MSI Gaming R9270 2GB *or* OB 4970k?

[blackangst1]

Just tossing this out there...might be a very vague question, but over which would provide better graphics? Or would I notice a difference?

MSI Gaming 2GB R9270
Intel 4970k on-board graphics
TV: 75" Samsung LED 1080p

edit: HTPC is not used for gaming, just multimedia mostly played through JRiver.

 

[TuSpockShakur]

Your setup is extreme overkill and why run JRiver over Kodi? Any Intel LGA 1150 chip with on-board graphics will be more than sufficient for use solely as a 1080p HTPC. You would be gaining nothing with a 4970k or R9270 over a cheaper CPU only setup unless you decide to re-purpose the hardware later. You would be wasting a ton of electricity too. A better choice strictly as a HTPC only PC would be possibly something like the ASRock N3700-ITX or the ASRock N3150DC-ITX.

 

[blackangst1]

Your setup is extreme overkill and why run JRiver over Kodi? Any Intel LGA 1150 chip with on-board graphics will be more than sufficient for use solely as a 1080p HTPC. You would be gaining nothing with a 4970k or R9270 over a cheaper CPU only setup unless you decide to re-purpose the hardware later. You would be wasting a ton of electricity too. A better choice strictly as a HTPC only PC would be possibly something like the ASRock N3700-ITX or the ASRock N3150DC-ITX.

First of all, I cant stand Kodi. I prefer JRiver (been there, done that, tried it a few times over the years when it was still XBMC, then later when it changed to Kodi).

Second, I bought the 4970k for $150, specifically for the on board 4600 graphics. Why? First reason was that Haswell fixed the long standing issue of the 23.976 bug that has plagued Intel for 5+ years. Second, I wanted the horsepower to be able to run JRiver with Red October High Quality mode, which uses MadVR.

Lastly, although I appreciate your intentions, Id like to get back on track with my questions. 😉

 

[poofyhairguy]

MadVR takes a decent amount of GPU power when fully loaded, a friend with a 4K screen showed me pretty high GPU utilization on a GTX 960(!) with all the best upscale settings turned on. Red October High Quality at 1080p isn't the most demanding setting possible in MadVR though and I am pretty sure that integrated GPU can handle it.

Honestly if I was buying an extra GPU for a HTPC I wouldn't touch a 270 anyway. A GTX 950 has a real and full HEVC decoder which the Intel or AMD GPU lacks, plus it has HDMI 2.0 for futureproofing.

 

[blackangst1]

MadVR takes a decent amount of GPU power when fully loaded, a friend with a 4K screen showed me pretty high GPU utilization on a GTX 960(!) with all the best upscale settings turned on. Red October High Quality at 1080p isn't the most demanding setting possible in MadVR though and I am pretty sure that integrated GPU can handle it.

Honestly if I was buying an extra GPU for a HTPC I wouldn't touch a 270 anyway. A GTX 950 has a real and full HEVC decoder which the Intel or AMD GPU lacks, plus it has HDMI 2.0 for futureproofing.

Well, the only reason Im asking is Ive got the spare 270 laying around so didnt know if would give me any (noticeable) improvements over the 4970k. Im suspecting not, but really couldnt find anything using my (possibly weak) Google-fu.

And youre right. MadVR uses quite a bit of CPU. Ive seen as much as 45% utilization on my CPU from it lol.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Well in that case run through it your most demanding test files and make sure it handles it. Here are some of the sample files I use when I want to make something hurt in 1080p:

http://www.koi-sama.net/files/hi10/