Cheapest Haswell good enough for media center

printerandgamer

Honorable
Oct 26, 2013
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10,510
So after just building a computer with a Haswell I am super impressed with the very low power consumption at idle since the i5 was running about 37 watts before the graphics card got plugged in. I already have a media center computer built, but its running a power hungry Athlon X4. Since its purpose is media center it is an always on device for me since its can be running DVR in the background and the cost savings of a Haswell starts to work out in the long term if a cheap one is good enough.

So for something that needs to DVR two programs at once, comfortably play 1080p video from a compressed format, what would work? Is the Intel Pentium G3220 really going to be strong enough for that purpose? The DVR is working from a Silicon dust HD home, so it doesn't need to do video processing. So much info out there is really about the high end, so just looking for some info if this is good enough. If I need an i3 or i5, that would be a more difficult decision since the payoff in engery saving would be way off.
 

CTurbo

Pizza Monster
Moderator
I'm not sure how much improved Haswell's "HD graphics" is, but Ivy Bridges "HD graphics" didn't cut it, and Sandy Bridges HD 2000 graphics has trouble with 1080p playback as well.

I personally wouldn't trust anything less than HD 4000 for a HTPC/media center duties.
 

printerandgamer

Honorable
Oct 26, 2013
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10,510


ok, the on board video was pretty weak on my i5, but it seemed capable of playing video. I have a bluray drive hooked up too, but I assumed if the noncompressed format is easier, but if the graphics is the weakest link that might not be the case. Good call on the graphics I was not thinking about that.

Is the idle consumption of the "T" really any better than the standard that is cheaper. Just wondering how that works exactly since the Haswell's automatically clock way down when not in use.
 

printerandgamer

Honorable
Oct 26, 2013
16
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10,510


Yeah I have a i5-4670K, obviously thats overkill for a media center. I only ran in for a week with the on board graphics before I got my graphics card in. It was awful in the one game I tried just to try, but seemed capable otherwise.

I'm just thinking the way that the chipset behaves is there really any difference in the idle consumption for in CPU with similar features. The one I have automatically turns itself down to 800 MHz when not under load, so does the "T" vs standard actually run to a different idle point. Intel doesn't document idle power consumption other than advertise its low for everything.