Budget build (1 Viewer)

[ftmining2]

Is the following comparison relevant? It seems to show the GPU on the A6 5400k being better than even the HD4000. Is that reasonable?
If you look at the scores for Performance Suite and Graphics Suite for the A6 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224-8.html
then for the HD4000 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-4.html
it shows A6 scores of 815 and 731 respectively and HD4000 scores of 769 and 652.

A6 is way behind on physics but is that more to do with games?

I dont really know if what Im reading is relevant to the 1080i discussion though so maybe you could put me right?


At the moment I think I am deciding between a G540 and discrete or the A6 5400k. The only thing that puts me off the G540 and discrete is the extra stuff in the case. Will it be more power/heat and less airflow?



Thanks.

 

[CrashUK]

Is the following comparison relevant? It seems to show the GPU on the A6 5400k being better than even the HD4000. Is that reasonable?
If you look at the scores for Performance Suite and Graphics Suite for the A6 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224-8.html
then for the HD4000 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-4.html
it shows A6 scores of 815 and 731 respectively and HD4000 scores of 769 and 652.

A6 is way behind on physics but is that more to do with games?

I dont really know if what Im reading is relevant to the 1080i discussion though so maybe you could put me right?


At the moment I think I am deciding between a G540 and discrete or the A6 5400k. The only thing that puts me off the G540 and discrete is the extra stuff in the case. Will it be more power/heat and less airflow?



Thanks.

You need a powerful GPU to do 1080i. HD4000 I dont think will cut it. I use a GT430 fanless pcie card. Its very powerful card. Does 1080i and speed up the mediaportal gui..

dont know about A6 5400k but I say its better then any onboard chipset. Good 1080i = good mediacenter.

 

[Owlsroost]

Is the following comparison relevant? It seems to show the GPU on the A6 5400k being better than even the HD4000. Is that reasonable?
If you look at the scores for Performance Suite and Graphics Suite for the A6 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224-8.html
then for the HD4000 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-4.html
it shows A6 scores of 815 and 731 respectively and HD4000 scores of 769 and 652.

A6 is way behind on physics but is that more to do with games?

I dont really know if what Im reading is relevant to the 1080i discussion though so maybe you could put me right?

At the moment I think I am deciding between a G540 and discrete or the A6 5400k. The only thing that puts me off the G540 and discrete is the extra stuff in the case. Will it be more power/heat and less airflow?

Thanks.

I think I'd take a chance on the A6-5400K - you can always a discrete GPU later if it really doesn't work out.

Let us know how it works out so that others can benefit from your experience (whichever option you choose)

Tony

 

[te3hpurp]

Is the following comparison relevant? It seems to show the GPU on the A6 5400k being better than even the HD4000. Is that reasonable?
If you look at the scores for Performance Suite and Graphics Suite for the A6 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-a6-5400k,3224-8.html
then for the HD4000 here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ivy-bridge-benchmark-core-i7-3770k,3181-4.html
it shows A6 scores of 815 and 731 respectively and HD4000 scores of 769 and 652.

A6 is way behind on physics but is that more to do with games?

I dont really know if what Im reading is relevant to the 1080i discussion though so maybe you could put me right?

At the moment I think I am deciding between a G540 and discrete or the A6 5400k. The only thing that puts me off the G540 and discrete is the extra stuff in the case. Will it be more power/heat and less airflow?

Thanks.

I think I'd take a chance on the A6-5400K - you can always a discrete GPU later if it really doesn't work out.

Let us know how it works out so that others can benefit from your experience (whichever option you choose)

Tony

Hi there.

I've used A6, with 6530D Apu now for an 3 months. Everything else is perfect, but I cannot get 1080p24Hz to play nicely. all other works nice though.


Br,

 

[ftmining2]

Well, I have now been browsing the web for hours and there are a lot of conflicting opinions. (I never realised Trinity is very new and there is little solid info).

Anyway, I have been feeling less and less knowledgeable the more I have been reading. I was getting confused because it seemed like some credible people on certain boards were having no problems running 1080i with rather moderate hardware, then others were having big difficulty with better hardware. But I think I might be understanding now what is going on, but would love for someone to chime in and tell me im on the right track.

From what I can tell, a big thing among the enthusiasts is to use madVR, and this renderer clearly produces the best image quality if you see some of the examples posted, but it also focuses purely on the best quality and makes no allowance for performance at all. And so it requires more capable hardware. IIRC Llano was stretched to the limit with madVR getting on for 90%+ GPU usage on average if you look at various testing that users have done. But "on average" means there are going to be many times when it just cant handle it and is going to drop frames.

However, I get the impression that with other renderers, 1080i is not such a problem with rather moderate hardware. Some XBMC developer said he was playing live 1080i with a GT220 I think it was, which google is telling me is a couple of years old and was budget even when it came out. Another person is palying live 1080i with HD5450. I think Trinity A6 should match up against these comfortably right? But if I am understanding the situation correctly they are likely using a different renderer than madVR.

So the question is, will the Trinity A6 handle live 1080i using madVR. Or otherwise, will I mind not using madVR. I dont know the answer to either of these questions and am getting a bit worn out from the reading. The renderer stuff is beyond what I have been into. I can build a PC and set up OS and apps and all but this technical stuff on the home theatre side is a bit more than I am interested in.

So at the end of the day, I am just going to get the A6 5400k as suggested above. And I will get it from amazon such that if I feel it is not up to the task I will be able to easily send it back for an A8 5500 without any extra hassle since amazon are so good like that. One question though, will the A8 definitely handle it? I get the impression it will. Will it cause heat/noise issues? I assume not really but am open to opinions.

Sorry for the long rambling post but like I say the more I read, the less I feel I know now so I am getting a bit tired and am just going to take the chance. I think there is a good chance the A6 5400k will work though even with madVR. And if not then another renderer that is pretty close (Haali or whatever it is).


Or am I totally on the wrong track here? I could well be because this is all rather new to me. Thoughts would be really appreciated!



Thanks.

 

[Owlsroost]

First comment - MP cannot use madVR, for any OS except Win XP it uses the standard (Microsoft) EVR renderer. So the performance with madVR is only relevant if you use other players (e.g. MPC-HC) which can use it.

If your budget will stretch to the A8-5500 then I think I'd go for it - it's 4 cores instead of 2 and the GPU is more powerful, so in theory it should be able to handle pretty much anything you could throw at it for HTPC use. It will probably run a bit warmer than the A6 (because of the extra CPU cores), but it's hard to know for sure in a 'real world' situation.

Tony

 

[ftmining2]

Hi there.

I've used A6, with 6530D Apu now for an 3 months. Everything else is perfect, but I cannot get 1080p24Hz to play nicely. all other works nice though.


Br,

Really? So none of these problems with live TV 1080i? So then A6 5400k with 7540D should definitely be fine surely?[DOUBLEPOST=1352032246][/DOUBLEPOST]

First comment - MP cannot use madVR, for any OS except Win XP it uses the standard (Microsoft) EVR renderer. So the performance with madVR is only relevant if you use other players (e.g. MPC-HC) which can use it.

If your budget will stretch to the A8-5500 then I think I'd go for it - it's 4 cores instead of 2 and the GPU is more powerful, so in theory it should be able to handle pretty much anything you could throw at it for HTPC use. It will probably run a bit warmer than the A6 (because of the extra CPU cores), but it's hard to know for sure in a 'real world' situation.

Tony

Sorry for the similar questions over and over, but I am nearly decided I think. Lets say I decided A8, would it then not make sense to just go with G540 and fanless GT520? Looks like about the same price, but wouldnt that have more capability? Or would the energy usage/heat be significantly more than A8? Or is it not clear?

Sorry, I know I am going round in circles a bit here. Im getting there though

 

[Owlsroost]

Personal opinion - the GT520 is not powerful enough for MP + 1080p display + 1080i video, for nVidia look at GT430/440/530/620/630 i.e. a minimum of 96 CUDA cores (the GT520 has 48)

My take on things would be:

G540 + GT520 = low(ish) end CPU + low end GPU

A8-5500 = mid range CPU + low/mid range GPU (but make sure you use reasonably fast RAM, because it seems - from the reviews - that this makes a noticable difference to GPU performance - not too surprising since it's shared with the CPU)

Tony