ASRock Brings Zen 2 NUC : 4X4 BOX-4800U Renoir Mini-PC Reviewed
by Ganesh T S on November 25, 2020 11:00 AM ESTHTPC Credentials - II
Evaluation of local media playback and video processing is done by playing back files encompassing a range of relevant codecs, containers, resolutions, and frame rates. A note of the efficiency is also made by tracking GPU usage and power consumption of the system at the wall. Users have their own preference for the playback software / decoder / renderer, and our aim is to have numbers representative of commonly encountered scenarios. Towards this, we played back the test streams using the following combinations:
- MPC-HC x64 1.8.5 + LAV Video Decoder (DXVA2 Native) + Enhanced Video Renderer - Custom Presenter (EVR-CP)
- VLC 3.0.8
- Kodi 18.9
The fourteen test streams (each of 90s duration) were played back from the local disk with an interval of 30 seconds in-between. Various metrics including GPU usage and at-wall power consumption were recorded during the course of this playback. Prior to looking at the metrics, a quick summary of the decoding capabilities of the integrated Radeon GPU is useful to have for context.
On paper, the GPU should be able to play back all codecs with hardware acceleration (except for AV1).
All our playback tests were done with the desktop HDR setting turned on. It is possible for certain system configurations to have madVR automatically turn on/off the HDR capabilities prior to the playback of a HDR video, but, we didn't take advantage of that in our testing.
VLC and Kodi
VLC is the playback software of choice for the average PC user who doesn't need a ten-foot UI. Its install-and-play simplicity has made it extremely popular. Over the years, the software has gained the ability to take advantage of various hardware acceleration options. Kodi, on the other hand, has a ten-foot UI making it the perfect open-source software for dedicated HTPCs. Support for add-ons make it very extensible and capable of customization. We played back our test files using the default VLC and Kodi configurations, and recorded the following metrics.
| Video Playback Efficiency - VLC and Kodi | |||
VLC had trouble with the interlaced VC-1 clip, and there was no hardware acceleration for AV1. Kodi was flawless all through, though the 8Kp60 AV1 clip ended up consuming a lot of power with both players.
MPC-HC
MPC-HC offers an easy way to test out different combinations of decoders and renderers. The configuration we evaluated is the default post-install scenario, with only the in-built LAV Video Decoder forced to DXVA2 Native mode. The metrics collected during the playback of the test files using the above three configurations are presented below.
We usually attempt usage of madVR, but activating the filter resulted in some glitches. In any case, usage of madVR with integrated GPUs is not advisable. Similar to Kodi, the MPC-HC + EVR-CP combination makes good use of the hardware acceleration capabilities of the GPU to achieve satisfactory playback across all the tested codecs and resolutions. Hardware acceleration allows the system to never exceed 40W at the wall even for streams with high frame rates and large resolutions.
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Stoinis MO - Thursday, December 3, 2020 - link
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deil - Thursday, November 26, 2020 - link
About ram it depends on how you work, I have 32GB and it daily goes above 24GB used, while browser/slack/spotify/30tabs on ff and few other things that I just never close take ~6GB. (I am on linux, it does use ram way more conservative that windows) When I last time used windows for work it did abuse all 32GB and started to slow down.its up to what you do and on 16GB it mostly work, but at least in my case 2-3 times a day I need a bit more, and like once a week 16GB is just not enough.
as It costs just like 70$ once, and it saves me few minutes daily, I think it paid for itself in my health at least.
damianrobertjones - Thursday, November 26, 2020 - link
Plus there's also SUperfectch that caches various duties. A lot of people forget that.Spunjji - Friday, November 27, 2020 - link
"...I've had more crashes in a month than in years of Intel/Nvidia systems. I've lost more time to lost work than when I was using Windows 98..."I'm calling bullshit on that. My understanding is that the APU driver situation isn't as good as discrete components (which I'm currently running without issue), but I can't believe that it's *worse than Windows 98*.
philehidiot - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Bullshit? Perhaps because you've just made assumptions about the set up? Read properly before accusing people of lying.Thanks.
at_clucks - Thursday, December 3, 2020 - link
I guess they were saying it's PEBKAC. Which it is. Having even 2 or 3 crashes in a month is already too much to be caused by AMD, their hardware, or their drivers, or else tens or hundreds of thousands of people would be affected and you'd hear about it. Not saying their drivers are perfect but if your PC is constantly crashing *you* have a problem. You probably don;t really know what's happening in there but you heard a rumor...I lost count of how many acquaintances had rootkit encrusted PCs, full of every garbage known to man after clicking on everything that fell under their mouse, everything running with hacks, cracks, and other torrented junk, from the OS image to the "security" software. They had no idea what's going on but all had some form of (ridiculous) theory based of stuff they heard from someone, or read on the internet but probably neither them nor their source understood it.
Fix your stuff, stop blaming the tools. Also having at least a decent meal before drinking helps.
Radhouse - Friday, November 27, 2020 - link
Interesting experience. I've been using an ASUS PN50 R5 4500 system for 2 months as my entertainment computer without a single crash, and typically keep 25+ web pages open in Chrome. It is configured with 32 GB 3200 MHz Crucial memory and an 500 GB EV0 970 Plus SSD running Windows 10 Pro 20H2. (Initially installed V 2004) In addition to Chrome, I'm a heavy user of the following Apps; Netflix, Amazon, & Hulu.I'm not sure where the source of your problems, but I've been also running a PN50 R3 system as a workstation without any issues.
Targon - Friday, November 27, 2020 - link
No problem with AMD drivers for my X370 based motherboard, Ryzen 9 3900X CPU, or Vega64 reference model video card(yes, I need a 6800X or 6900X, just waiting on the 6900X to be released at this point). People who claim to have this or that problem may be encountering problems between components that in turn cause their issues with Radeon cards. Looking for what is in common between people who have a problem and then looking at those without problems to see what the differences are is something that most people don't seem to understand.QA process: Reproduce problem, identify source of problem, figure out workaround or fix for the problem.
philehidiot - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Your set up is very close to mine. 3900x, vega64, but I'm on the x570 mobo.What is very strange is these crashes are happening at low load (as is when working). No crashes during games or when I'm hammering it. It is unlikely to be a dodgy background application as it's a fairly new install and I routinely avoid installing bloat, etc. Only stuff required to make it go is enabled on start up to this end.
I'm on the verge of shifting to Linux but for one major issue - I have a decent sound card which is not supported in Linux. I'm unwilling to unplug and ditch a few hundred quid worth of kit. Hopeful Linux drivers will emerge but creative aren't exactly helpful.
damianrobertjones - Monday, November 30, 2020 - link
Shift. Do it. Go to linux. You might then appreciate Windows a little more. Maybe. Both platforms have issues.