Anyone using AMD Zacate with MP? (1 Viewer)

[theFan667]

Hi,

I want to build an HTPC to play media stored on a NAS.

The front runner for hardware is the AMD Zacate - most likely the Gigabyte GA-E350N-USB3.

Is anyone out there using the Zacate with Mediaportal? I know a few people on the AVS forum are using it with Media Browser (WMC) and XBMC but i've not heard anything about MP.

Thanks.

 

[msj33]

I'm having same ideas about the Zacate processor.

According to review sites,it will be able to handle 1080i

So my questions is similar - Will performance be just as good in MePo????

I personally considering 3 options - Either the Zotac AD02 or AD03(with bluray drive!)
zotac zbox-ad02
AMD's E-350 Zacate APU finds a home in Zotac's Zbox AD03 Blu-ray HTPC -- Engadget

Or waiting for Quadcore fusion APU (Krishna) - This will be available in 2012!

Please post some experiences with - would like to see some MePo benchmarks

/Morten

 

[darkside40]

No need to wait for Quadcore fusion.
With the suitable codecs the integrated GPU is powerfull enough to do 1080p (with DXVA).

 

[mbuzina]

No need to wait for Quadcore fusion.
With the suitable codecs the integrated GPU is powerfull enough to do 1080p (with DXVA).

The question is not if it can do 1080p, but if it can do 1080i with Vector Adaptice DeInterlacing. I am wating for the quad core 65 Watt 400 Shaders model, should be out end of june...

 

[BlueMax1916]

AW: Anyone using AMD Zacate with MP?

Hi,

I am currently building a HTPC with the AMD E350 CPU. Everything is there besides the case. I connected all together to not loose time until the case arrives and have installed Windows 7 64 Bit and MP 1.1.3. My system

Hardware:
Case: SilverStone LC13S-E
Mainboard + CPU: ASUS E35M1-M PRO MicroATX
PSU: PicoPSU-120-WI25 ATX PSU mit 120W AC Adapter
RAM: 8GB G.SKILL CL9 PC3-10666-8GBRL KIT
Harddrive: OCZ Vertex3 2,5" SSD 120 GB (for OS)
Harddrive 2: 2.5" Western Digital 1000GB WD10TPVT 5200U/min 8MB (for Recordings and Timeshifting)
BluRay Drive: LG Electronics BH10LS30
TV card(s): 2x Digital Everywhere FloppyDTV S2
Keyboard and Remote: Micrsoft MCE Keyboard and Remote

Software:
Windows 7 64 Bit Home Premium
Drivers form ASUS site
AMD Catalyst 11.5
AMD SATA driver
AMD Southbridge driver
MediaPortal 1.1.3
MP Black Glass Nova Skin
MP Plugins: BD Handler, Moving Pictures, more to come ...
SAF 6 Codec Pack

I removed Windows 7 MCE as it was interfering with the MCE keyboard and remote and MP.

Due to the FireWire connection for the Floppy DTV S2 I needed a MicroATX board as most of the MiniITX do not come with an internal FireWire port on board. But the case big enough for it.

So far it is promising. TV and BluRay are working without stutter on a LCD monitor. I have no 1080i signal right now to find out if my system performs. I need to complete the system when the case arrives and also need to fine tune MP (more plugins and such) and finally connect it to my TV.

I can give more feedback as I am advancing with my build.


Cheers

Blue Max

 

[mylle]

How fast is the GUI? I have read somewhere that people we hoping for better speed in menus. I believe they were testing with the Streamed MP Skin.

 

[velis]

blue Max:
I too would like to know about speed of GUI.
And for 1080i speed, both for H264 and for MPEG2 (I have TV signals for both codecs).
Can you please test a sample video (a quick google showed a gazillion hits)
Otherwise I could prep two short clips for you to test from my TV sources.

Also, can you confirm that this motherboard does NOT support RAID-5?

 

[glenn 1990]

I've a bad experience with this CPU.
For some reason I can't get HD out of it, and my older ion 330 can.

 

[BlueMax1916]

AW: Anyone using AMD Zacate with MP?

@ mylle:
GUI reaction time is o.k., a Core2Duo T7200 is a tad more responsive (I tested MP 1.1.3 also with a ASUS N4L-VM DH mainboard, Core2Duo T7200 and 2 GB of RAM, OCZ Vertex 2 SSD 120GB). I think the fast SSD helps the overall performance of the E350 system.

@ velis:
I made the tweak for the Vector Adaptive DeInterlacing with DXVAChecker as CCC did not present this option to me. After that I checked a 1080i FullHD video with Vector Adaptive DeInterlacing in DXVAChecker. A space shuttle start at night I found on the web and another video with a passenger plane close fly by. There was no visible stutter. Average GPU Usage was indicated as 98% and average CPU usage as 14% but I do not know if DXVAChecker can determine that correctly for the E350 APU. Average FPS was indicated as 57.

Oh, I forgot, I have Avira virusscaner running in the background.

There is no RAID 5 option. The target group for this board is energy saving HTPC. A RAID controller in the chipset would contradict this. Better to wait for Llano platform for this maybe.

@ Glenn 1990:
HD works for me, Video as well as BluRay. I have yet to test HDTV.

 

[drealit]

I've a bad experience with this CPU.
For some reason I can't get HD out of it, and my older ion 330 can.

Yes this sounds like an issue with your configuration or a something being defective (which I doubt)... it's more than likely an issue with your codec setup. This GPU/CPU was designed for it so it should have absolutely no problem handling it.