Which CPU for an HTPC

[Eos7D]

A company that I do photographic work for is selling off some of their old equipment, some of the machines are Pentium D 3ghz and the others are Core 2 Duo 2.5ghz, from what I can make out from my scribblings on my doodle pad they are HP DC7900 and I think the other is a Dell GX620?. I think they both have 2gb memory.

Which would be the more capable machine for use as an HTPC which is basically all I am looking to do with it.

 

[o1die]

Go with the core2 duo machine. Use cpuz to id the cpu model number. Core2 duo has several models with 6xxx, 7xxx, and 8xxx for the dual core cpus. Once you id the cpu, you can google it for Intel's specs and see what features it has, such as virtualization.

 

[Eos7D]

Go with the core2 duo machine. Use cpuz to id the cpu model number. Core2 duo has several models with 6xxx, 7xxx, and 8xxx for the dual core cpus. Once you id the cpu, you can google it for Intel's specs and see what features it has, such as virtualization.

Lulz .. I had written that down actually but didn't know what it was connected to E6550?

 

[cl-scott]

I'd say go with the Core 2 Duo if you can get it, but honestly even the Pentium D should have plenty of power to handle everything that can't be done by the video card via DXVA. The C2D system just gives you a slightly better system if you ever need to use it as a disaster recovery unit. Like your primary computer blows up, and as these things usually go, it happens at the absolute perfect time to maximize the delay in getting it fixed.

Whatever the case, just look to add a video card with hardware decoding of certain video codecs. Since it's not a gaming system, you can probably get away with some cheap passively cooled card to keep the noise level down. That should make it possible for you to play back even really high bitrate Bluray content without issue.

 

[jaguarskx]

I would go with the Core 2 Duo for the HTPC. I have an E6600 in my HTPC. It will eventually be replaced by my Q9450 when I upgrade my primary PC.

 

[rds1220]

They would both be capable but the Core 2 Duo would be the better performer. The other thing you want to think about is quietness.

 

[cmi86]

Use the C2D. I would also add a low level passively cooled discrete GPU such as a Radeon HD 5450 of Nvidia GT-520 to make life a little easier with heavy media decoding/play back/high res. Both cards can be had for around $35 US

 

[twelve25]

Pentium D's where junk. Sometimes slower than the single cores! I'll jump on the C2D bandwagon, too.

You can usually find a low profile Radeon 5450 or 6450 for $15-20 which you'll need to stream HD well.

 

[Eos7D]

Thanks to everyone for their input I have gone for the Core 2 machine, it has an Nvidia 7000 in it, I'm guessing I'll need something with a little more punch than that. I'll look for one of the cards mentioned above.

 

[cmi86]

The Nvidia 7XXX probably has enough oomph to be an htpc card but the for mentioned cards will excel due to the fact they are cooler, require less power and more engineered around modern media file types.

 

[Eos7D]

OK I've managed to get an ATI HD5450 from my local computer shop, is there anything that needs to be done to XBMC or anything else to use the video card for decoding etc or is it all done in Windows?

 

[cl-scott]

OK I've managed to get an ATI HD5450 from my local computer shop, is there anything that needs to be done to XBMC or anything else to use the video card for decoding etc or is it all done in Windows?

For XBMC all you need to do is go into the settings, system, video playback, and there's a rather obvious setting you need to make sure is enabled. I forget exactly what it's called now, but you almost can't miss it. Once you do that, it'll automatically use the video card for any supported format.