2017-08-14, 21:56
I am looking to build a new HTPC that can handle playing H.265 1080p Video. It will be a small form factor case and I'm looking for recommended CPU and video card. I can manage the rest.
Thank you.
Thank you.
2017-08-14, 23:04
An Intel NUC7i5 will do nicely but likely a NUC7i3 is already good enough.
it's small, fast, not very cheap but has hevc acceleration built-in.
it's small, fast, not very cheap but has hevc acceleration built-in.
2017-08-15, 01:04
(2017-08-14, 21:56)billybobjimbojr Wrote: I am looking to build a new HTPC that can handle playing H.265 1080p Video. It will be a small form factor case and I'm looking for recommended CPU and video card. I can manage the rest.
Thank you.
Any S905 or S905X AMLogic box will do 1080p HEVC without blinking (nice examples is the Wetek Hub). They have hardware acceleration for 8-bit and 10-bit HEVC up to 2160/60p resolution. This is probably the cheapest route - and very neat. (ODroid C2 will do it too - which is is basically a Raspberry Pi form factor ARM board with an S905 on it)
if you want an x86 PC - and don't want to have to worry about CPU decode - then an Apollo Lake Celeron box will do 8-bit and 10-bit HEVC (or you could go for Kaby Lake i3 - but that's over kill). Cherry Trail will do 8-bit only (as will Sky Lake i3 or above). Cherry Trail isn't incredibly fast and a bit long in the tooth - but Apollo Lake seems pretty good. If you need CPU grunt for other tasks - then a Kaby Lake i3 would be a good fit I guess, though beware the issues with HDMI 2.0 outputs (some HD audio issues on some platforms) - though HDMI 1.4b outputs should be fine.
There's no need for a separate video card for 1080p HEVC.
2017-08-15, 11:51
And then what about high bitrate 10bit 1080p HEVC on the Chromebox - how does that go Software only decoding ?
2017-08-15, 13:14
(2017-08-15, 11:44)ArieS Wrote: Or a ChromeBOX.
Chromeboxes (which are usually Haswell based) are less ideal for 1080p HEVC - as they fall back to software decoding.
You may be fine (will depend if you have a Celeron or Core-i Chromebox, and how the original 1080p HEVC encode is handled and at what bitrate it is encoded) - but personally I'd rather have the guarantee of hardware acceleration (which will also mean quieter performance as the CPU fan is less likely to go into overdrive)
2017-08-15, 16:23
If I'm looking to build a PC for the future, what i7 cpu would you recommend?
2017-08-15, 19:28
By the time the future arrives it will be faster and cheaper. 
These days for example a $40 ARM Chipset based AMLogic S905X running LibreELEC Kodi Krypton will pretty much handle anything you throw at it without breaking a much of a sweat.
Meanwhile Intel with their latest Apollo Lake and Kaby Lake microarchitecture are still struggling with getting HDMI 2.0 sorted out, unless you run Windows only and even then there are some problems for the Audio and Video purists. And there is still no built in HDMI-CEC.
Times have definitely changed since HTPC's ruled the roost !
These days for example a $40 ARM Chipset based AMLogic S905X running LibreELEC Kodi Krypton will pretty much handle anything you throw at it without breaking a much of a sweat.
Meanwhile Intel with their latest Apollo Lake and Kaby Lake microarchitecture are still struggling with getting HDMI 2.0 sorted out, unless you run Windows only and even then there are some problems for the Audio and Video purists. And there is still no built in HDMI-CEC.
Times have definitely changed since HTPC's ruled the roost !
2017-08-15, 20:29
(2017-08-15, 11:51)wrxtasy Wrote: And then what about high bitrate 10bit 1080p HEVC on the Chromebox - how does that go Software only decoding ?
the Celeron models can handle low/medium bitrate 1080p HEVC, but the Core i3/i7 models can handle higher bitrate 1080p HEVC due to hyperthreading (which the Celeron lacks). I have an i7-4600U Chromebox here and have yet to find a 1080p HEVC video it's unable to play perfectly.
2017-08-15, 22:50
2017-08-18, 20:36
I ended up getting a deal on a small form factor dell that had decent specs.
Dell 9020
i7-4790 3.6 GHz
16GB Ram
500GB HDD
Windows 10 Pro
I already have a MSI GeForce 210 1GB for the video.
What are your thoughts?
Dell 9020
i7-4790 3.6 GHz
16GB Ram
500GB HDD
Windows 10 Pro
I already have a MSI GeForce 210 1GB for the video.
What are your thoughts?
2017-08-19, 00:10
I think you have a pretty expensive slide show machine, as both the Haswell i7
as well as the Geforce 210 are not capable of any hevc 10bit GPU video acceleration.
as well as the Geforce 210 are not capable of any hevc 10bit GPU video acceleration.
2017-08-19, 00:37
You seem to be spending more money than an s905[x] box or odroid c2 would cost.
2017-08-19, 00:45
4K h.265 would probably be problematic but I tried a few 10bit h.265 1080p movies on my old i5-2500k machine and they played perfectly. The CPU usage goes somewhere between 12-20%. With HW decoding (I'm using a GTX-1050), the CPU usage goes down to 1-2%.
You can get a cheap low-profile gt-1030 later if you feel like GPU decoding is needed for your usage. I actually think your i7-4790 will be able to handle most of the 4K-10bit-h.265 content with SW decoding (very heavy CPU usage obviously) since your CPU has much more raw power than my 2500K.
You can get a cheap low-profile gt-1030 later if you feel like GPU decoding is needed for your usage. I actually think your i7-4790 will be able to handle most of the 4K-10bit-h.265 content with SW decoding (very heavy CPU usage obviously) since your CPU has much more raw power than my 2500K.
