Which system do you think would perform better?

[staknhalo]

Moving around parts/systems today....trying to decide which I should set up as the secondary HTPC.

System 1

Intel Celeron E3300
Intel G31 IGP
2GB DDR2


System 2

AMD Sempron 140
Geforce 210 PCIe
4GB DDR2


Due to MoBo limitations.....I can't just put the GeForce and extra Ram in with the Intel otherwise I would have done that.

[Mediaman]

#2 - more ram trumps, can not say for sure but the 210 card may have better driver support and fewer issues across a variety of TV tuners.

[staknhalo]

Yeah the GeForce 210 is a better card. The AMD is single core and the Intel dual core. That's why I can't decide.

[foxwood]

What are you planning to use it for? Just playing back .wtv files recorded on another system?

[staknhalo]

No it will be live tv and recording itself.

[LuckyDay]

Just to be clear, your Intel setup is a 775 board with an AGP slot and DDR2?

And your Athlon would be DDR3 and PCIe?

If you stick with System 1 you have a stronger CPU and you will need an AGP video card and 2-4gb more of RAM. About $35 on craigslist. The IGP on that machine is not going to handle HD content well.

If you stick with System 2 you'll have a weaker CPU and you'll have an ok video card and enough RAM. It would probably work right off the bat. The CPU is going to work, but I would suspect W7 and WMC are going to put it to its limits.

Either way they're not good options, and the ideal solution would be to eBay or Craigslist search and find a 775 board with a PCI-e slot and by a cheap stick of DDR2 (like 5-10 bucks on craigslist).

[staknhalo]

Just to be clear, your Intel setup is a 775 board with an AGP slot and DDR2?

IGP=integrated graphics; not AGP. The board is PCIe, but has a tuner in the PCIe slot and another one in the last remaining PCIe 1x slot. So sticking with the IGP is a must. This board has been working as a 2nd HTPC and handles 1080p fine. Up to 18Mbps 1080p content I have personally watched. However, I noticed if a show was recording, Netflix it would stutter occasionally. Also, because of a bad motherboard layout, any card in the PCIe 1x slot bloack you from installing a second Ram module; hence only 2GB of Ram

And your Athlon would be DDR3 and PCIe?

The AMD board is an AM2+ board; so it is actually DDR2 and can support AM3 chips along with it. Which is what the Sempron is. This board also has a PCIe slot along with 3 other PCIe x1 slots; so aside from the 2 tuners there is room for one more along with a dedicated GPU card. And the layout on the board doesn't prevent installing of any Ram modules like the socket 775 board. Those were the reasons for contemplation of re-purposing this as the 2nd HTPC.

If you stick with System 2 you'll have a weaker CPU and you'll have an ok video card and enough RAM.

Hence the questioning.

the ideal solution would be to eBay or Craigslist search and find a 775 board with a PCI-e slot and by a cheap stick of DDR2 (like 5-10 bucks on craigslist).

This is a no money project. For the hell of it though, I scoped out parts from various places and it would be cheaper to buy a new AMD chip rather than a new 775 board. Again, no money build though.


A lot of people at various sites and through Steam said go with the AMD, so I did. It's up and running as the 2nd HTPC. One snag I hit in the process is that the GeForce 210 was actually bad. It wasn't displaying 2D shadows properly, colors were screwed up, along with various other glitches (not driver related, tested and confirmed as being the card itself). I had a GeForce 8400GS laying around, so I threw that in there. While this card isn't any better than the G31 compared to the 210, it's still a dedicated card with it's own ram (AMD onboard is only a GeForce 8100); so I went with it. Edit: Got an RMA approval from EVGA for the 210; so that will be going back in when I get the replacement.

The system is noticeably slower.....but not painfully slow. A DMA2100 extender can even connect to it and are both usable at the same time. I have to run more scenarios to see if I can get it to crap out. With live HDTV playing while an extender is connected playing live HDTV CPU usage is around 30-40%

The AMD system is also using about 5 watts less than the Intel setup was; even with the extra components it has. It's not much at all, I like trying to get things as low power as possible

I might turn the Celeron into a Hackintosh now or something. Also fun

[leroys1000]

The problem with the lower end nvidia cards is they are 64 bit and don't use
the nvidia pure video decoder.
I tried an 8400 in mine and wasn't satisfied with it.
I got an AMD HD5450 from ebay and the video is much better.
Still a 64bit card but works better.

[staknhalo]

I've frequently use Nvida and ATI cards and tend to find Nvidia PQ to be better. Just recently had a 7750 card in my main HTPC, ended up switching it out for a GTX 650 for various reasons.

[LuckyDay]

IGP=integrated graphics; not AGP.

Yeah, I know. I assumed your problem was not having a PCIe slot to put the video cards so figured the board had AGP or something. Didn't even think of a PCIe tuner.

The celeron is definitely more powerful, but now that you've explained the exact situation sounds like you made the right choice. If the Intel system can't fit more than 2GB and you're not willing to buy a larger stick then it is pretty much going to be offset anyway, and it's worth having the 210 for the video.

[LuckyDay]

I've frequently use Nvida and ATI cards and tend to find Nvidia PQ to be better. Just recently had a 7750 card in my main HTPC, ended up switching it out for a GTX 650 for various reasons.

I've been in the opposite boat lately. NVidia does AA much better, but for price power and heat (which is an issue in my system) ATI has worked better. I'm using a 7750 right now.

[staknhalo]

I've frequently use Nvida and ATI cards and tend to find Nvidia PQ to be better. Just recently had a 7750 card in my main HTPC, ended up switching it out for a GTX 650 for various reasons.

I've been in the opposite boat lately. NVidia does AA much better, but for price power and heat (which is an issue in my system) ATI has worked better. I'm using a 7750 right now.

I wanted to keep it sooooooo bad. First 'low profile, no power connector' card I could 1080p game with. I kept getting the gray screen of death :/ RMA'd - same issue. Thought maybe PSU was giving off dirty power - different PSU - still got it. I chalked it up to the HIS production line of that batch of 7750s and just got a EVGA GTX 650. It was also a bit more audible though in retrospect. In a high pitched way.

[LuckyDay]

I have been pretty lucky with the card I got which was an MSI. I did do some research though because I saw a lot of problems like you experienced with different models. Some of them seemed to be very prone to crashing, even from bigger brands I usually trust. I got the MSI because of the good reviews I saw all around for it.

Haven't ever had a crash or problem with it.

[LuckyDay]

Doh, I typed earlier message without thinking. I am using an MSI 7770 card right now, not the 7750. So my card doesn't relate to the one you had issues with.