Opinions needed on HTPC build
Tired of waiting for the Boxee Box, I am simply going to build my own.
Core hardware is important for an appliance like this, so here are my choices and their pros/cons:
<h2>Setup #1:</h2>
mITX Intel H55
Core i5
Pros:
Cons:
<h2>Setup #2:</h2>
mATX AMD 890GX
Athlon II X2
Low-Profile Radeon HD 5450
Pros:
Cons:
<h2>Setup #3:</h2>
mITX AMD 785G
Athlon II X2
Low-Profile Radeon HD 5450
Pros:
Cons:
Budget is of no concern. Discuss.
Core hardware is important for an appliance like this, so here are my choices and their pros/cons:
<h2>Setup #1:</h2>
mITX Intel H55
Core i5
Pros:
- Westmere IGP supports DTS bitstreaming.
- No discrete GPU required.
- Smallest possible form factor.
Cons:
- More expensive than AMD solutions.
- Upscaling performance in Boxee may be inferior to setups #2 and #3.
<h2>Setup #2:</h2>
mATX AMD 890GX
Athlon II X2
Low-Profile Radeon HD 5450
Pros:
- Cheapest solution.
- Optimal upscaling performance in Boxee.
Cons:
- Discrete GPU increases HTPC's size.
- Discrete GPU increases HTPC's TDP.
- mATX form factor larger than mITX.
<h2>Setup #3:</h2>
mITX AMD 785G
Athlon II X2
Low-Profile Radeon HD 5450
Pros:
- Smallest possible form factor.
- Radeon HD 5450 supports DTS bitstreaming.
- Good cost/size ratio.
- Optimal upscaling performance in Boxee.
Cons:
- Discrete GPU increases HTPC's size.
- Discrete GPU increases HTPC's TDP.
- 785G chipset older than other choices.
- The market's lone mITX 785G board is hard to find in the US.
- Sapphire isn't an experienced motherboard manufacturer.
Budget is of no concern. Discuss.
0
Comments
Out of curiosity: Why a 5450? Why not the onboard 4290 from the 890GX?
The Radeon HD 5000 series has a better decoder than ION, which leads to better upscaling performance in Boxee. The 5450 can also bitstream DTS audio, which the ION cannot.
Mostly for the same reasons as above.
As far as bitstreaming is concerned, the DTS True HD and DTS-MA audio streams featured in many Blu-ray titles are massively downsampled unless the audio path supports bitstreaming to the receiver. At this time, only the Radeon HD 5000 series and the Intel Core i5 IGP is capable of producing this. All other GPUs top out at LPCM.
Also, partly since I was shopping around for myself looking at these, here's some neat stuff I found that may/may not be relevant to your build.
This case looks like you could have wonderful potential with the right mainboard (something similar to http://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-1156-Intel-Motherboard-H55ITX/dp/B0033Q4NJ2/). The great feature is if you can find an itx board with a pci-e slot, you can throw in a decent single-slot vid card (like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467) and still have quite a small box.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WCQYU6/
Here's one of the smallest mATX cases I was able to find. There may be smaller within the form factor, but this one looked cool, was priced ok, and I didn't see hundreds of reviews going "it killed my baby!". Downside is you'd have to go with a low profile vid card, but if you're not going to be doing serious gaming on it, that still leaves you plenty of options. Also just got one in myself today, and so-far it looks and feels like a great product, just have to put some feet on it if you plan to lay it down, as the cpu vent comes out one side and the psu out the other.
http://www.amazon.com/Sentey-RJA-2421D-Micro-Computer-Display/dp/B003730D2C/
Let us know what you get and post some pics once you start building!
I'll definitely be posting a build log when it all comes together. So far I'm leaning towards #2 as well, as much as I like the idea of a tiny mITX build.
Silverstone Sugo SG05-B Black
GIGABYTE GA-H55N-USB3
AMD Radeon HD 5450
Intel Core i3 530
Scythe Big Shuriken SCBSK-1000
4GB (2x2GB) G.SKILL PC3-1333 ECO (1.35V!)
2TB Western Digital AV-GP 7200RPM SATA
Samsung slimline SATA CD/DVD burner
Logitech diNovo Mini keyboard/mouse
Total price is $782 with shipping.
Sure, it's more than a Boxee box, but I was seriously tired of waiting, and it didn't quite offer the features that I was looking for. I'm also disappointed that I had to abandon my dreams of a receiver-style case, but there were seriously no decent options; a cube-ish case had to do.
Come on man, build it with the Athlon II 610e if you insist on having a quad core in there. A 45W quad core. Yeah, I know the i3 will outperform it, but seriously, its going to run nearly twice as warm and your HD re runs of Lazy Town are not going to look any better on it.
But they have one based on the 880G?
For the sake of politics, we'll say that I'm just not interested in buying Asus again. There are other reasons:
1. That mobo uses SODIMMs; they're more expensive per gigabyte than DIMMs.
2. The multi-chip design of AMD chipsets uses more power, emits more heat and is simply less efficient than comparable Intel designs.
3. It's still not 32nm.
I'll be happy to throw some words on the diNovo Mini. I looked at every keyboard like it, and it was easily the best design that I found. I bought it completely on a whim, so I hope it turns out well.
As for the EARS vs EURS:
The EURS features higher quality mechanicals designed for 24/7 operation. It also has cache and controller optimizations that favor streaming HD media. In all likelihood, the EARS might have done just fine, but I'd rather pay a small premium for a higher promised level of quality and longevity.
In my home, I typically stream from a LAN server and the quality of the network link is the limiting factor. I recently ran across a stream encoded at roughly 11Mbit/s that I haven't been able to stream over my 802.11g wireless LAN, but everything else has been fine. Since you're hosting locally I doubt you'd have a problem in any case.
Do you have a link that shows how much more efficient Intel motherboard is?
Looking at Intel's website, I3-530 max TDP seems to be 73W. AMD and Intel are not using the same method to report the wattage but the 610e Cliff linked is 45W. Plus Phenom II has four cores.
Anyway, enjoy your HTPC. I am looking forward to seeing your build thread.
As for the TDP difference:
You have to remember that Intel's TDP is calculated with the 45nm IGP activated and running at full bore. I won't be using that IGP at all; it'll be disabled in the BIOS. Again, I'm relying on deduction, but I'm pretty sure 2x32nm cores at 1v uses less power than 4x45nm cores also at 1v.
There, I said it, I feel a little better now.
Come on, Cliff. Nobody is evil, all they want is our money
I agree that there is a tendency of power reduction with reducing scale. But smaller process nodes do not always reduce the power consumption since power leakage just becomes a more serious issue at every new generation if the gate oxide is not improved for higher dielectric constant and interlayer dielectrics for lower dielectric constant. Also, there are other manufacturing methods such as SOI and strained silicon to change the power and speed characteristics of MOSFET devices. Do you remember how much hotter Prescott was compared to Northwood? Manufacturing technologies are highly specific to the manufacturers and I don't think AMD's 45nm and Intel's 32nm are directly comparable.
On the other hand, smaller process nodes are always desirable for a manufacturer since it reduces the cost. Although I do not mind buying a 45nm AMD processor, I am sure AMD would love to sell me a 32nm processor at the same price.
It's also pretty well accepted that Intel's mastery of process vastly outstrips AMD when it comes to processors.
//EDIT: This process mastery is reflected in the struggles AMD has faced getting to 32nm, while Intel is already sampling 22nm on a third or fourth-gen high-k process.
Fair enough. I just pointed out that scaling does not guarantee power reduction. Actually, managing the leakage current becomes a bigger challenge at every new process generation. You are right that Intel has a good handle on this "for now". But nobody knows exactly what challenges are there in the future.
Bad research on my part. Bah.
Side question, cuz im getting ready to pick up a HTPC discrete graphics card.....
would the HD 5450 push a 42" LCD @ 1080P well enough, or more towards great?