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3 Intel CPU's for two builds - which two should I choose?

L

Liberator21

Golden Member

Hi, I'm building two inexpensive low-power machines. They include:

Windows Home Server Box
Shuttle KPC K45

This will be a 24/7 box, and other than menial backup duty it will be serving full 1080P material.

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HTPC using Zotac 9300 Mini-ITX and 120w Pico PSU

- Kind of an oddball because local storage will be low (200GB), and will get most of its content from the server.

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Question:

I obviously would like to use the Celeron 440 (2Ghz) for the server because of its 35W TDP, but will it be enough to stream hi-def content?

Also, the media center really will only be used occasionally so will the E5200 be overkill? It makes sense to use the more powerful CPU in the machine that will be on all the time, but power efficiency is really important.

Then there's also the E2140 (1.6Ghz), should it be used as a substitute for either one (has 65W TDP)

Thanks!
 
The CPU you ultimately choose might depend on what chipset you're using, and any video card, though it looks like you won't with the Shuttle KPC.
But to give you an idea what cpu might be able to decode h264 1080p video, I can say as a fact that an E6320 and E2180 (both 65W TDP) can both play 1080p content without other hardware decoders (GPU, chipset, etc).
 
There are some values posted on this thread that may be useful to you:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/.../viewtopic.php?t=53324

I am looking to build a similar system, and had been debating between the processors you mentioned (with the same PSU and ITX board). From the data I have seen, it appears that the E5200 is the way to go- and that is not even taking undervolting/underclocking into account.

 
E5200 all the way. Not only will it use only marginally more power than the lowest draw option listed, but it's going to be viable for a good deal longer.
 
Alright thanks guys-

So the E5200 will go in the HTPC, but is a Celeron 440 still enough to serve the media? I'm not sure if that's actually CPU intensive or not...
 
I'm pretty confident that the server is only serving the content. Decoding will take place on the HTPC. The Celeron will be fine for the server. People run WHS with Atom procs...
 
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