i2500k iGPU = Dedicated Card?

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
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Was wondering if the iGPU in a i2500k was atleast equal to a ATI HD4850/512MB card? Will be going in a HTPC with a max resolution of 1920x1080, no 4K, no 3D, JUST plain old 1080p through VLC connected to the LAN via a wired GbE connection.

Thanks in advance,
Bob4432
 

.vodka

Golden Member
Dec 5, 2014
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No, not at all. Both are DX10 class hardware and the 4850 is vastly superior. If you're not going to game or won't use madVR, the 2500k's iGPU would be the better choice for an HTPC, the 4850 is going to produce a noticeable amount of heat/increased fan speeds overall.

The 4850 is legacy hardware, AMD isn't updating its drivers anymore (someone got its old drivers to install on W10 on another thread). I don't know about Intel's stance on the HD3000.
 

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
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For video specifically, the 2500k's IGP had a small skipping problem with video with fractional frame rates, like standard 23.976FPS film. That didn't get corrected until Haswell.

So if video playback is all you're doing, and it's not HEVC or VP9 or something, you might consider selling the 2500k and trying to buy a cheap Haswell Pentium and H81 mobo with that money.
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
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being optimistic the HD 3000 from Sandy Bridge is comparable to the HD4550 which was a 80SPs card, the 4850 you mentioned had 800, so, not even close.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,727
46
91
Thanks for the info, the 4850 can stay in the HTPC no problem, don't have a noise problem as I am currently using it in this capacity, just trying to drop any unnecessary power usage if not needed and since the i2500k had the built in gpu.

Will leave it as is until I NEED a new HTPC - when x265 becomes more commonplace. Currently the 4850 w/ a AMD 5000 AM2 cpu has been working quite well but I think x265 will put an end to that, so the current HTPC will become the new home server since the m/b has 2x 16x pci-e (both full speed) so I can run a gpu and pci-e sas raid card for backups and media to be served.
 

Yuriman

Diamond Member
Jun 25, 2004
5,530
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If you're happy with the playback on the iGPU, I see no reason to keep the 4850. Yes, there are skipped frames in some playback, but it's not a huge deal to most people. Try it out and see if it works for you.