HD graphics in Haswell Celeron

[tothphu]

I'm thinking about buying a Celeron G1820 (Haswell). Can anyone confirm that it can hardware decode 1080p videos? Especially in Youtube (right click -> "stats for nerds" will tell you).

I have talked to Intel support, but they are contradicting themselves: One support guy saying it can, other says it is bundled with Clear Video HD (which is another marketing blurb).

 

[escrow4]

The G1610 I had (and still have, I really should junk it or sell it) hit 80%+ 1080p Youtube decoding and a few other programs going. It did do the job though. I'd prefer something with a lot more puff.

 

[ShintaiDK]

It should decode fine. It can decode 4K as well.

My old i5 661 in the HTPC does 1080p Youtube at 30% or so without support.

 

[tothphu]

@escrow4 I guess than there is no change in G1820 either. May be a bit less CPU usage.

@ShintaiDK Intel is disabling a lot of features for Celerons and Pentiums. I'm quite sure than even i3 Haswells will decode in HW.

Can anyone confirm that i3-s are fine?

 

[code65536]

My tertiary laptop uses an Ivy Bridge ULV Celeron running at 1.5GHz (1007U).

Playing back a 1080p H.264 video using VLC and measuring CPU usage using Process Explorer...

With "Hardware-accelerated decoding" set to "Automatic", CPU usage around 9-12%.
With "Hardware-accelerated decoding" set to "Disable", CPU usage around 40-50%.

The video playback is smooth and problem-free in either case. Not sure about YouTube, but I'd imagine it can't be too different, especially since the YouTube bitrate is going to be much lower than what I was using.

 

[tothphu]

I guess the mystery is getting deeper. According to Intel site it also doesn't support Clear Video HD.

I think youtube might be a different case caused by flash. e.g. I can play full HD video on my Core 2 Duo T8300 (2.4Ghz) with Nvidia Quadro NVS135m (I think even from HW), but youtube is not accelerated (although HW acceleration is turned on), only rendering is accelerated.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The G1610 I had (and still have, I really should junk it or sell it) hit 80%+ 1080p Youtube decoding and a few other programs going. It did do the job though. I'd prefer something with a lot more puff.

Was that in XP or something? I can't help but suggest that you didn't have all of your drivers squared away.

In Win7 64-bit, I got 60-80% CPU usage decoding 1080P YouTube... on an E-350.

I find it hard to believe that the G1610 is no better.

 

[Torn Mind]

I have a Celeron G550 that I can put back in my rig. Only thing is, it'd be best if the 1080p video you want me to test is one you'll be watching....

The Haswell has more execution units than the G550 does, so if don't see CPU spikes on a G550, then the G1820 will certainly be enough. In fact, the HD 3000 graphics on Sandy Bridge CPUs only have 12 EUs(execution units)