung 840 pro or 850 evo 128GB boot and 2,5" 1 TB HDD.
All run APU/CPU graphics.
AMD APU has the edge for video in my opinion.
The AM1 will be cheaper and use less power (probably not by a huge amount), so it comes down to what you want to do on it.
I have an AM1 machine as my HTPC and it works very well, no slowness or noticeable lag in use.
If you plan on doing any transcoding, or some light gaming, then the G3258 might be a better bet.
Also worth noting that the AM1 boards will output 4K over HDMI using the APU, while you may struggle with that on some of the Intel boards.
I have an AM1 machine as my HTPC and it works very well, no slowness or noticeable lag in use.
If you plan on doing any transcoding, or some light gaming, then the G3258 might be a better bet.
Also worth noting that the AM1 boards will output 4K over HDMI using the APU, while you may struggle with that on some of the Intel boards.
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i have an AM1 5350 in an asus matx motherboard in my htpc, does everything i want and more, utorrent client, full media server, games emulator, records my freeview TV and streams my steamgames @ 1080p 60fps no sweat. idle it pulls about 21w from the wall, could probably by improved if i wasnt using a 430w PSU and a freeview card, but then again my old BT freeview box pulled 25-30w so i cannot complain. [with 4gb of ram running windows 7 havent seen it use above 3.5gb so no need for any upgrade for me right now]
stock cooler, very small yet very quiet still awaiting any kind of aftermarket solution.
gpu only lacks on youtube 60fps, with occasional stutters and played full 1080p bluerays perfect.
only two sata ports might pose a problem, but i will be picking up a sata card down the line if i feel i need more space[although i am considering using a USB3 drive instead as its only to hold movies / tv shows]
stock cooler, very small yet very quiet still awaiting any kind of aftermarket solution.
gpu only lacks on youtube 60fps, with occasional stutters and played full 1080p bluerays perfect.
only two sata ports might pose a problem, but i will be picking up a sata card down the line if i feel i need more space[although i am considering using a USB3 drive instead as its only to hold movies / tv shows]
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Time to look at some facts rather than preferences ( nothing wrong with preferences but one persons choice may not be the next persons, its a subjective issue )
First , capabilities, limitations and power usage.........As for the last but one post commenting that the power usage may differ " Not by much", bear in mind the G3258 at TDP 53W is over double that of the 5350 at 25W.
Thats not a dig, its just a clarification...
As also pointed out in a post earlier it is not beyond reason to run the athlon passively, thus reducing power requirements even further. The G3258 will be much trickier to run passively. Power = heat = cooling need = power needed. It all adds up, both minimal power users anyway really but the big difference can be A/fan noise. B/The numbers on the annual electricity cost.
As for performance, the 2 CPUs are entirely different and although both are practically on a par for HTPC, in other areas the performances variations widen.
It all depends what you want to do with /on the PC. Also, bear in mind the AM1 platform was envisioned to go up against Baytrail technology, not mainstream PC.
Pros and Cons summary
Athlon 5350
Comes with more CPU cores,
Can handle more threads at once,
Supports AVX / F16C instructions,
Needs less power
Drawbacks:
Has lower base frequency,
Less memory bandwidth
Pentium G3258
Operates at much higher base frequency,
More memory bandwidth allows simple overclocking
Drawbacks:
Has fewer CPU cores,
Cannot execute as many threads at once,
Lacks some instructions,
Much higher power
Requires more cooling.
Longplay made a very good point about the 4000 display, the 5350 is capable of virtualization and the Pentium is not.
G3258 Athlon 5350
Intel HD Graphics GPU HD 8400
0.35 GHz GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo)
3 Max. displays 2
AMD APU is one of its strong points, Intel Graphics can be excellent too, but the Pentium is restricted to the most basic iteration.
A discreet GPU is one obvious way to alter these performances, ( Although I cant think of a way of doing this without resorting to an MATX or bigger case and for me we are no longer talking about small form factor more like sub-mini tower territory ) Thats a preference.... I like true -ish SFF.
But..........Both manufacturers offerings of onboard CPU graphics is perfectly good and easily adequate for HTPC use.............
If I were to build just for HTPC it would be the Athlon 5150 or 5350. Lower cost and cooler/quieter.
Far easier to build a silent or near silent box with the AMD than the Pentium too, if it is an important consideration.
Anything requiring more number crunching is when the G3258 comes into its own.
I know most of this just echoes what you said Longplay but thought I would elaborate with comparison values.
Further, the FS1 socket is in line for its next generation of CPUs so then the single thread comparison may be closer, or even reversed....... FS1 platform is current and developing, the G3258 is an older platform ( Although still perfectly good for what we are looking at here )
Currently The Athlon 5150 and 5350 both also have DDR3L-1600 memory controllers, Intel is native 1333, anything else is overclock as far as Intel is concerned. Small point, but its one of the more subtle differences.
I have an mitx with each of the above CPUs and any one of them would be hard to differentiate from the others in HTPC use.
First , capabilities, limitations and power usage.........As for the last but one post commenting that the power usage may differ " Not by much", bear in mind the G3258 at TDP 53W is over double that of the 5350 at 25W.
Thats not a dig, its just a clarification...
As also pointed out in a post earlier it is not beyond reason to run the athlon passively, thus reducing power requirements even further. The G3258 will be much trickier to run passively. Power = heat = cooling need = power needed. It all adds up, both minimal power users anyway really but the big difference can be A/fan noise. B/The numbers on the annual electricity cost.
As for performance, the 2 CPUs are entirely different and although both are practically on a par for HTPC, in other areas the performances variations widen.
It all depends what you want to do with /on the PC. Also, bear in mind the AM1 platform was envisioned to go up against Baytrail technology, not mainstream PC.
Pros and Cons summary
Athlon 5350
Comes with more CPU cores,
Can handle more threads at once,
Supports AVX / F16C instructions,
Needs less power
Drawbacks:
Has lower base frequency,
Less memory bandwidth
Pentium G3258
Operates at much higher base frequency,
More memory bandwidth allows simple overclocking
Drawbacks:
Has fewer CPU cores,
Cannot execute as many threads at once,
Lacks some instructions,
Much higher power
Requires more cooling.
Longplay made a very good point about the 4000 display, the 5350 is capable of virtualization and the Pentium is not.
G3258 Athlon 5350
Intel HD Graphics GPU HD 8400
0.35 GHz GPU frequency 0.60 GHz
1.15 GHz GPU (Turbo)
3 Max. displays 2
AMD APU is one of its strong points, Intel Graphics can be excellent too, but the Pentium is restricted to the most basic iteration.
A discreet GPU is one obvious way to alter these performances, ( Although I cant think of a way of doing this without resorting to an MATX or bigger case and for me we are no longer talking about small form factor more like sub-mini tower territory ) Thats a preference.... I like true -ish SFF.
But..........Both manufacturers offerings of onboard CPU graphics is perfectly good and easily adequate for HTPC use.............
If I were to build just for HTPC it would be the Athlon 5150 or 5350. Lower cost and cooler/quieter.
Far easier to build a silent or near silent box with the AMD than the Pentium too, if it is an important consideration.
Anything requiring more number crunching is when the G3258 comes into its own.
I know most of this just echoes what you said Longplay but thought I would elaborate with comparison values.
Further, the FS1 socket is in line for its next generation of CPUs so then the single thread comparison may be closer, or even reversed....... FS1 platform is current and developing, the G3258 is an older platform ( Although still perfectly good for what we are looking at here )
Currently The Athlon 5150 and 5350 both also have DDR3L-1600 memory controllers, Intel is native 1333, anything else is overclock as far as Intel is concerned. Small point, but its one of the more subtle differences.
I have an mitx with each of the above CPUs and any one of them would be hard to differentiate from the others in HTPC use.
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You can run the 5350 passively. Aftermarket coolers are out for them now costing about £10. Passive one pictured is made by Arctic and the low-profile is made by Gelid if you wanted to put it in an uber small ITX box like an M350 chassis.
....... 
Made up a basic 5150 rig for my dad for media and to do stuff his apple computers can't. Might get a 5350 myself to play with as the AM1 with a ASRock or ASUS motherboard is unlocked and can be overclocked like a Pentium 'K' to put it in the performance region of a basic G1820 but has the advantage of better graphics and 4 cores. Oh and you can go the other way and under-volt them.
....... 
Made up a basic 5150 rig for my dad for media and to do stuff his apple computers can't. Might get a 5350 myself to play with as the AM1 with a ASRock or ASUS motherboard is unlocked and can be overclocked like a Pentium 'K' to put it in the performance region of a basic G1820 but has the advantage of better graphics and 4 cores. Oh and you can go the other way and under-volt them.
i have a 5350 setup as a htpc and it works great, it manages everything i have thrown at it . The Asus board that i have works a treat with DTS-HD audio in mkv's be it in 3D or not. cost less than £200 for the full thing as well
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can't seem to find that arctic heatsink for the 5350? providing its not too tall would love that for my htpc
edit just found it, should fit my silverstone ML03 perfect, heatsink being 70mm and case accepting upto 70mm
edit just found it, should fit my silverstone ML03 perfect, heatsink being 70mm and case accepting upto 70mm
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I ran the 5150 with the Gelid slim silence and the fan never kicked in, temps were very low........even running 1080 movie and lots of active tabs open.........
Going to try it on the 5350 see if fan still remains passive.......
Tempted to disconnect the fan and see if the heatsink alone will act as a true passive sink. It is quite a substantial lump of ally.
As a side note: the supplied CPU cooler with the Athlon/Semprons is very small and low, and extremely quiet.......No real need to replace this that I can think of.
Going to try it on the 5350 see if fan still remains passive.......
Tempted to disconnect the fan and see if the heatsink alone will act as a true passive sink. It is quite a substantial lump of ally.
As a side note: the supplied CPU cooler with the Athlon/Semprons is very small and low, and extremely quiet.......No real need to replace this that I can think of.