Cheapest processor that can play and stream 1080p/DTS movies/shows

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

the question is in the topic. i am curious to find out what the cheapest processor out there is that can play 1080p/DTS movies and shows without a discrete GPU.

erocker · Mar 22, 2011

GPU in the processor or chipset?

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

i guess that does not matter. which ever is cheapest but can still play 1080p/dts blah blah blah

p_o_s_pc · Mar 22, 2011

any of the Intel core i3 or i5s that have the built in GPU should be fine. IIRC anything HD4200 and up should also work.

DanishDevil · Mar 22, 2011

So cheapest processor, or cheapest system? The new AMD Zacate I've heard does beautifully, and it's dirt cheap with some pretty nice features for a budget system starter.

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

p_o_s_pc said:
any of the Intel core i3 or i5s that have the built in GPU should be fine. IIRC anything HD4200 and up should also work.

that's what i was thinking. wasnt sure if there was a lower cost solution though.

erocker · Mar 22, 2011

ASRock E350M1 AMD Zacate E350 (1.6GHz, Dual-Core)...

Everything in one package for $110 bucks isn't bad. Surely you would spend more for an i3 and motherboard or an AMD CPU with an integrated chipset.

DanishDevil · Mar 22, 2011

Thanks, Zacate, not Zambezi

Too many Z's AMD!

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

DanishDevil said:
So cheapest processor, or cheapest system? The new AMD Zacate I've heard does beautifully, and it's dirt cheap with some pretty nice features for a budget system starter.

erocker said:
ASRock E350M1 AMD Zacate E350 (1.6GHz, Dual-Core)...

Everything in one package for $110 bucks isn't bad. Surely you would spend more for an i3 and motherboard or an AMD CPU with an integrated chipset.

says it has a 6310 chip onboard. are you sure that can handle 1080p video?

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
the question is in the topic. i am curious to find out what the cheapest processor out there is that can play 1080p/DTS movies and shows without a discrete GPU.

any dual core can. i used to do it with a 3800x2 on 939. even my mums atom netbook can handle 720p playback with an 8MB intel IGP.

If you dont use a 3D renderer for playback (meaning, in MPC-HC choose overlay renderer) then its 100% CPU driven. even 8MB onboard can handle 1080p like that.
If you want it hardware decoded, make sure it has 256MB+ of ram (system/shared is fine)

erocker · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
says it has a 6310 chip onboard. are you sure that can handle 1080p video?

Definitely.

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

erocker said:
Definitely.

alright cause ive seen chips that claim they can playback and stream 1080p video and not do it at 30FPS. i am talking 13-15 gig files here.

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
alright cause ive seen chips that claim they can playback and stream 1080p video and not do it at 30FPS. i am talking 13-15 gig files here.

because 95% of the time its CPU powered, and the GPU is unimportant.

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

that is confusing. chipsets like the ion2 are highly marketable because of the instruction sets that allow them to render high def video without having the cpu much work.

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
that is confusing. chipsets like the ion2 are highly marketable because of the instruction sets that allow them to render high def video without having the cpu much work.

yes, but most of the time its not used!

you actually need very specific software setups to get hardware acceleration to play. It is NOT on by default in just about every player out there. i have a thread in my sig about it.

If you use CCCP and set FFDSHOW to the multithreaded version when installing it, or use coreAVC with the quality features turned down, just about any dual core can run 1080p trouble free. If you have even a basic onboard IGP with H264 decoding, then use FFDSHOWS DXVA codec (or CoreAVC's on modern nvidia) for good hardware acceleration. I think intel can pull it off as well, but i found their low amounts of video ram tended to make things not play smoothly so i stuck with software on those.

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

Mussels said:
yes, but most of the time its not used!

you actually need very specific software setups to get hardware acceleration to play. It is NOT on by default in just about every player out there. i have a thread in my sig about it.

If you use CCCP and set FFDSHOW to the multithreaded version when installing it, or use coreAVC with the quality features turned down, just about any dual core can run 1080p trouble free. If you have even a basic onboard IGP with H264 decoding, then use FFDSHOWS DXVA codec (or CoreAVC's on modern nvidia) for good hardware acceleration. I think intel can pull it off as well, but i found their low amounts of video ram tended to make things not play smoothly so i stuck with software on those.

interesting. well that was not the case for the zotac setup with the ion2 i have running xbmc with ubuntu. 1080p video would only play at 30fps when i had DXVA set. of course that was about a year ago. i have the same proc atom 330 in another system with no onboard gpu and it failed miserably in windows when attempting to play 1080p video.

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
interesting. well that was not the case for the zotac setup with the ion2 i have running xbmc with ubuntu. 1080p video would only play at 30fps when i had DXVA set. of course that was about a year ago. i have the same proc atom 330 in another system with no onboard gpu and it failed miserably in windows when attempting to play 1080p video.

ubuntu would have been the cause. windows codecs have progressed muchly in the last few years, i doubt they would have on ubuntu - especially due to the slower/poor GPU driver support.

oh and as for the FPS, thats likely dependant on the actual video files. if its only 24FPS, you're only gunna get 24FPS

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

Mussels said:
ubuntu would have been the cause. windows codecs have progressed muchly in the last few years, i doubt they would have on ubuntu - especially due to the slower/poor GPU driver support.

no, it was the other way around. windows with no ion2 chip will not play 1080p video. linux with no ion2 chip will not play 1080p video. both with ion2 chip will play 1080p video. the OS makes no difference is what i am saying so long as the gpu drivers and the codecs are available for both. this is off topic anyway.

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

Easy Rhino said:
no, it was the other way around. windows with no ion2 chip will not play 1080p video. linux with no ion2 chip will not play 1080p video. both with ion2 chip will play 1080p video. the OS makes no difference is what i am saying so long as the gpu drivers and the codecs are available for both. this is off topic anyway.

well in that case, you didnt have updated codecs. probably on the default ones that came with windows? my point was that the OS change means you need codecs for that OS... if they arent available (or you dont have them), then of course it wont work as it should.

kinda off topic i guess... but all relevant to 1080p playback requirements.

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

Mussels said:
well in that case, you didnt have updated codecs. probably on the default ones that came with windows? my point was that the OS change means you need codecs for that OS... if they arent available (or you dont have them), then of course it wont work as it should.

kinda off topic i guess... but all relevant to 1080p playback requirements.

cool, well i will take that into consideration!

Mussels · Mar 22, 2011

i got a little bored, heres some images for you Eeasy.

i clocked my CPU down to 800Mhz, enabled DXVA and ran a 14GB blu ray movie rip (tron legacy, if you care)

16% CPU usage is one core maxed out, on my x6, and its only using 14%... and the frames dropped where from when i did some seeking into the movie.

i'll try again without DXVA now.

i cocked up this image so that it doesnt show the CPU clocks, but its still 800Mhz. i can retake them if you really care.

averaged around 45% CPU usage, so lets say it takes a triple core at 800Mhz to do the same as a single 1GHz core, with DXVA. that actually works pretty well to say '1/3 the CPU requirements.

and now its about 20% at 1600Mhz

so if we're using phenom II performance as the baseline...

An 800Mhz single core can pull it off with DXVA.
800Mhz triple core without DXVA (poor seek times/odd stutter)
1600Mhz dual core is fine without DXVA

since just about any modern processor can match the power of a 1600Mhz phenom II due to their higher starting clock speeds, i'd say that any modern dual core can handle 1080p playback of these excessively large HD files.

DrunkenMafia · Mar 22, 2011

Great reply Mussels.

I put one of those amd le cpus, pretty sure it was a LE-1100 which is 1900mhz single core into an old 780g motherboard a while back and it played 8gb HD videos fine. There was no difference I could see between the LE and my PII. Obviously getting media player to start etc was a lot slower.

You can easily get a 2nd Hand AM2 board, CPU and ram for around $80 these days. That would easily be enough.

Funtoss · Mar 22, 2011

dual cores are all nice and can handle 1080p smoothly

Easy Rhino · Mar 22, 2011

DXVA is an API that tells the OS to offload video decoding to the GPU. if you don't have an onboard gpu, a descrete gpu or even an integrated gpu then DXVA is useless. That is why I asked which is the cheapest CPU that can playback 1080p video smoothly without a gpu. I think erocker has it right. Either that or an i3 with the gpu integration.

erocker · Mar 22, 2011

Well, I know I'm picking up that AsRock combo next week. Just need to find a nice little case for it.

System Name	Desktop
Processor	i5 13600KF
Motherboard	AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling	Noctua NH-U9S
Memory	4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage	WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s)	Gigabye M32U
Case	Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse	MX Master 3s
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software	The Matrix

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard	ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling	EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory	32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus RTX 4090
Storage	WD m.2
Display(s)	LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case	Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s)	Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse	Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard	Tester84
Software	Windows 11

System Name	Desktop
Processor	i5 13600KF
Motherboard	AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling	Noctua NH-U9S
Memory	4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage	WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s)	Gigabye M32U
Case	Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse	MX Master 3s
Keyboard	Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software	The Matrix

System Name	el'lappy\|Cruncher \| Cruncher 2
Processor	intel C2D T6400 \| i7 3770k @4.2ghz \| AII X2 220 @3.4ghz
Motherboard	some Acer \| Asus P8Z77-V Pro \|Gigabyter GA-M61p-S3
Cooling	dual 80mm cooling fan \| WC'ing ) \|cheapo
Memory	2x2gb ddr3 \| 2x2gb Ripjaws 1600 \|4x512mb D9s
Video Card(s)	onboard \| 60 1GB(hd7770 ) \|8800GTS
Storage	Momuntus xt 320gb \|Kingston Hyper X 120gb SATA III\|500gb WD
Display(s)	17in \| 42" 1080P HD 3D TV
Case	lappy case \| CM HAF XB \|none yet
Audio Device(s)	onboard \| onboard \| onboard
Power Supply	Dell brick w/ acer end end \| Antec EW 650w \|Antec SP 350w(upg.soon)
Software	Windows 7 Ult. 64bit---->------->

System Name	Big Devil
Processor	Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard	ECS P67H2-A2
Cooling	XSPC Rasa \| Black Ice GT Stealth 240 \| XSPC X2O 750 \| 2x ACF12PWM \| PrimoChill White 7/16"
Memory	2x4GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic White 1600MHz CL9
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 780 ACX SC
Storage	Intel 520 Series 180GB + WD 1TB Blue
Display(s)	HP ZR30W 30" 2650x1600 IPS
Case	Corsair 600T SE
Audio Device(s)	Xonar Essence STX \| Sennheisser PC350 "Hero" Modded \| Corsair SP2500
Power Supply	ABS SL 1050W (Enermax Revolution Rebadge)
Software	Windows 8.1 x64 Pro w/ Media Center
Benchmark Scores	Ducky Year of the Snake w/ Cherry MX Browns & Year of the Tiger PBT Keycaps \| Razer Deathadder Black

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
Cooling	Alphacool Apex UV - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora + EK Quantum ARGB 3090 w/ active backplate
Memory	2x32GB DDR4 3600 Corsair Vengeance RGB @3866 C18-22-22-22-42 TRFC704 (1.4V Hynix MJR - SoC 1.15V)
Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
Storage	2TB WD SN850 NVME + 1TB Sasmsung 970 Pro NVME + 1TB Intel 6000P NVME USB 3.2
Display(s)	Phillips 32 32M1N5800A (4k144), LG 32" (4K60) \| Gigabyte G32QC (2k165) \| Phillips 328m6fjrmb (2K144)
Case	Fractal Design R6
Audio Device(s)	Logitech G560 \| Corsair Void pro RGB \|Blue Yeti mic
Power Supply	Fractal Ion+ 2 860W (Platinum) (This thing is God-tier. Silent and TINY)
Mouse	Logitech G Pro wireless + Steelseries Prisma XL
Keyboard	Razer Huntsman TE ( Sexy white keycaps)
VR HMD	Oculus Rift S + Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 pro x64 (Yes, it's genuinely a good OS) OpenRGB - ditch the branded bloatware!
Benchmark Scores	Nyooom.

System Name	GaMEr / HTPC
Processor	FX8320 4.5ghz so far NB- 2815mhz / X2 255 @ 3.2ghz (Temp till BD)
Motherboard	990FX-UD5 / GA-MA785GPMT-US2H
Cooling	XSPC - 240rad 480rad 5 x 120mm out, 6 x 80mm in / H220-edge 1/2" & 2 x 120mm Magma
Memory	4gb PI 6,8,6,18 1T 1706mhz / 4gb Crucial D9's 1400 @ 6,6,6,18,1T
Video Card(s)	3gb HD7950 / Onboard
Storage	2 x 120gb Sandisk ultra plus 2tb WD / 60gb vertex 2 + 2 x 2tb WD Greens
Display(s)	3x24in Dell Ultra (portrait) / NEC 32" FullHD LCD
Case	LL PC71A Full tower / Antec fusion black with Imon remote Modded for WC
Audio Device(s)	OB / Auzentech cinema 7.1
Power Supply	TT 700w TR2 / TT 600w Litepower modded with Noctua S12 fan.
Software	7 Ult / 7 premium x64

System Name	My Heater
Processor	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2ghz
Motherboard	Asus P5B-E Plus
Cooling	Zalman CNPS 9700 NT
Memory	Patriot 4GB 800MHz DDR2
Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 460 1GB
Storage	2x Western Digital 640GB (1.28TB)
Display(s)	Viewsonic VX2349wm 24"
Case	Raidmax Hurricane
Audio Device(s)	C-Media 8738
Power Supply	Aywun Megapower 650w 80+
Software	Windows 7 64 Bit

Cheapest processor that can play and stream 1080p/DTS movies/shows

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