Which Intel CPU for Vista Media Center PC?

Vanilla_Ice · 8 Sep 2007 at 00:00

Hi,

I want to build a Media Centre PC based on Vista Ultimate. I will be installing a minimum of 2Gb RAM and is likely to have a Gigabyte GA-G33M motherboard and will have a Hauppage WinTV-NOVA-T-500 TV card.

In my main rig I currently have an E6600 at stock. I wandering if I should transfer this to the new media PC and get more power in my main rig or keep it put and clock it?

Would an E6600 be overkill for my Vista based media PC? If so, what would be a healthy minimum spec CPU to work with the rest of the kit listed above?

I am trying to keep costs relatively low, so I am looking for best bang for buck.

Cheers,

ICE

david25 · 8 Sep 2007 at 10:24

Consider one of these
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=54&l3=0&l4=0&model=1092&modelmenu=1
or alternatives from aopen, intel has just reduced mobile cpu prices

Vanilla_Ice · 8 Sep 2007 at 12:21

Hi david25,

Hadn't considered that route. Looks interesting.

Have checked ocuk, but they don't stock this board nor skt 479 CPU's. Are they discontinued?

Would a T2600 CPU (expensive! :eek:

) be capable fo running Vista Media Centre?

I presume skt 479 is more power efficient then skt 775?

Cheers,

ICE

Tooks · 8 Sep 2007 at 12:33

What about an E2140? Coolest running Core2 based chip I've ever used, and I've tried a few!! (I know it's branded a Pentium, but it's essentially a Core2Duo with 1mb cache).

It's throwing Vista around fine on one of my desktops, and that's on a pretty basic Asrock Core4 VIA chipset mobo. It runs pretty cool too.

daryll · 8 Sep 2007 at 17:37

Tooks said:
What about an E2140?

Another vote for that..I use one in my router/nas..never seen it go above 2% usage and the heastsink is cold to the touch :eek:

mattyrigby00 · 8 Sep 2007 at 17:50

e2140 would be plenty.

Vanilla_Ice · 10 Sep 2007 at 10:44

Does the E2140 support VIIV?

I'm looking for instant on and lower power consuption.

ICE

RaiderX · 10 Sep 2007 at 10:51

i have an E2140 in my work PC, it doesnt appear to have VIIV altho it is still fast

Smurfy · 10 Sep 2007 at 12:51

You dont need much for a media centre in all honesty, any dual core cpu would be great.
My Vista media centre consists of;
Core 2 Duo T5200 (1.6GHz memrom)
matx gigbyte GA-8I945GMMFY-RH
2GB of ram
ATI 1950 Pro
Hauppage Nova T500 Dual Freeview tuner
Silverstone LC11

Its been running Vista Home Premium for the past month and im more than happy with it.
I highly recommend a mobile processor just for low power usage.

Vanilla_Ice · 10 Sep 2007 at 13:45

Thanks Smurfy,

Out of the following which would you recommend?

Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7100, Socket 479 Micro-FCBGA, 1.80 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB Cache, Retail

or

Intel Core 2 Duo T5500, Socket 478, 1.66 GHz, 667MHz FSB, 2MB Cache, Retail

Have you clocked your CPU at all? Or has there not been a need?

I currently have an XP MCE pc that I built on an AMD XP1700 and Hauppage Nova T500. I find that theres a delay in flicking channels and slowdowns when recording TV. Do you have similar problems, or is that the XP1700 just not up to the job?

Cheers,

ICE

Smurfy · 10 Sep 2007 at 18:29

Id go for a merom, the only obvious downside is lack of desktop boards, the board i posted is one of a handful made that support merom and the only one i found that met my needs and is still available, the fact that it supports P4 coolers unlike the Asus equivalent was also a great +, i couldn't find the asus anyway.

I will point out that the 7100 your speccing is a not the same socket as older model meroms, if you have a look here
You will see a complete list of merom cpus with there sockets, stick with socket M as i'm not aware of any Desktop motherboards that support the Socket P meroms. They are all 478 pins but a different layout.

I haven't overclocked my cpu at all partly because the motherboard doesn't support it at all but i see no reason too, vista like mce2005 has a slight delay when switching channels but a faster cpu wont remove this. It plays back HD content while recording with no noticeable slow down. All in all, i woulnt go spending a fortune on a cpu for a media centre pc.

Darkwave · 10 Sep 2007 at 18:32

As said, you'll be surprised at what you can get away with. My HTPC has an AM2 X2 3800+ and uses onboard Geforce 6100 graphics, can play back 1080p content with no problems (but I'll need a HDCP GPU if I go Blu-ray/HD-DVD.)

Vanilla_Ice · 10 Sep 2007 at 22:54

Hi,

Thanks for all the info lads.

Currently I am looking at the T5500 retail and a MSi 945GT Speedster-A4R (on board DVI, passive NB HSF compared with the Aopen i975Xa-YDG) to pair with my Geil 2GB PC6400 C4. Does that sound OK?

Most of my videos are encoded in DIVX (or similar), so that reduces the requirements right? Although I might move on to HD in the future.

ICE

Smurfy · 11 Sep 2007 at 12:45

Sounds good, il be surprised if you can locate the MSi 945GT for sale in the uk, i couldn't.The Aopen is a full ATX so i didnt concider it. The fact your trying to watch back DIVX does reduce requirements but in honesty id be very surprised if you had any trouble with any HD content and if you do i would suggest its a codec issue.

Vanilla_Ice · 11 Sep 2007 at 23:28

Hi,

I have found the MSi, but it is £105 inc vat at a competitor.

But I'm starting to think that going skt 478 is an expensive, dead ended route as opposed to a matx skt 775 conroe.

Can you convince me otherwise? Apart from the lower power consumption is there anything else that can help me justify paying the extra £90 for skt 478? £90 is a lot of electricity

Cheers,

ICE

DanF · 12 Sep 2007 at 15:46

An underclocked and undervolted E2140 will do fine for media center and use even less energy than a stock one. A lot of E2140's are OCing to 2.8ghz+ on stock volts.

I'm using a OCed E2140 with vista ultimate, i can play wow on one monitor, watch a recording in media center on the other monitor and have 2 TV shows recording with my Terratec Cinergy 2400i dual head tv card, all with no slowdown or stuttering.

Lanz · 13 Sep 2007 at 13:27

My media center has a E2140 - I cant really fault it. Its runs cool and silent. Before I had a Pentium D 820 in it, but it was idling at about 60'C with that, now it idles at 35'C - Its a no brainer really.

Vanilla_Ice · 13 Sep 2007 at 20:38

Hi,

I went skt 775 in the end. I have a E2160, Giga Byte G33 DS2R, 2GB Geil, PC6400C4 and WD 400Gb SATA drive on order. Should be arriving tomorrow

Thanks for all the skt 478 info smurfy. I just felt I'd be shooting myself in the foot with Skt478 come upgrade time.

ICE

Silver · 18 Sep 2007 at 08:29

would a celeron 420 also work in a media pc???

maddness · 18 Sep 2007 at 09:44

Vanilla_Ice said:
Hi,

I went skt 775 in the end. I have a E2160, Giga Byte G33 DS2R, 2GB Geil, PC6400C4 and WD 400Gb SATA drive on order. Should be arriving tomorrow

Thanks for all the skt 478 info smurfy. I just felt I'd be shooting myself in the foot with Skt478 come upgrade time.

ICE

good choice, you can even run the the v-core at low volts (1.1v) or even less
but im sure you'll be going the other way

mmm 3Ghz media centre for cheap

, ive been running mine at 3.4Ghz with the stock intel
cooler at low fan speed (silent profile in bios), not really sure how your board performs but im sure
you'll be able to clock it up around 3Ghz