New CPUs in 2011 (1 Viewer)

[mbuzina]

Hi All,

I am thinking about new systems (all the time ;-) and I was reading the Intel / AMD roadmaps. Basically I would like to start a discussion on which of the upcoming processors can do what for the htpc.

Here some of my "intel(ligence report)":
Intels Sandy Bridge:
Seems to be along the same line as the current core i batch of processors. Good CPU value with not so good GPU value. Especially the ones with 16 Shaders will be quite power hungry by comparison.

AMD Fusion:
I guess the Llano / Lynx APU will be quite interesting. 2 or 4 CPU cores with a DX 11 capable Gfx Core (I read somewhere 80 shaders, but I don't fully trust that info) while still aiming at a low TDP. Seems like a great htpc CPU/GPU combo. Disadvantage: Not before July-2011. Bummer.

What do you think?

P.S.: Disadvantage of both is: New socket - new everything.

 

[tourettes]

Intels Sandy Bridge:
Seems to be along the same line as the current core i batch of processors. Good CPU value with not so good GPU value. Especially the ones with 16 Shaders will be quite power hungry by comparison.

The Sandy Bridge Review: Intel Core i7-2600K, i5-2500K and Core i3-2100 Tested - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

Despite having great power consumption and feature characteristics, Clarkdale had one glaring issue that home theater enthusiasts discovered: despite having a 23Hz setting in the driver, Intel’s GPU would never output anything other than 24Hz to a display.

The limitation is entirely in hardware, particularly in what’s supported by the 5-series PCH (remember that display output is routed from the processor’s GPU to the video outputs via the PCH). One side effect of trying to maintain Intel’s aggressive tick-tock release cadence is there’s a lot of design reuse. While Sandy Bridge was a significant architectural redesign, the risk was mitigated by reusing much of the 5-series PCH design. As a result, the hardware limitation that prevented a 23.976Hz refresh rate made its way into the 6-series PCH before Intel discovered the root cause.

Intel had enough time to go in and fix the problem in the 6-series chipsets, however doing so would put the chipset schedule at risk given that fixing the problem requires a non-trivial amount of work to correct. Not wanting to introduce more risk into an already risky project (brand new out of order architecture, first on-die GPU, new GPU architecture, first integrated PLL), Intel chose to not address it this round, which is why we still have the problem today.

Of course you could use the forthcoming MP audio renderer to solve that HW issue (of course I recommend buying some proper HW in the first place to get the best quality out of the video / audio).

 

[disaster123]

AW: New CPUs in 2011

But which is proper HW with 1080i VA deint and NOT ext. Graphicscard :-(

 

[mbuzina]

tourettes: Thank you for the review. I am not sure if this would be such a big issue for me (currently not playing 24p), but for my new platform it should be able to do that.

disaster123: Yes, that is one of the top questions. I searched a bit and the 80 shader & 400 stream units seem to be equivalent to the mobile gfx chip Madison (RV830), which can be found in the Radeon HD 6550M and Radeon HD 6570M. So how is their performance?

 

[drealit]

That and apparently the Intel drivers STILL do not play well with nice over the counter decoders like what MPC and FFDshow are based on. I have an i3 530 and ditched it for a HD 5450 within a few months due to this glaring issue. I still have the image comparison hosted Index of /hosting/i3 --- ugh terrible PQ.

I am definitely excited about testing the AMD's Brazos platform (Zacate) though... it might be exactly what I need since I don't need much in my HTPC (no need for 1080i).

 

[zicoz]

Zacate does look good as long as you don't need 3D and 1080i, hoping to pick up a couple of those myself in February.

 

[disaster123]

AW: Re: New CPUs in 2011

Zacate does look good as long as you don't need 3D and 1080i, hoping to pick up a couple of those myself in February.

i thought 3D and 1080i should working with it. I mean the old 890G can also do anything else than 3D and 1080i. I thought AMD will higher the power.

 

[zicoz]

Well nothing is certain since we haven't really seen anyone do indepth HTPC testing on Fusion yet, and it.

But the information so far is that there is no HW-accelerated 3D BR playback in Zacate.

The First Inklings Of Fusion: On-Die Video Decoding Via UVD3 : ASRock's E350M1: AMD's Brazos Platform Hits The Desktop First

As for 1080i, it can probably play it, but not with all the best post processing. On paper the Zacate is as strong as the 5450 with its 80 Stream Processors and that GPU is not able to handle all of AMDs post processing.

AMD

But then again it comes with UVD 3.0 so that might make things better.

 

[mbuzina]

zicoz: I was looking more at the llano (4 core, with 80 stream procs). According to these slides AMD Llano: Weitere angebliche Folien aufgetaucht, neuartiges Hybrid-Crossfire möglich? - cpu, amd, gpu, fusion we may expect that the llano will slightly outperform the i3 + seperate Raedon 5550.

Also these slides state: improved 3d if you would use a crossfire setup / external gfx setup. Imroved would indicate that there is something to improve from, so there may be some 3d support.

 

[zicoz]

Those slides seem to be on AMDs future plans for CrossfireX though and the mix of APU and dedicated GPU. And I think they the slides talk about desktop/gaming 3D and not Bluray 3D when it says "Improved 3D".

If you further down it says that it can do Bluray 3D when paired with a "Northern Islands" discrete graphics card.

But it turns out you might be right and that it can actually handle 3D

MSI E350IA-E45 AMD Fusion Motherboard Review - Media Playback

54% CPU seems a bit high for something that's HW-accelerated though, but then again it's hard to say since we don't really have anything to compare it to.

Would be nice if they released numbers with HWA both on and off.

I think it all comes down to Zacate only having HDMI 1.3 which does not officially support 3D.

The Llano like you say is going to have alot more power, back in november they showed off an APU with 480 Stream processors (6 cores with 80 each). But Llano draws more power and is a bit further down the road though. But the future does look bright for AMD and HTPC users both