Is it worth upgrading my Proc and onboard Graphics?

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chad5k1

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Is it worth upgrading my Proc and onboard Graphics?

#1

Post by chad5k1 » Thu May 26, 2016 2:49 pm

Hi All,

I'm considering upgrading my i5-2400s 2.5Ghz with HD2000 onboard graphics to the i7-3770S 3.1Ghz with HD4000 graphics.
Is this worth while do you think?

It is the best processor I can get with the existing motherboard. I notice some lag changing channels and the stutter in 1.4x ff I've previously posted about and thought this might help me, particularly now that I've added an extender.

Thanks in advance for your opinion.

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Scallica

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#2

Post by Scallica » Thu May 26, 2016 2:53 pm

There is no need to upgrade the CPU. I have an HTPC using an Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 with no issues.

What tuner and hard disk are you using?

Check the health of your hard drives using HD Sentinel.
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chad5k1

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#3

Post by chad5k1 » Thu May 26, 2016 3:00 pm

Intel SSD OS and recording drive, then move everything to a WD Green or a usb 3 external, but the impact of which drive it is on is negligible.
The Tuner is a TBS6280

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Scallica

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#4

Post by Scallica » Thu May 26, 2016 3:25 pm

A better video card wouldn't hurt. I use a $20 Gigabyte GT 210 video card in all of my systems. Works great.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product ... id=3913#ov
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chad5k1

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#5

Post by chad5k1 » Thu May 26, 2016 3:32 pm

The system has to be super quiet, it is passively cooled, so I'd rather not create more heat by adding additional internal components. Hence I was thinking the increased graphics performance of the HD4000 with the i7 as opposed to the HD2000 I currently have the with i5.
Chad
Last edited by chad5k1 on Thu May 26, 2016 4:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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spanner

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#6

Post by spanner » Thu May 26, 2016 3:52 pm

I didnt see in your specs your TV provider. If you use or or might use some day cable/Comcast, be careful about intel onboard graphics and there ability to play premium channel Protected content.

chad5k1

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#7

Post by chad5k1 » Thu May 26, 2016 3:56 pm

I'll update that, but I'm UK based, so that should not be an issue for me

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spanner

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#8

Post by spanner » Thu May 26, 2016 4:24 pm

chad5k1 wrote:I'll update that, but I'm UK based, so that should not be an issue for me
Your Right, I missed that

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DavidinCT

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#9

Post by DavidinCT » Fri May 27, 2016 1:59 pm

Keep in mind, when WMC was released on Windows 7 (pretty much what we are all using, even if your using 8), the application was designed around signle core CPUs with very little memory. SO Even a dual core is higher than it's optimized and designed for.

Jumpping from a dual core i3 or i5, to a high end i7 makes not a major difference in performance for WMC (sure videos might start a HAIR quicker but, not major).

If your only using WMC and programs inside WMC, there us not a major need to upgrade from a i5 CPU. Although, if your getting into 4K video, or really high bitrate blu-ray videos, a videocard upgrade WOULD help with that.
-Dave
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Windows Media Center certified and WMC MVP 2010 - 2012

chad5k1

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#10

Post by chad5k1 » Fri May 27, 2016 2:08 pm

OK, looks like it is not worth while. I'll tinker with other settings to try and get a performance improvement until the i7 CPU is at rock bottom price :)
I've removed a codec pack and installed shark007, as well as having a general clean up - let's see how that goes.
My system doesn't even have a cd player in it, I use an external blue ray player for that. As for 4k, no chance in the next few years I suspect.
Thanks for all your help.

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#11

Post by LuckyDay » Fri Jun 03, 2016 12:44 pm

i7 is complete overkill for anything HTPC related, and the 4000 vs. 2000 isn't going to make much difference (if any).

As others stated, look into other reasons for the issues you're seeing.

mercalia

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#12

Post by mercalia » Fri Aug 26, 2016 12:05 pm

My media center is an old dual core E8500 ( 3.1 ghz, got that cheap for £6 from Ebay ) I have also used a Q8300 quad core 2.5 ghz and an lowly dual core E5400 2.5 ghz All are ok. If you are running the media browser plugin and keep the pc in standby I found the biggest improvment was to increase the amount of ram ( in my case to a max of 8GB ) as that plugin likes lots of cache. ( in my case grabs 6gb or so ) I have found that anything else that takes the cpu time can affect Media Centers zip so I turn off auto updates and limit what else runs on the machine, is a dedicated HTPC. By the way my oldie uses a G41 intel chipset with onboard graphics and that plays standard UK tv fine and HD mp4/mkv videos fine. I think I would need to upgrade the video for HD tv video as the inbuilt graphics of the G41 board dont have the necessary umph. but I think later Intel did? Some thing to do with handling interlacing. re exenders. I got one for £5 off ebay a short time ago and....... they are sluggish :crazy:

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