Discrete HTPC GPU Shootout
by Ganesh T S on June 12, 2011 10:30 PM EST
The lack of a standardized HTPC GPU evaluation methodology always puts us in a quandary when covering the low end / integrated GPUs. Towards this, I had a long discussion with Andrew Van Til, Mathias Rauen and Hendrik Leppkes, all popular open source multimedia software developers. The methodology we developed is presented below.
The first step is to ensure that all the post processing steps work as expected. HQV benchmarking gives us an idea. Once the cards' post processed videos pass visual inspection, we need to gather an idea of how much time is left for the GPU to do further post processing activities. These may include specialized scaling algorithms, bit-depth etc. as implemented by custom MPC-HC shaders / renderers like madVR.
Deinterlacing and cadence detection are aspects which affect almost all HTPC users. Other aspects such as denoising, edge sharpening, dynamic contrast enhancement etc. are not needed in the mainstream HTPC user's usage scenario. Most mainstream videos being watched are either from a Blu-ray source or re-encoded offline or TV shows which need deinterlacing (if they are in 480i / 1080i format).
| Denoising OFF | Denoising ON |
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The intent of the benchmark is to first disable all post processing and check how fast the decoder can pump out decoded frames. In the typical scenario, we expect post processing to take more time than the decoding. Identifying the stage which decides the throughput of the decoded frames can give us an idea of whether we can put in more post processing steps. This is similar to a pipeline whose operating frequency is decided by the slowest stage. We then enable post processing steps one by one and see how the throughput is affected.
DXVAChecker enables us to measure the performance of the DXVA decoders. We use a standard set of 1080p / 1080i H264 / MPEG-2 and VC-1 clips. We also have 1080p DIVX / XVID and MS-MPEG4 clips. Cyberlink PowerDVD 11, Arcsoft Total Media Theater 5 and MPC-HC video decoders were registered under DirectShow. DXVA Checker was used to identify which codecs could take advantage of DXVA2 and capable of rendering under EVR for the sample clips. An interesting aspect to note was that none of the codecs could process 1080i VC-1 or the MPEG-4 clips with DXVA2.
Note that the results in the next section list all the cards being tested. However, the 6450s and GT 520 shouldn't really be considered with seriousness because of the issues pointed out in the previous sections.
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casteve - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
I hope to see a review of the HD 6670, now that (at least) Sapphire has released a passive version.Drae - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
... it'd be nice to see more use of Linux please. I realise there are a lack of "testing" and "evaluation" tools under Linux but that shouldn't prevent the testing of basic media needs. What's this about no bit streaming support under Linux? Boxee would disagree - as would:http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?27348-Tr...
along with XBMC's audioengine (involving work by the guy in the above link). Maybe Windows 8 will sort out the mess that is WMC and all the messing (or bypassing with MPC-HC) that is required to get it working solidly. But right now if you want something that approaches a plug and play media experience XBMC (and its off-spring Openelec) under Linux is a lot closer than Windows. Equally the more coverage such solutions get the more likely greater time will be spent fixing the remaining issues under the Linux OS - hello there Intel and AMD.
Finally there is a great move now - go look at AVS' fora for examples - away from large media center pc's to small, quiet (silent) systems. These don't require 300W or 500W power supplies and huge cases with twelve fans and fifty million led's. They are ITX based systems sitting in small ITX sized boxes running 65/80/90/120W PicoPSU's with much greater efficiency and thus lower power use/running costs/silence. Placing these discrete cards in such systems would be a nice test of these picopsu units - given the apparently low power draw shown in the articles (something I'm very interested in seeing right now given the poor support of Linux by Intel on Sandybridge - the GT430 would be a good interim solution for me).
TLDR: Please don't limit yourselves to Windows testing and ATX/mATX sized systems when writing HTPC articles
ganeshts - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Drae, Thanks for the info and the link.The issue with Linux HTPCs is the fact that there is a semblance of support from only NVIDIA.
Don't get me wrong! I am a huge Linux fan, and always prefer free / open-source software. But, from a video perspective, is there a multi-GPU platform similar to DXVA ? Every vendor has their own flavour (NVIDIA - VDPAU / Intel - VA-API / AMD - XvBA). From the audio side, it looks like the link you mention is the only avenue available for bitstreaming, and that too for NVIDIA GPUs only. I will keep close tabs on what is happening in this area, and when the time is right, I will definitely post a piece on Linux HTPCs, considering one card from each of the vendors.
cjs150 - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
As always it depends on what you want from an HTPC. For me I want to play Blu rays, stream HD movies from file server, watch and record TV and do some web browsing but in total silence (or as close to as possible).For me ITX systems are the way to go using a 150W PICO-pSU but critical is that they have to work with appropriate IR remote (Logitech DiNovo looks interesting)
I am happy to use Linux or Windows but it just has to work
alfredska - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
This kind of quality review is what made AnandTech a name to remember early on. I'm glad to see such thoroughness and well thought out presentation of information. Looking forward to more reviews by Ganesh.UrQuan3 - Wednesday, June 15, 2011 - link
Agreed, this is an excelent article. I tried cross referencing to the "Zotec Zbox" article from the 9th (I own an E-350) and the earlier benchmarking was useless. I already know the E-350 won't do full processing, but I wanted to know where it sits compared to these platforms that pull 3-10 times the power.Think a 'software mode' might have been useful? An i5 could have done a fair amount of this processing without a hardware assist, saving the 70watts the cards were pulling and avoiding some of the integrated's compatability issues.
Shadowmaster625 - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
I dont get the video card focus in the realm of HTPC. It seems that software is a far more important piece of the picture than a video card. Windows media center and XBMC both work like crap, and/or are unacceptably slow and clunky when it comes to browsing media. I do NOT tolerate that kind of lag, especially on a 3 ghz quadcore with an ssd/hdd drive setup. I dont expect miracles when trying to browse through a gigabyte of media, but still it should be faster. And then there's audio sync problems that like to appear out of nowhere. But you'd never know any of these problems exist from reading these articles. Shrug.I have found that VLC media player and windows explorer are the most reliable combination. But using windows explorer on an htpc is ugly and painful.
JasonInofuentes - Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - link
I think part of the problem is the degree to which there's news. A thorough review of Media Center might be warranted, the next time it changes, but was pretty thoroughly covered here (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2864/) and here (http://www.anandtech.com/show/2760). XBMC has a more frequent update cycle than Windows, and there's obviously interest so this might be an idea to explore further.As far as the difficulties with each of these platforms, a Z68 platform and SRT might be the solution here. So the size of the files is not really the problem, it's that when you browse to a folder the user wants to be able to scroll around the list or grid and have all of the information pertinent to those files readily available. You don't want to scroll over to a file in your West Wing Season 5 folder and wait for the Title to load so you know whether it's the episode you were looking for, you want that information to be up the instant you scroll to it, or even better for it to be glanceable before you even start scrolling. In order to achieve this the OS's load all of the information for all of the files in the folder. So if you have a few dozen files in a folder that's the metadata for each files, the thumbnail preview and then the usual file system queries the OS would do anytime it accesses the drive. That can add up to a lot of small reads, and that leads to that big stall as you scoot around your media.
Now, the throw money at it solution is move to ALL SSD storage. But I've got 4TB of media and don't have that kind of money to throw at the problem. SRT should help though. If I recall, the metadata and thumbnail files are stored locally in the folder with the files, but since SRT caches the frequently accessed files, then for a system used exclusively for media the only thing that should populate the SSD cache is going to be these small reads that otherwise slow down your system.
I am suddenly overwhelmed with an urge to get my hands on a Z68 to try this out! And you are quite right that VLC and Windows Explorer are the most reliable programs for browsing and playing back media, but the price you pay for pretty is often performance.
vailr - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
As an exercise in "possibility thinking", I'd be interested in a sub-category of a complete "solar powered" desktop-format PC review. Designed (theoretically) for someone living in a remote area, off the electrical grid, yet still having internet via satellite, cell phone signal, or otherwise connected. Designed for ultra low power consumption, mostly dependent on solar and/or wind power produced on site. Yet maximal possible performance (under such power restrictions) for either: generic gaming desktop PC, and also for a HTPC. Using SSD's and/or laptop HD's for storage, and with an energy sipping CPU (dual-core Atom vs. Intel i330, for example), combined with either: on-CPU chip video or a "PCIe bus only" powered video card, and yet somewhat viable as a gaming PC or as a HTPC.Maybe even qualify for an article in Home Power magazine? http://homepower.com
Penti - Monday, June 13, 2011 - link
Why? Running a 100 W PC of batteries is pretty pointless.Just install FTTH and a powerline if you like to game or do other intensive tasks needing GPU-power, fast cpus or ridiculous amounts of memory (workstation type stuff). It would be the most efficient solution any way. You don't even need any power for any modems. You certainly can run a PC of battery power off grid, but why destroy your work with that. It would be hard to store much electrical power.
Otherwise you would pretty much had to get by with a low-powered laptop. No monitor.
Do the unabomber type guys need any gaming? If so they need to install a good damn power line or at least a diesel-generator. They don't have the money and skills to build energy storage and buy panels thats enough to power a modern home any way.