Getting the Best out of an Ivy Bridge HTPC: Windows 8, madVR and More..
by Ganesh T S on January 20, 2013 3:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Intel
- HTPC
- Ivy Bridge
- Windows 8
- Passive Cooling
Concluding Remarks
Our experience with a passive Ivy Bridge HTPC has brought to fore many interesting aspects. On the surface, Windows 8 doesn't have any capabilities to tempt users to upgrade. In fact, the removal of Windows Media Center and presenting it as a separate $10 upgrade has actually served as a deterrent for many HTPC users. I would strongly suggest HTPC users relying on WMC (irrespective of the OS) to move on to other platforms. However, a few days of using Windows 8 as our primary HTPC OS has completely altered our opinion.
Overall, Windows 8 seems to be a very efficient OS (in terms of boot time as well as power consumption). GPU acceleration for video decode and playback is very well integrated and acts in an effective manner for all types of streaming services (including Netflix and YouTube). Not only do we get higher quality material delivered to the Netflix app, the power consumption during playback is actually a full 15 W lower. XBMC and JRiver MC18 work without issues on Windows 8.
The Intel HD 4000 GPU is quite capable of madVR with the default scaling algorithms as long as it is paired with DDR3-1600 DRAM. On our system, we were able to get madVR working without issues. The DXVA scaling feature of madVR enables users to get good scaling quality in a power efficient manner, thanks to the hardware scalers in the HD 4000 GPU. Of course, the GPU is going to struggle with advanced scaling algorithms. We will cover that (along with 4K decode and display performance) in the third and final installment of our HTPC series. The concluding piece will pit the latest passive HTPC GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA against each other and provide readers with the insights on what exactly they have to offer over the Intel HD 4000 GPU.
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ganeshts - Tuesday, January 22, 2013 - link
I wish :) But, to be honest, MS doesn't even provide keys to us (We have to use the eval period, unactivated)That said, I first set up Win 8 for a relative on a newly purchased notebook, and I seriously hated it. Even now, I am not used to the various new features available to interact with the OS. But, I have now come to realize that, technically, the OS has some very interesting improvements in terms of efficiency and multimedia support (at least). Give the eval version a try without activating, you might be pleasantly surprised :)
glugglug - Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - link
Replacing multiple DVRs is the primary use of my PC..I suppose you could have a Media Center w/CableCARD build separate from the HTPC you have here, but IMO, Media Center is **the** killer HTPC app.
NikosD - Friday, January 25, 2013 - link
4K decoding ? Why not benchmark at that resolution ?Ivy and VP5 are the only GPUs (VPUs) capable of HW accelerated H.264 4K decoding.
CSMR - Sunday, January 27, 2013 - link
Power consumption of around 40W is high for doing something as simple as media playback.With an Ivy Bridge chip you should be able to get sub 20W easily, and in fact sub 10W is achievable (http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php...
For a fanless system, this is important and will improve reliability and difficulty of cooling.
mr0000000000 - Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - link
Lordy that thing is beautiful - is that just a rendering or does that actually exist?PokerGuy - Monday, February 4, 2013 - link
From the article: "I would strongly suggest HTPC users relying on WMC (irrespective of the OS) to move on to other platforms."What other platform could I move to that would allow me to use cablecard? I have HD Homerun Prime and absolutely love it. I can watch any and everything on any PC in the house, including my HTPC for my main tv in the living room. I use XBMC as my library manager for all my movies and music, but I can't use it with cablecard, so I still need WMC for that purpose.
Win 8 comes without WMC, unless you want to pay extra, so for me it's a step backwards from Win 7. Paying to downgrade in functionality doesn't seem like a good idea.
connor2k - Friday, February 15, 2013 - link
I have looked through most of the comments. Is it listed elsewhere?Deuge - Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - link
Hi Ganesh, i notice the new haswell NUC with HD5000 is coming out. Will you be doing an HTPC review of it?? Seems like the perfect HTPC to me.http://www.legitreviews.com/intel-nuc-kit-d54250wy...