2015-08-05, 09:12
Hi,
I recently run into a debate regarding the best hardware for running Kodi. It must be a DIY build, so no NUCs, sticks, Chromeboxes, etc, just a plain regular mobo, ram, psu, case, etc like build.
First real debate is: Intel vs AMD? We are talking about APUs here, only low power consumption, silent, itx systems are ever to be considered for a normal need htpc, so do not list anything with a dedicated VGA.
I know that on front of Intel excellent work is in progress, and Intel also released great hardware like Braswell.
Don't really know anything about AMD, except that it was never a recommended build for any Linux based box. Things have changed for sure, but I don't really see any point of getting AMD while this great work is done on Intel SoC. Correct me if I'm wrong, but AMD might have more powerful GPU in their APU then Intel has, but lacks a lot of support from linux developers, and Intel's GPU is doing the job perfectly.
I keep recommending Intel as the best (and only reasonable) choice for htpc (knowing that Braswell development is still WIP, but perhaps it will hit stable after Kodi 16).
I think both platforms can handle the usual 720p-1080p playback with no problem at all. The question is, when it comes to deinterlacing of 1080i50&60 material, how does the better job in terms of quality?
And then comes scaling: Intel now does Lanczos3 Optimized which is excellent, not sure about AMD and its quality.
4k30&60 h264 playback: Braswell does 4K30 and if I'm correct, 4K60 too. Don't know anything about AMD.
h265 HEVC: Braswell is capable of h265@LeVeL 5, but we are still waiting for ffmpeg to implement this, the hware is there. Not sure about AMD again. New AMD APUs are capable of h265 HEVC if I'm not mistaken, but only under Win (maybe because Linux is missing WDDM 2.0 that is required for AMD to do this on Win)?
In terms of sound, Intel Braswell support DTS-HD and TrueHD passtrough, so excellent. Don't know about AMD.
I hope we can clear this up a little, thanks!
I recently run into a debate regarding the best hardware for running Kodi. It must be a DIY build, so no NUCs, sticks, Chromeboxes, etc, just a plain regular mobo, ram, psu, case, etc like build.
First real debate is: Intel vs AMD? We are talking about APUs here, only low power consumption, silent, itx systems are ever to be considered for a normal need htpc, so do not list anything with a dedicated VGA.
I know that on front of Intel excellent work is in progress, and Intel also released great hardware like Braswell.
Don't really know anything about AMD, except that it was never a recommended build for any Linux based box. Things have changed for sure, but I don't really see any point of getting AMD while this great work is done on Intel SoC. Correct me if I'm wrong, but AMD might have more powerful GPU in their APU then Intel has, but lacks a lot of support from linux developers, and Intel's GPU is doing the job perfectly.
I keep recommending Intel as the best (and only reasonable) choice for htpc (knowing that Braswell development is still WIP, but perhaps it will hit stable after Kodi 16).
I think both platforms can handle the usual 720p-1080p playback with no problem at all. The question is, when it comes to deinterlacing of 1080i50&60 material, how does the better job in terms of quality?
And then comes scaling: Intel now does Lanczos3 Optimized which is excellent, not sure about AMD and its quality.
4k30&60 h264 playback: Braswell does 4K30 and if I'm correct, 4K60 too. Don't know anything about AMD.
h265 HEVC: Braswell is capable of h265@LeVeL 5, but we are still waiting for ffmpeg to implement this, the hware is there. Not sure about AMD again. New AMD APUs are capable of h265 HEVC if I'm not mistaken, but only under Win (maybe because Linux is missing WDDM 2.0 that is required for AMD to do this on Win)?
In terms of sound, Intel Braswell support DTS-HD and TrueHD passtrough, so excellent. Don't know about AMD.
I hope we can clear this up a little, thanks!