Official Sandy Bridge / LGA1155 for HTPCs Thread - Page 63

Is there a decent H67 for only $10 more? If so, I agree. I used that SATA III SSD not because of the speed but because today it's the cheapest 60-64GB SSD I could find, whether II or III.

This was an exercise in seeing how low I could build a decent system today around the CPU/mobo barkingllama was discussing using quality parts like the Silverstone case and SeaSonic PSU and including a BD burner. It wasn't an actual planned build. In my own recent systems I used an H67 and a Z68 for the reasons you mentioned, but then again I was using an i3-2100 and an i5-2500k, and I wasn't trying to squeeze down the price as low as possible. I think if you're starting with the G620 you're already making some price/performance tradeoffs, so in that context using the H61 doesn't bother me. Remember, for $450 this system still has an SSD and a BD burner - it's not a bare-bones setup. If you used just a DVD burner and skipped the SSD, you could build this for for about $325 and still have a nice workable HTPC with quality parts.

If I was building it myself, I probably would use an H67 or Z68. Heck, I might use another Gigabyte GA-Z68MX-UD2H so I could have an internal USB 3.0 header for those front 3.0 connectors. But then I wouldn't be getting it all for $450.

You got me wondering if I was smoking something--so I just glanced at the egg. Found 5 or 6 H67 boards under $75--the cheapest was $65. So the price parity is there for sure.


The egg had the OCZ Solid 3 60GB SSD for $60 AR the other day. That's the cheapest I've seen so far. Almost made me get another one even though I don't need it!


I know it wasn't a "planned build"--but neither did I interpret your post as trying to "squeeze the price down as low as possible", as you included other parts that were certainly not the cheapest options for a "decent system".


Yeah, but I would maintain that someone building a HTPC today, even if they don't currently plan to use features like SATA III or USB 3, WILL want to before the end of that system's life. So to me, it just seemed like the wrong place to save $10 or $20 (assuming they actually did cost more, of course)

Regardless, I think my post came across wrong. I wasn't trying to critique or give advice--I was just trying to have some fun with your "bargain build" idea, as it parallels a lot of my HTPC ideas.

I've read all 63 pages of this thread and did numerous Internet searches (now started returning my own inquiries in other forums). I am amazed that no one has mentioned the 29/59 frame rate issue(bug) when watching certain Live TV HD channels (HBO HD 801 - Comcast San Francisco). I am getting severe stuttering in 7MC on certain HBO HD shows. I've verified it is the bug with 4-1-1-Info.

What settings / drivers /codecs on the Intel HD3000 are recommended?

Configuration:
2011 Mac Mini Server (2.0GHz i7 quad core Sandy Bridge)
Intel HD3000 Integrated Graphics
16GB RAM (8GBx2) Corsair
240GB OCZ Vertex3-MI (OS)
750GB WD Scorpio Black 7200RPM (LiveTV & Data)
Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet
Broadcom Nextreme Wireless-N
Bootcamp 4.0
Windows 7 64-bit SP1
HDHomeRun Prime 3CC (direct connect to NIC)
Uninstalled Shark007 Codecs

Please help me optimize the system. I've become completely frustrated at this point. It does not seem that others have the 29/59 frame rate issue with the Intel HD3000 since I can't find one thread on it. Thanks in advance.

Since noone else has the issue you're speaking of, maybe you should explain what exactly it is that you have issues with? "29/59 frame rate issue" could mean hundreds of things.

4-1-1-Info shows the frame rate switching rapidly between 29 and 59 on HBO HD 801 Comcast SF Bay Area. The picture stutters but the sound continues fine. It's inconsistent and random stutter. I define stutter as a pause in the picture then a resume to the next frame. At best it's jerky or looks like dropped frames. At worse it's unwatchable.

I typed "HBO flicker" into Google and immediately found this thread:

http://experts.windows.com/frms/wind...01.aspx#469201

I've read the thread and there is no solution or mention of the Intel HD3000. Apparently, ATI cards can simply disable dynamic contrast. I'm hoping someone here who is using the Intel HD3000 for Live TV with HBO HD has come across this issue and resolved it. Whether it be purchasing software, codecs, or plain an simple doesn't work with the Intel HD3000.

I'm doing another clean install to make sure codecs didn't affect the Intel HD3000 (pretty sure they didn't because I'm running 64bit and there are not many replacements).

Does AHCI affect the playback? I'm in IDE mode as bootcamp does not enable AHCI. I'm still getting 450MBps read/write on the OS drive and over 100MBps read/write on the data storage drive in IDE mode. (I ask because there are "ways" to enable it).

What i read from that thread after glancing over it is that enabling high-performance mode fixes it, instead of balanced.

I'm not quite sure whats the problem though. Just set your screen to a 59.94 refresh, then both 29.97 and 59.94 content should play just perfectly, even when it changes mid-stream?

From reading that thread, it seems to rather be a WMC issue then a Intel specific issue. ATI is affected as well, only NVIDIA seems to behave a bit better.

First off. Thank you to everyone on the AVS Forums for their assistance.

Although the HBO / Cinemax stutter (29/59 frame rate issue) is not resolved I appreciate the responses.

So based on the referenced threads I had already set the Intel HD3000 to Maximum Performance in Power Settings AND also disabled Media > Image Enhancements > all settings there disabled. Resolution is set to 1920x1080@59.

I am still experiencing stutter on HBO/Cinemax content that have the frame rate changing between 29/59.

I'm looking at changing the codecs that affect Live TV in 7MC. Any advice?

To recap I'm still having serious issues with stuttering playback of Live TV in Media Center under Windows 7 64-bit.

Other SNB users with similar or lower spec Intel systems (i3s with Intel HD2000s) do not exhibit this problem.

Configuration:
2011 Mac Mini Server i7 2.0GHz Quad core
Integrated Intel HD 3000 Graphics
16GB RAM (8GB x 2)
240GB OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPs (120GB OSX Lion 10.7.1 / 120GB Windows 7 x64)
750GB 7200RPM WD Scorpio Black (formatted in NTFS 64k blocks, Recorded TV)
HDHomeRun Prime 3CC CableCARD Tunner (Direct Connect to PC)

*All software and drivers are up to date from Bootcamp 4.0, Microsoft, and Manufacturer direct.

**IDE Mode, Write Caching: Disabled (Current Setting)

***Disabled all settings under Media > Image Enhancements (should fix 29/59 issue according to Windows 7 forums) and set to Max Performance

****Disabled Network Throttling and set to EEE(Energy Savings) Max Performance

I've also set Microsoft Security Essentials exceptions for .WTV and for the entire D: drive. The Microsoft Firewall is off for the direct Gigabit connection to the HDHomeRun Prime. Indexing is off on all drives.

Yesterday I moved the recording drive to C: (OCZ SSD) and the stutter was far less. Then I disabled Write Caching and it was essentially gone except the rare appearance of a dropped frame every so often. Definitely acceptable. So I moved the recording drive back to D: (WD HDD) and disabled Write Caching and it still worked.

This morning after returning from a cold boot the stutter issue is back in a bad way. Far worse than ever. I checked all the changes made yesterday and found Write Caching was enabled again

I disabled Write Caching and went through all other changes to re-apply. However, the stutter is still there and its magnified.

The only thing I can think of is I had optimize Media Center checked and it ran over night and changed something.

Any suggestions or next steps are appreciated. I'm at the end of my rope here.

Could these be the issue? I have never tried to emulate a Mac but wonder if this is the issue.

My bet is that it could be the whole problem.

So I tried with based Bootcamp drivers which are just very old OEM drivers bundled together that have been tested by Apple thoroughly for compatibility / stability at the expense of bleeding edge performance.

Then I moved to the Windows Update drivers it suggested. Basically proving how old the most current Bootcamp drivers are.

Lastly, I download the lastest drivers for each device from the manufacture website.

I tested along the way and still had the problem. This weekend I have a clean build of Windows (exact same configuration that's "burned-in") that I'll test without any Apple drivers, straight to the current OEM. There is also someone in the Macrumors forums that has instructions to install Windows 7 in native UEFI mode.

Tonight I'm going to try AHCI mode if you think its worth it? I'm guessing most here run in AHCI mode not IDE?

The Macintosh AHCI hack was a major failure. Fortunately, I was able to rewrite my MBR and recover.

However, I did real world disk testing under Windows 7 x64. Apparently, the Bootcamp drivers in IDE mode are choking on the 64k blocks on the recording drive. I reformatted as NTFS MBR 4k (default) blocks and enabled Write Caching.

The stutter has been dramatically reduced. Almost acceptable. My guess is AHCI is likely helping all the Intel HD 2000/3000 users and this is not noticed.

Next step I am going to up my RAM speed to 1600 MHz. People have reported good graphics performance gains from faster system memory since its shared.

Could some one tell me which boards microATX on Z68 chipset, supports audio over DVI output port ?

Thanks.

No stutter at all on any of my 3 HD2000 HTPCs with DDR3 1333 RAM.

That's on HBO 29/59 content?

I think in my case it's drive performance. I'll try a fast drive shortly aka external thunderbolt for photo editing.

Sorry. Haven't tried hbo.

i am wondering what format does i3-2100 cpu support? does it support 720p/120hz and 3d bluray frame-packed or not?

The DVI standard does not support audio. Wikipedia has a decent entry for DVI. If a DVI port somehow supported audio, it wouldn't match the standard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

However, the TMDS signaling in DVI was updated in the HDMI spec to support audio in the same signaling as the video data.

But maybe you're thinking of this capability, which is mentioned in the "HDMI audio support" section of the wikipedia article.

Wikipedia is not the answer.

There are some boards that absolutely do support audio over DVI. Renethx has used a few of them and can comment further.

I could do a search but don't want to.

Yes - but some GPUs definitely DO support DVI with Audio - specifically for conversion to HDMI (as the audio is carried on the same pins as the video in video blanking periods)

The DVI+Audio is normally enabled by the use of a specific DVI to HDMI dongle (not a generic model) with some upstream signalling back to the GPU to indicate that the DVI output is connected to an HDMI device, and avoid the situation where a non-standard DVI output is fed to a DVI monitor over a regular DVI connection.

I had such a model of GPU a few years ago.

(The supposed advantage over a GPU with HDMI connectors is that it can be used for multiple DVI monitors in an office situation, but used with a DVI->HDMI dongle in a domestic situation I guess)

It should clearly state in the board's manual whether the DVI port can function as an HDMI port. Anecdotally, I've found that ones with DisplayPort do not support audio over DVI and the ones w/o DisplayPort do (all of the Intel Media Series boards behave in this way).

ASRock Z68 Pro3-M has a DP and supports audio over DVI. So it's up to each mb manufacturer how audio is implemented.

I knew there was at least the ASRock that did this.

Which is why anyone who is curious about how a specific motherboard works should check the manual

In his defense he is searching for boards with this option. Its fine to look at the manual once you know but completely different when you have no idea what you are looking for.

In summary:

- ASRock: All H61/H67/Z68 mb support audio over DVI.
- Intel: Those without DP support audio over DVI (for Media Series).
- ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI: None supports audio over DVI.

Im hoping people agree that this is somewhat related to the thread :-)

Ive been thrilled with the performance of my OCZ Onyx 64GB SSD running on its Sata-2 connection with my DH67CF intel mobo. But as you can imagine, 64GB can get a bit small. So I was looking at what to swap it out for.

Started looking around at the latest crop of SSDs in the 120GB range, and found many people having serious BSOD issues with the current crop of SF2281 based SSDs. OCZ, Crucial, etc all having very similar issues.

Just wondering if anyone out there has had issues with any of the 1155 based boards? Im a bit surprised nobody in this thread has mentioned any.

Its shocking the drives are in such bad shape in terms of reliability.

Any data points people wish to share?

I haven't heard or read about such an issue, and I think quite a few people here use the Crucial M4 and several OCZ models. Personally, I'm using both a 64 and a 128gb version of the Plextor M2S SSDs which use the Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller - the same as in the Intel 510 series and, I believe, the Corsair Performance Series 3. I haven't had a single BSOD on either system. They've both worked flawlessly.

Well, this is curious. The Intel support website says the latest graphics driver is 8.15.10.2476 dated 8/16. But Microsoft Update just came up with Intel graphics driver number 8.15.10.2509 dated 8/31.