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MINIMUM Athlon 64 X2 for 720,1080p playback ?

post #1 of 16
6/2/12 at 11:39am
Thread Starter 
Was given an lenovo 6417 12u that I want to use in the basement for a mini htpc for mkv playback strictly. What would be the minimum processor I could put in here for 720 and 1080 playback of mkv's? I know some may say it's older,but it was free and does work perfectly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883108133

This is it.Per their website I can upgrade it to a Amd althlon 64 x2...Just wondering what is the mimimum though I could use and expect decent mkv playback.For the cost of a processor seems like a worthy toy to play with to run xbmc on it.Will also be throwing in 4 gigs of ram.

So let me know hat the cheapest processor is I could use for this project.

Thanks brickie
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post #2 of 16
6/2/12 at 12:45pm
I believe that any x2 with a video that supports hardware acceleration would be suitable for 720p and 1080p.
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post #3 of 16
6/2/12 at 9:26pm
The video chip would be the limiting factor.
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post #4 of 16
6/2/12 at 11:07pm
Be careful with those Lenovo SFF boxes. If it has a PCIe x16 slot at all, they sometimes will only take certain types of video cards. I have one that will only accept an ATI Radeon 2400Pro video card, and nothing else.

As for the CPU, I couldn't tell you. Their BIOS is usually pretty locked down to accept only certain CPUs even if they should be compatible.
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post #5 of 16
6/3/12 at 12:09am
The cpu doesn't matter. Get any newer ATI or Nvidia card and you will play smooth 1080p with dxva acceleration. I have a 5 year old Athlon X2 and it plays full 1080p Blu-ray rips at 5-10% cpu.
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post #6 of 16
6/3/12 at 6:07am
http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Len...e/1292278.aspx

Man this is a small box. I don't think it has any slots. According to this link it takes so-ddr2(laptop ddr2) and only an 145w power supply. You might wanna try to find an X2-BE CPU like one of the Newegg reviewers wrote. Look for an X2 4400e CPU. The e is for energy efficient. That might work.
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post #7 of 16
6/3/12 at 12:17pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for responses...Yeah this machine has no upgrade paths at all.What you see is what you get.Was just hoping that maxing ram and faster cpu would make this a perfect candidate for a xbmc machine. Looking at even the minimal cost factor involved may just try to find another WD media player and throw custom firmware on it. Would proably be cheaper and work possibly better.

brickie
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post #8 of 16
6/3/12 at 4:25pm
Have you played with it yet? Try out a divx and mkv file and see what you get. You may only need to slap on a couple gigs of ram and xbmc in that bad boy.
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post #9 of 16
6/3/12 at 11:57pm
You can also get one of those tiny Foxconn barebones pcs for less than $150. Just add a HDD, RAM, OS and you're done. Most come with an AMD Brazos chip with integrated 6xxx gpu.
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post #10 of 16
6/4/12 at 2:02pm
My experience:

An x2 BE-2300 (1.9MHz) was a little sluggish for WMC7 menus, guide, etc. It was nice as it was a ~35W processor. It was always fine for video (785 chipset motherboard for video decoding). Just the navigation was a little sluggish and annoying (WAF!).

I upgraded to a faster x2 - I don't recall the exact model, and most of the sluggishness went away. An SSD was required to get good response for the guide.

My recommendation - go with a mid-range dual core. Not the slowest dual core. And use an SSD for your boot drive. 60GB will work fine. Use a mechanical harddrive for storing media.

YMMV
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post #11 of 16
6/4/12 at 4:26pm
Any X2 should be ok with a nice video card.
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post #12 of 16
6/5/12 at 4:41am
Thread Starter 
Yeah, the only problem might be is that the video card is a dedicated on board x1200 I believe. Will probably play around with it a little when I get a chance. Kinda took it apart when I got it so not quite in a state to do any testing.

brickie
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post #13 of 16
6/5/12 at 4:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puwaha View Post

Be careful with those Lenovo SFF boxes. If it has a PCIe x16 slot at all, they sometimes will only take certain types of video cards. I have one that will only accept an ATI Radeon 2400Pro video card, and nothing else.

As for the CPU, I couldn't tell you. Their BIOS is usually pretty locked down to accept only certain CPUs even if they should be compatible.

This is IME the gist of the problem. A good modern PCIE video card can work wonders, even a cheap one. But, a lot of small boxes have PCIE video card slots that may be very limited. Some will only take a card that is in essence a HDMI driver chip and connector, for example.

Check the user's manual or the Lenovo web site for more advice.
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post #14 of 16
6/5/12 at 5:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by brickie View Post

Yeah, the only problem might be is that the video card is a dedicated on board x1200 I believe. Will probably play around with it a little when I get a chance. Kinda took it apart when I got it so not quite in a state to do any testing.

brickie

You can still install a video card dude
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post #15 of 16
6/8/12 at 8:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mfusick View Post


You can still install a video card dude

ANy updates?
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post #16 of 16
6/8/12 at 10:32am
Thread Starter 
Haven't played around with anything at all...Although with no expansion slots not sure how I would install a video card in it..Actually really factoring in the cost, would probably be better off with something in the WD media player family. The 2 I have run custom Brad firmware and very much give an XBMC type experience. Not totally,but very close.

brickie
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