[tjakobsen]

According to this article , the i3 should be out at the end of this month.


I'm about to upgrade my HTPC to the new Ivy Bridge platform, but im unsure whether or not I should go for the i3 or i5, so some recommendations would be much appreciated.


It's a standard HTPC, should be able to display 1080p content, blu-ray, mkv, tv etc., with as low power as possible. Power efficiency is important.

At the moment I'm not considering 3D, but it might be nice to have, depending on the difference in power efficiency.

It is not to be used for gaming.


I've been looking at the i5-3475S which has the lowest TDP in the i5 family, 65W, HD4000. There's the i3-3225 with a TDP of 55W, HD4000, and then there's the i3-3220T with a TDP of only 35W, but with HD2500.


I'm thinking of pairing it with the motherboard Intel DH77DF. I just want the most stable board, and feature wise the DH77DF is sufficient.


What would you choose?

 

[assassin]

i3-3225

 

[tjakobsen]



Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22134666


i3-3225

Thanks for your relpy assassin (and your helpful guides, by the way). Can you elaborate why you would choose i3-3225 over the i3-3220T? What do I get with HD4000 over HD2500? The TDP difference of 20W seems quite a bit to me.

 

[KevBel]

Any of the new Ivy Bridge processors will do what you what it to do, heck a Sandy Bridge G620 would be sufficient.


Get the least expensive, lowest TDP i3.

 

[Zon2020]

Have you actually found a 3475S for sale anywhere? I haven't.


If Sandy Bridge is an indication there won't be much if any difference in power usage at idle or moderate use between the S, T or standard cpus. I'd take the HD4000 over the T processor.

 

[renethx]


Compare two Sandy Bridge processors (from this post ):

 

- Core i3-2100 3.1GHz 65W

- Core i3-2100T 2.5GHz 35W

 

	Core i3-2100	Core i3-2100 @2.5GHz	Core i3-2100T
Idle	39W	39W	38W
BD playback by PDVD11 (DXVA)	44W	44W	43W
DVD playback by PDVD11 (TrueTheater HD)	56W	55W	56W
x264 HD Benchmark 2nd Pass	72W	63W	64W
Prime95	74W	64W	65W
FurMark	55W	55W	54W
Prime95+FurMark	88W	77W	72W

 

There is little difference in power consumption at idle and video playback. Perhaps you will see similar results between i3-3225 3.3GHz 55W, i3-3220 3.3GHz 55W and i3-3220T 2.8GHz 35W.

 

An advantage of HD 4000 (16 execution units) over HD 2500 (8 execution units) is better playback of contents with very short frame interval (50/60i/p) under madVR, as well as better gaming performance.

 

[tjakobsen]

Thanks for your comments. And thanks alot for the comparison renethx. Quite interesting. Might aswell go with the i3-3225 then.

Hopefully some tests will be out soon so we can see if there's a difference.


What do you think of my choice as a motherboard? Is the Intel DH77DF stable and reliable?

 

[Razvan Popescu]

I have the 3225. but I can't measure much. I can only say I have it OC at 3400 with Vcore 0.835 . If there is a test you want , with software, maybe I can help

 

[renethx]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tjakobsen  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22136637


Thanks for your comments. And thanks alot for the comparison renethx. Quite interesting. Might aswell go with the i3-3225 then.

Hopefully some tests will be out soon so we can see if there's a difference.

What do you think of my choice as a motherboard? Is the Intel DH77DF stable and reliable?

There is no difference in PQ between Intel HD 2000 (SNB, 6 EUs) and Intel HD 3000 (SNB, 12 EUs) at video playback as long as you use the standard DXVA2+EVR (TMT, PowerDVD, WMP/WMC etc.). The reason is simple: DXVA2 video playback uses fixed functions of the GPU + a little bit of EUs for post processing (6 EUs is plenty enough). I haven't compared 2500 and 4000 closely, but I expect the same relation as 2000 and 3000.

 

On the other hand, madVR and gaming use EUs extensively, that's why there are big differences between 2000, 2500, 3000 and 4000 when you use madVR.

 

DH77DF should be a solid choice.

 

[StardogChampion]

Would the HD4000 do a better job deinterlacing 1080i live TV than the HD2000/HD2500?

 

[tjakobsen]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Razvan Popescu  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22137131


I have the 3225. but I can't measure much. I can only say I have it OC at 3400 with Vcore 0.835 . If there is a test you want , with software, maybe I can help

Where did you get the i3-3225 already?

Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22137283


There is no difference in PQ between Intel HD 2000 (SNB, 6 EUs) and Intel HD 3000 (SNB, 12 EUs) at video playback as long as you use the standard DXVA2+EVR (TMT, PowerDVD, WMP/WMC etc.). The reason is simple: DXVA2 video playback uses fixed functions of the GPU + a little bit of EUs for post processing (6 EUs is plenty enough). I haven't compared 2500 and 4000 closely, but I expect the same relation as 2000 and 3000.


On the other hand, madVR and gaming use EUs extensively, that's why there are big differences between 2000, 2500, 3000 and 4000 when you use madVR.


DH77DF should be a solid choice.

Interesting. What about 3D, does it have some special requirements that the HD2500 can't handle? I do not have a 3D TV, but I expect to upgrade it soon, so I might become interested in 3D. I'm not sure though.

 

[renethx]


Stereoscopic 3D (MVC decode + HDMI 1.4a 3D output) is one of the easiest formats. Every Intel iGPU except for Celeron/Pentium's (for which Intel disables HDMI 1.4a 3D output artificially) can do that with no problem.

 

[Stuie675]

The i3 ahs plenty of power for anything on a typical HTPC. I just upgraded to the i3 2100 and it plays everythign I have thrown at it with ease and remains pretty cool.

 

[flocko]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Razvan Popescu  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22137131


I have the 3225. but I can't measure much. I can only say I have it OC at 3400 with Vcore 0.835 . If there is a test you want , with software, maybe I can help

Exactly in what capacity are you using this cpu ?


BTW .......... Welcome to the forum

 

[Razvan Popescu]

its a promotional sample. I've got it for a month.


What do you mean by capacity?

 

[tjakobsen]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Razvan Popescu  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22137131


I have the 3225. but I can't measure much. I can only say I have it OC at 3400 with Vcore 0.835 . If there is a test you want , with software, maybe I can help

It would be interesting if you could check the power consumption during e.g. 1080p playback.

 

[augerpro]

If power efficiency is that important, the differences between processors IB/SB is minimal compared to the needs of the rest of the hardware. Mobos themselves can vary quite a bit on power use. Green drives are obviously a good choice. Minimal low speed fans. Ditch the optical drive. Consider a 80+ Gold power supply like Seasonic X series, and the picopsu appear to be rated in the mid 90% efficiency (not sure how accurate that is though).

 

[assassin]

I think a smaller appropriately sized PSU may be more important than a Gold rated PSU. Ideally your PSU is most efficient at 50% load which with Intel SNB/IVB and some Llano builds means that you need about a 100-200 watt PSU ideally (these don't exist except for PicoPSUs). That's why a 380-400 watt PSUs are always a better idea than a 700w Gold rated PSU, for example.

 

[tjakobsen]



Quote:
Originally Posted by augerpro  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22139506


If power efficiency is that important, the differences between processors IB/SB is minimal compared to the needs of the rest of the hardware. Mobos themselves can vary quite a bit on power use. Green drives are obviously a good choice. Minimal low speed fans. Ditch the optical drive. Consider a 80+ Gold power supply like Seasonic X series, and the picopsu appear to be rated in the mid 90% efficiency (not sure how accurate that is though).

Of course, everything depends - yet CPU is one of them. If the difference actually is 20W it is something that would make me choose that model over the other. If it's 5W, I might aswell go for the model with HD4000.

I'm in the process of finding a power efficient SSD. Haven't been able to find any reviews that mentions power consumption of the DH77DF board. Someone who would take a guess?

 

[assassin]



Quote:
Originally Posted by tjakobsen  /t/1415805/so-the-ivb-i3-or-i5#post_22139549


Of course, everything depends - yet CPU is one of them. If the difference actually is 20W it is something that would make me choose that model over the other. If it's 5W, I might aswell go for the model with HD4000.

I'm in the process of finding a power efficient SSD. Haven't been able to find any reviews that mentions power consumption of the DH77DF board. Someone who would take a guess?

All SSDs are power efficient. Just pick one.