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I am about to build a HTPC and would like to keep the temperatures down as much as possible due to my existing case having thermal activated fans.
I am currently thinking that an Intel Core i3 3220T with its 35W max TDP would be best suited to keeping the temperatures down while playing 1080p video sources.
Is this a good choice? Any other options I should consider?
You could try the Raspberry Pi with XBMC - USB powered :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sweatherly
http://www.raspbmc.com/
Thanks, definitely worth considering, although I'd probably prefer to stick to to Windows 7 media center to have MyMovies and SSD support and HD audio streaming to my receiver.
Anandtech recommends Trinity or Ivy Bridge as both being OK.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6335/a...pc-perspective
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5773/i...pc-perspective
Which one probably comes down to motherboard features (which will also set the idle power requirement).
Thanks for the links.
The Trinity processor in the anandtech appears to be 100W TDP though, wouldn't this generate too much heat for what I need?
The lowest TDP Trinity processor appears to be 65W whereas the Intel Core i3 3220T I was planning on getting is only 35W.
Does the Trinity processor give me anything extra for my needs which are 1080p with HD Audio running as cool as possible?
I was tempted by an ION board + Atom CPU but this link suggested that for 1080p playback an i3 would actually draw less power:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu..._11.html#sect0
I'm just wondering if I'm missing something that I should be considering?
TDP is the highest power it can chuck out, not the usual load.
Having a high TDP cpu just means that you have more headroom, though if you actually use it then yes the fans will start churning quite fast.
In reality, you normally drop more power in the PSU than on the motherboard in these sorts of systems unless you go the expensive ITX and PicoPSU route.
Check the charts for power consumption whilst playing a DVD.
I certainly think you are better off with i3 than Atom.
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix
AMD have a higher TDP because the GPU built into them is actually a lot more powerful than that of an i3. Just running 1080p video wont stress the GPU or CPU to its maximum so your actual power usage will be considerably lower than its TDP.
If it was me i would go for the AMD system, but thats because i would want to know that i can play some games on there if i choose too, its up to you if you require that kind of headroom.
Good points about the TDP (DanceswithUnix), and the GPU being more powerful (Biscuit). I'll take a look at the figures for power consumption while playing a video and compare.
Sounds as though an i3 or Trinity is the way to go though so will compare motherboards for features too.
Many thanks.
Another alternative is the AMD equivalent of Atom, the E450/E350 based boards which have the APU (CPU and GPU combined) fixed onto the board. Although they are becoming quite expensive For what they are in the light of trinity :/
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...ddr3-1066-matx
another vote for trinity - its a damn good piece of kit
Im looking to be building a replacement htpc soon and im going for a celeron chip, the integrated graphics, hotter and slower performance on the amd put me off,
A celeron with a graphics card is cheaper and should deliver better performance.
I'm not sure that the pi's would have sufficient power - i have an atom chip powering xbmc and linux mint and its slow!
A 65W TDP A10-5700 is hardly hot or slow,especially for an HTPC usage. A celeron and a discrete card under a HD7750/GT640 is pointless and I have a Core i3 in my main PC BTW. A Celery G530 probably has worse lightly threaded performance too,I suspect,so even that excuse is not even valid.Quote:
Originally Posted by polar
You would need to go beyond HD6570 GDDR5 level performance to get consistently better performance than an A10 IGP.
Not only do you have two sources of heat,you need a bigger case with more fans,and higher idle power consumption too. An A10-5700 based system should consume no more than 30W to 50W for normal usage purposes as an HTPC.
Considering that even a 2GHZ Core2 or Athlon X2 would be faster,it makes me think how much speed you actually think you will need for your HTPC! ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by polar
My HTPC has an Athon X2 250u (25W 1.6 dual core) on an 880G with built in graphics with windows and XBMC and it does everything an HTPC should do just fine.
Hell my E450 thinkpad (AMD 1.66 Brazos APU) can kick out 1080p while im browsing and chatting away at the same time. HTPCs do not need a lot of power!
From my research, the AMD does seem to run hot - see links below and with it being an HTPC one would imagine a cooler setup would be desirable.Quote:
Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH
An intel chip - pentium or celeron, with a graphics card will happily fit in an Mini ITX case such as a coolermaster elite 120 - this case has a vents on the graphics card side to remove the heat.
Really its down to personal choice, I would prefer the upgrade ability of the separate components and the flexibility of a 1155 board.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=139877
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=114654
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=138427
good luck with your build!
Those threads are all about Llano, not TrinityQuote:
Originally Posted by polar
fair point!Quote:
Originally Posted by Biscuit