AMD HTPC Setup

Originally Posted by thebradnet

So what would be the advantage of going with Intel over AMD? Why wont the AMD give me full HD audio or video? For that matter is it a noticeable difference in having the onboard audio or would I be better off with a sound card? Is that an issue with AMD or just because everything is integrated onto the board? As far as GPUs would the ATI Radeon 5450 give me the graphics I need?

Originally Posted by ditch-digger

one great little benefit with amd is cpu core unlocking. i run a dual core 3.2 black edition, and used my asus board to unlock to 4 cores...

get a 7.4 on windows experience from a sub $70 cpu

Originally Posted by mbbransc

Thx, what are the pros and cons of unlocking? Do you risk any damage, shorter life span, more heat?

I am not building for a few more months and really go back and forth between AMD and Intel. No gaming for me, just local media and streaming. I am most concerned about performance (speed, buffering, shuttering.

Thx

Originally Posted by ditch-digger

not sure about the 50/50 with the unlocking....

i have been (between my 2, and friends) 5 for 5..

asus boards are great for this, can be done with a click of a button....

Originally Posted by whiteboy714

it all depends what they are putting out at the time.
Sometimes they just disable cores on quads to make dual cores. But some of the chips are actually defective quads with disabled cores.
The best bet is if you need a quad buy one. Buying a dual hoping for a quad will suck if it doesn't work.

Originally Posted by hirent

Not really.
Before the silicon wafers are diced up into individual chips, they are passed through rigorous electrical & thermal testing; stressed beyond normal usage.
The chips that pass all tests completely are checked and marked for sale according to the specs.
I suspect what AMD does is lock down the cores in some quad-cores which fail the tests.
Deliberately locking down quad-cores would not be cost-effective since they would be wasting real-estate on the wafer and reducing their yield/wafer (at least that's my understanding).
However, if some chips fail partially (one or more cores not working), then they can still sell them as dual or triple cores and not lose money by completely discarding them.
Current Silicon wafer sizes stand at 12" (300 mm diameter) which can hold a few hundred chips. So if there is a problem in one of the processing steps, a number of the chips will fail in the same test.
Hence the specific batch number or lot number requirement for unlocking.

I agree that if you really want a quad-core, buy a quad-core.
But as tinkerers, where's the fun in that!

Originally Posted by whiteboy714

No what I said is true. It cuts down on the fab process. They make one chip, which can be made into a bunch of different chips.

Fully working 4 cores and L3 cache = Phenom quad
Disable 2 cores = Phenom Dual
Disable L3 Cache = Athlon Quad
Disable one core and L3 = Athlon x3
Disable 2 cores and L3 cache = Athlon Dual

This is commonly known that they do this. Google around.

Thats why on the athlon x3's you can sometimes enable a core and the L3 which makes it a full phenom. Meaning it was a p[henom to begin with.

But I am not saying they don't also make true dual athlons etc also.

Originally Posted by DraZtiK

Please provide a source. All the information I have read is similar to what hirent said.

Every so often, a story breaks that goes a little something like this: manufacturer x, known for its flagship product y, recently started offering a mid-range product z based on silicon that wouldn’t bin up to y. Rather than throw the entire die out, x disables one part and sells it off as z—something less expensive.

Much of the time—it’d be disingenuous of me to guess how often, exactly—this happens because part of the die is really defective. But sometimes a vendor simply needs to fill in a price gap in its lineup where a competitor is eating its lunch. ATI’s Radeon HD 4830. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 260. AMD’s Phenom II X3 700- and 800-series. These are all parts based on more expensive components.

The current K10.5 design is an evolution of the older AMD Phenom Design (K10) which had 1 piece of silicon being made producing 4 Cores on this one die, and then disabling or lazer cutting (which has been done by GPU's in the past) to make lower end chips because 1 or more of the cores did not function properly. Or their was more market demand for lesser variants of the same design.

Originally Posted by thebradnet

What is yalls take on the MSI E350IA-E45. How solid are these combos for HTPC?