SPCR

I'm thinking of building a HTPC for my father and I was wondering if a E1200/1400 is enough for watching HD material. I don't have much cash and this CPU is very cheap so I was hoping for it to be enough.
I'm pairing it up with an Intel DG45FC motherboard, which seems to do the job after what I read in the SPCR review on it.
So, will an E1200/1400 be enough?

// Anders

I just checked out www.newegg.com

e1200 = $49.95
e1500 = $64.95
e2180 = $69.95
e2200 = $69.95
e5200 = $74.95

Looking at this simply from the money perspective: If you jump from the e1200 to the e1500 then the $5 upgrade to the e2200 requires no thought. For another $5 you can upgrade to the e5200 which is a good processor.

I know there are people using Celeron 420/430/440 single cores to do what you are asking about. I would say the e1200 would be fine for what you are doing as long as the tasks don't need a processor with a lot of cache.

There is an article on Xbit labs today that concentrates on the video, but does make some comments on the CPU:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/

From what I've read in seems that playing vidoes does not require alot of cache, which makes the E1200 with its 1.6GHz clock fine for the job, right?

relitz wrote:From what I've read in seems that playing vidoes does not require alot of cache, which makes the E1200 with its 1.6GHz clock fine for the job, right?

Some reading this morning reminded me that there are tons of people out there playing with intel Atom processors in their HTPC. Even if he is thinking DVR, I think that processor would be fine.

The question is really what are your other components? Ideally you would go with a nicer mobo with a good integrated chipset, in which case you can forego needing a fast proc or a discrete graphics card. Anything with an Nvidia 9300 chipset will do quite well at handling all of your needs with even the most lowly processor. I wouldn't dip into the realm of Atoms though, I would stick with one of those 1200's. Let us know how it goes.

tno

relitz wrote:From what I've read in seems that playing vidoes does not require alot of cache, which makes the E1200 with its 1.6GHz clock fine for the job, right?

Okey, I'm not really sure if I will build this, but if I will, the shopping list will be:

Intel DG45FC motherboard
Intel Celeron E1400 CPU
Random, cheap 2x1GB RAM
160GB SATA1 HDD that I have lying around
Compucase 8K01 case including 100W PSU

Sounds pretty good in my ears, anything I should change?

I think that will do you well. I'd consider undervolting any component that will (proc and chipset) to squeeze a few more W out, should be a contender though. Good luck.

tno

relitz wrote:Okey, I'm not really sure if I will build this, but if I will, the shopping list will be:

Intel DG45FC motherboard
Intel Celeron E1400 CPU
Random, cheap 2x1GB RAM
160GB SATA1 HDD that I have lying around
Compucase 8K01 case including 100W PSU

Sounds pretty good in my ears, anything I should change?

Unfortunately, while still having a bunch of fancy functions, the DG45FC does not allow voltages to be changed for neither the CPU or the RAM, but according to the review here on SPCR, they messured 98W @ load with an E6400 CPU and 65W @ load with an E7200 CPU, so I think I will be fine with an E1400 and still stay below the 100W the 8K01 PSU has as its limit.

relitz wrote:according to the review here on SPCR, they messured 98W @ load with an E6400 CPU and 65W @ load with an E7200 CPU, so I think I will be fine with an E1400 and still stay below the 100W the 8K01 PSU has as its limit.

You will be well under 100W at load and in fact the celery will draw about the same as the E7200 - It's a less efficient design (65nm v 45 nm manufacturing process) but runs at lower clocks and has less cache which will even it up.

relitz wrote:Okey, I'm not really sure if I will build this, but if I will, the shopping list will be:

Intel DG45FC motherboard
Intel Celeron E1400 CPU
...

Currently this will not be good for HD playback, unless you use one of the major commercial software players (powerdvd, arcsoft I think - check which). The free and excellent MPC-HC won't work (won't decode HD video on G45 motherboards). ATI 780G or Nvidia 9300 or 9400 chipsets may be better choices at present. If you wait a few months you may be able to get the Nvidia Ion combination which is the ideal hardware for HTPC.

What software are you planning to use? Software setup is not easy for HTPCs. Have it all planned out first (OS, media center software, remote control method) before going ahead so you can decide if it's worthwhile.

Would you consider AMD?

If you're set on Intel, how about the Nvidia 9300 or 9400 chipset? If you want mini-itx, Zotac will soon be releasing a 9400-based motherboard with wifi.

croddie wrote:Currently this will not be good for HD playback, unless you use one of the major commercial software players (powerdvd, arcsoft I think - check which). The free and excellent MPC-HC won't work (won't decode HD video on G45 motherboards). ATI 780G or Nvidia 9300 or 9400 chipsets may be better choices at present. If you wait a few months you may be able to get the Nvidia Ion combination which is the ideal hardware for HTPC.

What software are you planning to use? Software setup is not easy for HTPCs. Have it all planned out first (OS, media center software, remote control method) before going ahead so you can decide if it's worthwhile.

I'm still not sure if I will buy this thing, and if I will, I'll obviously consider software and other issues first. Although thanks for giving me insight in that this won't do for a HTPC.

Trav1s wrote: Would you consider AMD?

ilovejedd wrote:If you're set on Intel, how about the Nvidia 9300 or 9400 chipset? If you want mini-itx, Zotac will soon be releasing a 9400-based motherboard with wifi.

The reason I am set on Intel is that there are only a few mini-ITX boards with HDMI avalible in Sweden, the DG45FC is by far cheapest, the only AM2 solution costs about 2.5 times as much.