cpu upgrade worth while for MP1? (1 Viewer)

[cewillis]

Wondering if anyone has any direct experience with speeding up MP by a CPU upgrade only.? Specifically Core I3 to Core I5 or I7. For instance, does it help reduce the delay in starting playback of an existing recording?

I know I have an old MP version and an out-of-date OS, which I will address later. (so no need to mention that) For now, ONLY interested in CPU (or other hardware) upgrade experience. I have some reason to think an upgrade would help, as my MP system takes noticeably longer to even boot than other XP computers with even older CPUs.
Thanks

 

[Owlsroost]

What CPU are you running at the moment - your system specs only say 'core i3' - no model number, clock speed etc. ?

If you want to speed up boot times (once you've moved away from XP, since it doesn't support them properly), fit an SSD and use it for the OS drive - small ones that are plenty large enough for the OS drive are very cheap these days.

 

[Owlsroost]

Just as a reference, my own single-seat HTPC system runs Win 10 64-bit on an HP 260-G1 small-form-factor 'nettop' equipped with a Celeron 2957U CPU (1.4GHz dual-core 'Haswell' generation), with the OS on a 32GB SSD (with about 11GB spare) and a 1TB 2.5" hard drive for all the media files. To avoid wearing out the SSD unduly (and the extra heat and noise from the hard drive), I use a RAM disk for the timeshift buffer files.

Apart from being too old to have hardware (GPU) HEVC video decoding support, it works just fine with MP 1.15 + LAV 68.1 filters (it will even play 4K@25p H264/AVC video files from my camera quite happily to my 1080p TV - driving a 4K screen might be too much for the GPU to cope with).

 

[cewillis]

What CPU are you running at the moment - your system specs only say 'core i3' - no model number, clock speed etc. ?

If you want to speed up boot times (once you've moved away from XP, since it doesn't support them properly), fit an SSD and use it for the OS drive - small ones that are plenty large enough for the OS drive are very cheap these days.

Sorry -- i3-530 at 2.93 Ghz, 4 threads 4 MB cache.

The system boot time was only an illustration -- interested in speeding up MP response. For instance, first try after a system reboot, it can take 10-15 seconds to start a playback. A little faster later. Actual playback - once it starts - is no problem at all.

 

[AfshinBarani]

Sorry -- i3-530 at 2.93 Ghz, 4 threads 4 MB cache.

The system boot time was only an illustration -- interested in speeding up MP response. For instance, first try after a system reboot, it can take 10-15 seconds to start a playback. A little faster later. Actual playback - once it starts - is no problem at all.

Your CPU is more than good enough for video playbacks. The best option to speed up everything in anything (not just MP) is to use a SSD and install your OS on it. It'll improve the speed of your system significantly.
But your problem could be related to your HDD being in rest mode, most of HDDs go into rest mode when they're idle for a specific period of time. You can play a video and stop it, wait for 30-35 minutes and try to play another video, if it takes another 10-12 seconds to start it's probably your HDD being in rest mode.
At the end it is 99% HDD (or MP coding) related than CPU related.
Also do not forget, The HDD that you have stored you videos on it is the most important factor here.

 

[DJNotNice]

As already stated above, SSD ftw. I cloned my OS to a M.2 Sata SSD from a WD red HDD patrician my OS was installed on and everything in MP got faster. Boot times of MP and even browsing and launching media. My next HTPC will have MP installed on a NVMe M.2 SSD for supreme speed haha....

 

[cewillis]

Your CPU is more than good enough for video playbacks.

That's what I said -- "Actual playback - once it starts - is no problem at all."

Also said "Wondering if anyone has any direct experience with speeding up MP by a CPU upgrade only.?"
So it looks like the answer is no.

 

[AfshinBarani]

That's what I said -- "Actual playback - once it starts - is no problem at all."

Also said "Wondering if anyone has any direct experience with speeding up MP by a CPU upgrade only.?"
So it looks like the answer is no.

Yup. Changing your CPU doesn't make much of a difference. Buying a faster HDD on the other hand will be a much better choice.

 

[Lehmden]

Hi.

Yup. Changing your CPU doesn't make much of a difference.

I would not agree here in general. MP1 is eating a lot of CPU, so a faster CPU will make a significant difference... I can remember as I changed from a Core2Duo to a Core i5 the MP1 GUI was significant faster and smoother... Both systems had the same SSD as system drive, so definitely no faster HDD involved. Maybe the RAM (DDR2 vs DDR3) and the GPU (Nvidia GT 430 vs integrated Intel HD 4600) could have their part on this massive improvement too, but even without changing the HDD you can speed up MP1 a lot with a really faster CPU...

 

[AfshinBarani]

Hi.

I would not agree here in general. MP1 is eating a lot of CPU, so a faster CPU will make a significant difference... I can remember as I changed from a Core2Duo to a Core i5 the MP1 GUI was significant faster and smoother... Both systems had the same SSD as system drive, so definitely no faster HDD involved. Maybe the RAM (DDR2 vs DDR3) and the GPU (Nvidia GT 430 vs integrated Intel HD 4600) could have their part on this massive improvement too, but even without changing the HDD you can speed up MP1 a lot with a really faster CPU...

Core2Duo to i5 will defenitely make a difference, but going from i3 530 to another CPU is another story. Your CPU was old and weak even for video playbacks.
Having a dedicated GPU like GT430 with CUDA cores will help to reduce CPU Load (using HW Accelerating options) and having a smoother playbacks and changing the RAM from DDR2 to DDR3 will help as well. In your case a combination of massive CPU upgrade and other things made the difference. But i3 530 is much faster than your old C2D CPU and is more than enough for having a very responsive MP. Of course changing that to a High End CPU will make things a little smoother, but compared to adding a SSD the differences will be marginal.
And don't forget to add the cost of purchasing another M/B as well. So instead of spending 200-300$ to upgrade his CPU/MB i think adding a SSD will be a much better choice. Ofcourse if money isn't the problem he can do both.