Low power HTPC, HD/Bluray capable

[alfhenrik]

Hello fellow SPCR'ians,

I have decided that I want to upgrade / replace my current P4 HTPC with something more power efficient...I have been doing some research for the past month or so but I am still at a loss as to which setup would be the best for me.

I am willing to go with either AMD / Intel (which ever can give me the lower power consumption during video playback), I am considering either the AMD 4850e or the Intel E7200 (would the E5200 suffice for HD and Bluray?), I don't mind underclocking as long as it can handle HD / Bluray stuff without a hitch.

Now my problem is that I don't know which motherboard (AMD/Intel) I should go with that would allow me to get as low power consumption as possible (I've read the reviews of the Asus G45's and the AMD 780G here on SPCR and it seems that the Intel is a bit more efficient), I would like to house all of this in the Antec NSK2480, so a mATX mobo is required...and the motherboard should have DVI or HDMI as I'll be hooking it up to my LCD TV. No gaming is required at all as I have my main power house for that.

I'm thinking that a power draw of ~40w at IDLE and ~60w LOAD (video playback that is) should be possible from the reviews I've read around here.

Other parts that I would be getting would be a SSD (or would a 2.5" HDD suffice?) for OS (all movies and other stuff will be on a separate NAS) so I don't need any large amount of storage. A Bluray drive at some point as they become more mainstream (and cheaper)

Well I think that is about it...any comments / feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you all,
Henrik

[FartingBob]

For HTPC AMD seems to have the edge over intel, mainly due to the IGP's being far better.
I would suggest you go for the 4850e and couple it with a cheap 780G motherboard that has the connections you need. the chipset will handle nearly all the load of playing back a blu-ray movie, letting the CPU idle at under 10w.

Dont get an SSD. Its a complete waste for this system. IMO you should do fine with a large 3.5" GreenPower drive for everything. You shouldnt hear it from more than a foot away (although i would still recommend suspending it if you have room in your case). Cheap SSD's in real world tests offer no performance advantage over the newer HDD' and in many tests are actually slower. So unless saving 5-8w is worth the 10x price hike per GB then dont bother.

[Michael Sandstrom]

Surf Newegg (just for info Aussie) and check out Gigabyte's AMD 780G offerings. You can choose from MATX or ATX at good prices. These boards also work with Phenom II and some future AM3 processors.

I paired a GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3HP with a 4850E.

[hybrid2d4x4]

Hello fellow SPCR'ians,
I've read the reviews of the Asus G45's and the AMD 780G here on SPCR and it seems that the Intel is a bit more efficient

I don't know where you've read this, but it contradicts the reviews I read at either Tom's or Anandtech or here (don't remember which ones). At any rate, I read that the G45 draws more power than G35 (there is a review on here that concludes the same), and other reviews that say the G35 was more thirstier than the 780G. If you were referring to CPUs, than this may be true under load with the 45nm chips, but the 45W XXXXe CPUs are still better at idle.
EDIT: After having another look at your OP, you are probably referring to consumption during playback, so if that's going to be the overwhelming majority of the tasks this HTPC will be doing (ie: no web-browsing, photos, music), then the intel may make more sense. Keep in mind that the price premium of the intel platform will probably take many years to make up in energy savings if that's your main motivation for getting the most efficient one.
If you are planning on going the intel route, then the E5200 is probably the best choice unless you plan on doing a lot of CPU-intensive tasks like encoding video, etc., where moving up to a 7200 would be worthwhile.

Unlike FartingBob above, I think a small SSD makes perfect sense in your system if you have a NAS that stores your media. Just make sure you get one that either compensates for or uses a different controller than the problematic JMicron that plagued the 1st gen mainstream SSDs (s/a the OCZ Core series; Core2 series supposedly made some tweaks to work around some of the controller's issues). The OCZ Solid 30GB sells for ~$80 in the US (sorry, I don't know how much of a premium you pay in AUS, but I imagine the prices scale about the same for all computer products), which should be more than enough for the OS and your apps. And to put it into perspective, paying an extra $20-30 over the cost of a HDD (featuring more capacity, which you won't even use) doesn't seem unreasonable in a crowd that spends at least that much on a CPU cooler that's quieter than stock. In this case, you're going from what's usually the loudest part in a quiet system to a completely silent part. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

[alfhenrik]

Thanks guys for your replies, I will probably go the AMD path (saves me ~$AU200) and I might just go a notebook drive instead of SSD as it's double the price of the notebook drive.

I'm hoping to get this system to consume no more than 50-60w...

[joelmusicman]

If you want to get an SSD, also be sure to compare them against the new ESATA thumb drives that are out now. They have comparable performance to an SSD, and are mounted in your os just like a Hard drive (no funky OS install worries).

[NeoteriX]

Thanks guys for your replies, I will probably go the AMD path (saves me ~$AU200) and I might just go a notebook drive instead of SSD as it's double the price of the notebook drive.

I'm hoping to get this system to consume no more than 50-60w...

Henrik,

My system posted here:
viewtopic.php?t=52517

Does exactly what you're looking for. Low-power, HD capable setup. If you forgo the PicoPSU, you're still looking at a 40W idle and no more than 60W for HD playback. Let me know if you have any questions!