HD-Video Benchmarks: Only 21.90% CPU Load On A 3800+
Switching to an Athlon X2 BE-2350 or better greatly lowers CPU load, since these processors sport two cores and Cyberlink's PowerDVD 7.3 supports multiple CPU cores. Any current dual-core CPU - including the upcoming dual-core Semprons expected for Socket AM2 - should be able to provide smooth playback for HD-DVDs or Blu-ray discs.
Intel's G33 graphics-capable chipset does not offer decoding support for the HDCP copy protection algorithm used by Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies. Even the newer G35 chipset lacks support for decoding HD video. Currently, Asus is the only company selling motherboards based on the G35 chipset.
An early sample of the Gigabyte board, with a part tag.