HTPC Upgrade: Intel or AMD-Which way to go? (1 Viewer)

[kiwijunglist]

Scythe you should be comparing the i5 with i3 3225 which has hd4000.

I disagree with above that buying an Intel chip means you have to buy a dedicated GPU. However as I said earlier I prefer amd integrated GPU.

The amd a10 is not needed as even a6 5400k is fast enough. Its always nice to have spare power however if you are spending more then the money should be saved towards a hd7750.

 

[1gkar]

TCO?

Total cost of ownership.

My AVR does not accept HDMI as it is an older Denon model, so SPDif is important, at present.

But S/PDIF is digital too. Unless you're using the HTPC as D->A I think it doesn't matter too much.

Yes, but my AVR does not have dedicated HDMI connections, but does have both optical & coax SPDif connections.[DOUBLEPOST=1376457381][/DOUBLEPOST]

I think AMD are better HTPC video cards. Do you know if the integrated GPU works fully with FreeviewHD NZ?
-> It should work fine. I'd prefer it to the intel onboard GPU. I always recommend the AMD A6-5400K and I am guessing the onboard GPU you are looking at would out perform that, you should confirm that yourself

Since your getting an SSD I'd get enough ram to cover a timeshifting ram drive. eg. 2x4GB (min) I bought a copy of W7 Home Edition 32bit previously, would it pay to buy a 64bit edition, as the 32bit version won't show any more than 3.5-4BG RAM?
--> Because you have 32bit the 4GB limit is divided between the onboard GPU+ OS Memory, so 512mb GPU & 3.5GB or less memory for windows + drivers etc. I believe there are ram drive drivers that can get around this limit and use the unallocated memory. You'll have to google this, as I have W7 x64. You should never of bought Win7 32bit

[DOUBLEPOST=1376457519][/DOUBLEPOST]

They are both fine, can't go wrong (unless u buy 1333 ram or single stick ram)

Budget user = AMD
Best Value = AMD
Best iGPU = AMD
Poweruser w. discrete video card = Intel CPU + AMD Video card
Lowest Powerbill = Intel
Quietest CPU = Intel
Coolest CPU (not hot) = Intel
SFF uITX = Intel

^ PS. Above may change in 3 months as both intel + amd are bringing out a new range with lower wattage.

Will the new range have it's own socket type? Or are they going to be FM2? If the latter, not sure if prudent to wait; there may be even less a range of ATX available in NZ by then.

 

[mm1352000]

Yes, but my AVR does not have dedicated HDMI connections, but does have both optical & coax SPDif connections.

Okay... but I don't really understand your point in this response.
My point was that I was agreeing with Scythe42 who said that you don't need to worry too much about the audio solution for the PC because the connection between the PC and AVR is going to be digital (whether it is HDMI or S/PDIF). Unless your audio hardware has to do digital-to-analog or analog-to-digital conversions, it is not too important what you get... as long as the drivers aren't terrible.

 

[1gkar]

Why i5 and not i3 for a desktop CPU? Why i5 has a better price/performance ratio compared to last generation i3?





Core i3-3240 = about 115 EUR

Core i5-3330 = about 165 EUR

At NZ$260+, don't think that will happen [DOUBLEPOST=1376458523][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hellou,



If you're going to get iGPU, my thought is that AMD is allmost must. AMD 'whoops' intels arse on iGPU perspective.



And if you wanna be sure that there is enough GPU power, you could think of using AMD A10-6700K or 6800K (note that 6800K supports 2133Mhz ram speeds), which is the "flagship" of AMD APU's.

6800=100w TDP: way too hot for my case without custom cooling
6700-65w TDP: same as the A8-6500. The iGPU for the 6700 is HD8670D, whereas the 6500 is HD 8570D. So not much change, & wouldn't believe to be the difference in running NZ FreeviewHD fully.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_(microarchitecture)

 

[1gkar]

Yes, but my AVR does not have dedicated HDMI connections, but does have both optical & coax SPDif connections.

Okay... but I don't really understand your point in this response.
My point was that I was agreeing with Scythe42 who said that you don't need to worry too much about the audio solution for the PC because the connection between the PC and AVR is going to be digital (whether it is HDMI or S/PDIF). Unless your audio hardware has to do digital-to-analog or analog-to-digital conversions, it is not too important what you get... as long as the drivers aren't terrible.

My point in response was the inference I drew from Scythe42's assumption I was to be using HDMI as my audio. I should have used his original quote, but found your response to be easier to respond to. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[kiwijunglist]

Will the new range have it's own socket type? Or are they going to be FM2? If the latter, not sure if prudent to wait; there may be even less a range of ATX available in NZ by then.

www.google.com

It seems like cost is a factor. Buy the AMD A6-5400K (<$90NZD) or the more pricey A8/i3-3225. Grab 2x4GB DDR1600/1866 el-cheapo ram. /thread.

 

[radical]

Next AMD APU-Generation (Kaveri, coming early 2014) will get a new Socket (FM2+).
FM2+ Mainboard will be compatible with FM2 APU (Trinity,Richland), but an FM2 MB isn't compatible with FM2+ APU.

 

[Owlsroost]

1gkar - as a baseline, what system are you using at the moment, and how does it perform ?

My own feeling is that if you want the highest CPU power efficiency then Intel is the best choice, but to get enough GPU performance you need HD4000 graphics (or HD3000 for the older generation) - this rules out all the low-end (cheap) CPUs. Adding a GPU card to a low-end CPU blows away some of the power efficiency and adds cost, so that's a difficult trade-off....

If first cost is very important, I think the AMD APUs are easily the best choice in terms of cost versus GPU performance (and the motherboards are usually cheaper than those for Intel). From the reviews I've seen, the idle power consumption of AMD is comparable to Intel - it's the 'on load' power that's higher with AMD. I guess you've read this - http://www.anandtech.com/show/6335/amds-trinity-an-htpc-perspective

 

[kiwijunglist]

Next AMD APU-Generation (Kaveri, coming early 2014) will get a new Socket (FM2+).
FM2+ Mainboard will be compatible with FM2 APU (Trinity,Richland), but an FM2 MB isn't compatible with FM2+ APU.

There are other AMD + Intel CPUs suitable for HTPC that are coming out before then. Like over the next 3/12 or so.

 

[rspierenburg]

Just to throw my 2 cents in. I have an i3-540 with integrated video and this thing will play everything, so unless you plan to use your HTPC for other purposes as well (gaming, office use etc).