Can E4300 handle HD Playback? * NO Overclocking *

[castylx]

Hey Guys,

I'm looking to build a sagetv extender PC that will only show HD content. I'm thinking of going with the Intel Core2 Duo E4300 merely on price. Has anyone had any problems getting the E4300 to reliably playback HD content? I remember reading that the processor is more important then the video card, but the video card nevertheless will most likely be a geforce 7600GT.

I know I can overclock the E4300 but last thing I want to do is depend on the overclocking actually working....if it works great, if it doesn't I still want to decode HD.

Thanks in advance!

[sakker]

My understanding is it will not have the horsepower to do it.

From what I have read you need around a 3.0 ghz chip to do HD without problems.

At 1.8 ghz dual core you will get great performance on pretty much everything BUT HD playback.

The 4300 from everything I have read is an awesome, outstanding, great chip to have, but everything I have read also said you really need to overclock it.

If you are like me you don't want to, and personally I wouldn't either, I'd just buy a faster chip rather than overclock it.

Good luck

[mikesm]

If you are using hardware assist on the 7600GT you will likely be fine, as long as you are talking about MPEG2 HD. HD-DVD and BR are a completely different story of course with the 7600GT. That will not work, but then Sage doesn't support it anyway.

thx
mike

[Lucas]

The 4300 is OK for MPEG2 HD with any of the recent video cards like 7600GS/GT and a maybe for h264/VC1 with the new video cards from ATI and Nvidia like 2600XT and 8500GT.

At the moment ATI is better in VC1 with the 2600XT but nvidia is expected to improve its drivers over the coming months.

[mayamaniac]

What HD content are you talking about? If its just recordings from HD tuners, I think it should be able handle it. But if you are talking about HD compressed in WMV or H.264 codec, then probably not powerful enough without overclocking.

[KarylFStein]

I'm running a client on an E4300 with the Intel X3000 IGP. A fanless ADD2 DVI card outputs to a 1080p monitor. I have no problems playing back 1080i streams recorded from a HDHomeRun. All my recording and commercial detection is done on a separate server. The client is really quiet with only the stock Intel cooler and two low-noise case fans. I am using a 2.5" notebook drive in the client which helps with the noise too. I doubt it could handle 1080p, but if someone wants to give me a BluRay or HD-DVD drive, I'd be happy to try .

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by sakker

My understanding is it will not have the horsepower to do it.

From what I have read you need around a 3.0 ghz chip to do HD without problems.

At 1.8 ghz dual core you will get great performance on pretty much everything BUT HD playback.

Be careful when talking about chip speeds across architectures. The 3GHz number comes from P4 "Netburst" architecture MHz, where you need a lot of clock to do anything.

Core2s and Athlon 64s are much more efficient and can do a lot more on a lot less clock.

3GHz really means processors in that "class", eg an Athlon 64 3000+ (which would be about 2GHz or so), or probably any Core2.

Of course now I'm talking about MPEG-2 HD, as H.264 and VC-1 are different animals.

For the record I have an Athlon 64 3400+ (2.4GHz) in my HTPC with a Geforce 6800 (which provides MPEG-2 decode accelleration) and it handles HD recordings just fine. I have no doubt any Core2 or Athlon 64 with a modern video card would have no trouble with MPEG-2 HD.

[castylx]

Thanks for all your input guys. Yeah the client will only be used to view xvid/divx movies and anything recorded via HD OTA. Now I just have to wait for the price drop to take effect....

[bialio]

I think there are going to be some serious sales for Intel come July 22nd - seems like everyone and their uncle is waiting for the price drop!

I know I am.

btl.

[paulbeers]

I own an e4300 and run my sage server box with it (see below). The only thing it can't seem to handle is transcoding to high on the fly for the MediaMVP. If this is going to be a single box setup, then it should fit the bill nicely.

[mbahr]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

I'm running a client on an E4300 with the Intel X3000 IGP. A fanless ADD2 DVI card outputs to a 1080p monitor. I have no problems playing back 1080i streams recorded from a HDHomeRun.

KarylFStein,

I'm attempting to create a system with IGP to do the same thing as this yours. Can you share your system manufacturer, or motherboard information?

-Mike

[KarylFStein]

Asus P5B-VM MB, E4300 CPU (not overclocked), Intel stock cooler, Wintec DDR2 800 (2x512M) RAM, CoolerMaster RC-260 case with RC-260-PCI2 riser, Asus ADD2 DVI video, Seagate Momentus 5400.2 80G 2.5" drive, Seasonic S12 550HT PSU, Aluminum 17-in-1 USB card reader, Westinghouse 37" 1080p monitor, Win XP Home.

I modified the case fans and the system is really quiet. I don't use the built-in IR receiver, but an RF remote and Girder. I use the Cyberlink decoders for video and output audio via S/PDIF to a Logitec Z-5500 system with built-in DD/DTS decoding.

I'm pretty happy with this system. I haven't had any problem with playback of 1080i content, although I mostly watch DVDs and SDTV these days. All my storage and server functions (recording and commercial skip) are done on a P4 in the basement.

[bhyman1]

Karyl,

Thank you for the info! I'm working on shoe-horning a PC into an old gen 1 Tivo case and not needing a video card will be a big help.

[KarylFStein]

Keep in mind that the MB I use only has VGA video out. I had to get an ADD2 card for DVI, (HDMI is also available). The reason I went with the Asus MB is because the CoolerMaster case has tight restrictions on where the PCIe and PCI slots are located in order for the riser cards to work. I only found an Asus and an MSI MB that have the right location and the X3000 IGP. If you don't have those slot restrictions, then there are other options, maybe one with DVI; I don't know. Also, the new G33 chipset is out with the X3100 IGP, so that might be worth considering.

[mbahr]

How does the Asus setup work with HD content?

-Mike

[bhyman1]

Originally Posted by KarylFStein

Keep in mind that the MB I use only has VGA video out. I had to get an ADD2 card for DVI, (HDMI is also available). The reason I went with the Asus MB is because the CoolerMaster case has tight restrictions on where the PCIe and PCI slots are located in order for the riser cards to work. I only found an Asus and an MSI MB that have the right location and the X3000 IGP. If you don't have those slot restrictions, then there are other options, maybe one with DVI; I don't know. Also, the new G33 chipset is out with the X3100 IGP, so that might be worth considering.

Ahh, good info.

I've seen a few sites that sel right-angle PCI-E x16 riser cards so I'll have to look at those too.

It's a mod in progress, so it's nice to know what I do, and don't need to fit into a small case.

[KarylFStein]

I just ran across the Gigabyte GA-G33M-S2H MB that has VGA, DVI, and HDMI on the backplate. I don't have any experience with it, but looks interesting. I'm waiting for someone to review playing 1080p content on an Intel X3000 or X3100 IGP before making any changes to my client. That and the HD media extender to see what it offers.

mbahr, I don't have problems with playing 1080i content on my 1080p monitor using the X3000 and CyberLink decoders. I'm not an audio or videophile, but it looks really good to me. FF and REW are responsive, which wasn't always the case with my old system.

[mbahr]

I have a Gateway PC arriving tomorrow that has a E4300 and X3000 integrated video. I'll let you know if it is enough horsepower to handle the SageTV client in highdef

-Mike

[bhyman1]

I'm setting up an Intel DG33TL motherboard right now. G33 chipset with the x3000 built in graphics. I've got 2 gigs of RAM and an E4400 Core 2 Duo CPU in there.

There should be something on TV tonight in 1080i I can try out.

[mbahr]

My new pc came. They had upgraded it from an e4300 to an e6300. The x3000 on the MB does not have enough power for Sage. In fact I have to set Sage to use the basic renderer to get anything to work.

I'll keep tweaking and see what else is up.