Why Wait for i3?

my thoughts are the i-line onchip gpu's are still too new and not a good enough improvement over the 4500hd to really worry about them. however, the i3 is far superior as a htpc cpu then the old e-line is, and if you have an i3 then any video or media will play off the cpu just fine anyway so the onboard video really becomes a moot point unless your gaming a little.
 
for a basic HTPC i think the i3 is the perfect CPU. It is fast enought to play 1080P content. It can do HD audio and the onboard gpu can do hardware acceleration well enough for all current movies. It is also a cool running processor which means it will be quiet as well. You don't need an extra graphics card for added heat and perhaps noise.

If your HTPC is not doing any gaming then the i3 is a great CPU for hte job.

In addition the 9300/9400 chips as far as i know are not very good with sound over HDMI. Both the i3 and the AMD graphics cards (mainly HD 4000 and HD 5000 series cards) do audio over HDMI. The i3 and the AMD HD 5000 series cards do HD audio over HDMI natively.

I also don't know what would make the chips to new and not good enough. I don't us my HTPC for gaming so I really don't care how fast the graphics card is as long as it can play 1080p content and get me HD audio over HDMI.
 
Now I have a question about the i3. I know it is powerful enough to do 1080p on it's CPU, but does it offload anything to it's built-in GPU? I've always wondered if it had that capability.
 
As I understand, GPU assisted video decoding is software and hardware dependent. ATI has AVIVO and NVIDIA has PureVideo. That being said, I think to take advantage of GPU accelerated decoding you need a media player that supports GPU assisted decoding, a video file with a compatible codec, and the appropriate GPU. This guide right here gives a good step by step on how to setup GPU video decoding on ATI and NVIDIA platforms, but setting it up for an Intel GPU should be pretty similar. The on die GPU of the new intel CPU/GPU chips should be able to offload some of the video decoding from the CPU, but as mentioned before the CPU should be able to decode even the most demanding codecs in 1080p.

I just picked up a Core i5 650 and my H55 mobo is on the way. This is for my HTPC, and I intend on doing a mini-review once I get it up and running.
 
Thanks FengPangzi. This make me wonder if my GT 240 is even doing anything for video in my HTPC setup. I'd like for it to sharpen the picture and such. I do like using the remote and it makes it easy for the non-tech savvy members of my household, so I won't be switching to Media Player Classic. I watch .wtv files and rips of movies in VIDEO_TS folder format.
 
i think the reason to get a i3 is cost..

ideally you can build a low cost, low power HTPC that can do bitsreaming audio and 1080p video...

also it should do it with less heat output.

right now for a fully working HTPC you need 1 of 2 options:

Intel C2D or AMD X2 with a AMD 5000 series card

or

intel i3 or i5 with correct H55 motherboard.


so which ever is cheaper and less power use it the way to go..

IMO
 
Or you could get this for just a few dollars more then an i3 CPU it's self. :rolleyes:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813141015
Adidas4275 said:
i think the reason to get a i3 is cost..

ideally you can build a low cost, low power HTPC that can do bitsreaming audio and 1080p video...

also it should do it with less heat output.

right now for a fully working HTPC you need 1 of 2 options:

Intel C2D or AMD X2 with a AMD 5000 series card

or

intel i3 or i5 with correct H55 motherboard.


so which ever is cheaper and less power use it the way to go..

IMO
Click to expand...
 
Before you buy an i3 to build an HTPC make sure you consider that there are reported problems with the GPU outputting a proper 24p signal. Hopefully they fix it with a driver update, but to my knowledge it hasn't happened yet.

Regardless it's not stopping me from trying. My i3 530 is sitting on a shelf waiting for an ITX board to become available. I'm about to go micro ATX though.


In response to the below two posts, I have seen reports that decoding 1080p on the Intel GPU resulted in a CPU at less than 5% utilization. Sorry I don't have a link but I'll try to find one. But that doesn't mean it works flawlessly, it just means it has more than enough power for 1080p without even touching the CPU.

tomiboy59 said:
Now I have a question about the i3. I know it is powerful enough to do 1080p on it's CPU, but does it offload anything to it's built-in GPU? I've always wondered if it had that capability.
Click to expand...

FengPangzi said:
As I understand, GPU assisted video decoding is software and hardware dependent. ATI has AVIVO and NVIDIA has PureVideo. That being said, I think to take advantage of GPU accelerated decoding you need a media player that supports GPU assisted decoding, a video file with a compatible codec, and the appropriate GPU. This guide right here gives a good step by step on how to setup GPU video decoding on ATI and NVIDIA platforms, but setting it up for an Intel GPU should be pretty similar. The on die GPU of the new intel CPU/GPU chips should be able to offload some of the video decoding from the CPU, but as mentioned before the CPU should be able to decode even the most demanding codecs in 1080p.

I just picked up a Core i5 650 and my H55 mobo is on the way. This is for my HTPC, and I intend on doing a mini-review once I get it up and running.
Click to expand...
 
All good points.

My initial thoughts were that since the E8400 65 watt processor vs the i3 a 73 watt processor that the E8400 would run cooler however I forgot that the i3 has an the video processor built onto the chip itself, where as the E8400 needs the video chip built onto the board, thus adding more heat.

I too have my case picked out and is sitting around collecting dust until the new m-itx's come out. Just driving me crazy looking at the case and the blueray drive I purchased.
 
FengPangzi said:
As I understand, GPU assisted video decoding is software and hardware dependent. ATI has AVIVO and NVIDIA has PureVideo. That being said, I think to take advantage of GPU accelerated decoding you need a media player that supports GPU assisted decoding, a video file with a compatible codec, and the appropriate GPU. This guide right here gives a good step by step on how to setup GPU video decoding on ATI and NVIDIA platforms, but setting it up for an Intel GPU should be pretty similar. The on die GPU of the new intel CPU/GPU chips should be able to offload some of the video decoding from the CPU, but as mentioned before the CPU should be able to decode even the most demanding codecs in 1080p.

I just picked up a Core i5 650 and my H55 mobo is on the way. This is for my HTPC, and I intend on doing a mini-review once I get it up and running.
Click to expand...

So I did all this an my GPU is only getting like 10% usage, and my CPU is getting like 35%. Didn't work. Maybe I am missing something?
 
tomiboy59 said:
So I did all this an my GPU is only getting like 10% usage, and my CPU is getting like 35%. Didn't work. Maybe I am missing something?
Click to expand...

Core AVC. Either way, if it was using your CPU for decoding then you'd seen much, much higher usage then that.
 
You think so? On a dual core 64bit 3Ghz processor with hyperthreading? I would think that 35% is about right considering the much slower procs that can handle 1080p.
 
CrimandEvil said:
Core AVC. Either way, if it was using your CPU for decoding then you'd seen much, much higher usage then that.
Click to expand...

Yea I don't think it was really using the GPU much. Maybe partially. Same video uses 50% usage on my laptop which is a 1.6Ghz Core Duo. The 10% GPU usage could've just been from aero something. Either way, I was led to believe it should be below 15% easy if the GPU was offloading decoding, and that CoreAVC wasn't necessary although it would be optimal.
 
Adidas4275 said:
i know its hard but i was cleary saying a competely working htpc including bitsreaming

your link is a stupid setup a x2 240 w 8300 would be much cheaper and similar performance.

i3 is cheaper than c2d + ati 5000 series or amd + ati 5000
and less heat
Click to expand...

Wait. What? Does any of that have anything to do with my post? Sorry. I speak english.
 
or you can get a $30 45 watt sempron, $50 mb, and a $50 5450

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103698

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595R

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearch_v3.asp?scriteria=BD11227

if your lucky your sempron can unlock it's second core... mine does but defeats the purpose of low power. That's $10 more than an i3. It'll run windows 7, media browser and anything you throw at it. hell you can get an asrock for $20 more if you're scared of open boxes.

my 2 cents... cause that's what i just built sans mb... got a cheaper one for $20. :)
 
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