CPU Downgrade

[choliscott]

Hi everyone,

My HTPC currently has an I5 3570K. I am debating if it's too much for what I want the HTPC to do, or not. I picked an I3-3240 a while back for something else I had planned, but decided against it

Besides having the Ceton PCI 6 tuner card, the add on's I run are RecordedTVHD, MediaBrowser, DvrMsToolbox, along with Comskip. I do use the MediaBrowser's streaming over the internet feature for Live, recorded & converted media.

Separate programs I run is Playon & Crashplan.

I'm thinking that probably overall it would be best to leave it as is, but wanted to see if others are doing something similar & using a cheaper cpu.

Thanks

[LuckyDay]

The 3570k is overkill for sure for everything you listed. You would see almost no difference in performance with just about any i3 that fits in the 1155 socket (not just the 3240).

Of course whether it's worth it would be dependent on the price you get the new CPU and if you have a use for the old one.

I run and have used every program you mentioned on an i3-3225 on my main machine and there's no difference in performance between that and when I tested it with my 3770k machine.

[LuckyDay]

Btw, for what it's worth, I ran the majority of the programs you listed with no problems with a Pentium G620 before I changed over to the i3-3225. The only reason I upgraded was for gaming.

[choliscott]

I bought the I3 a while back & have no plans for the I5. If anything I was thinking of selling the I5

[TeddyR]

The item to be aware of is if you have any protected/DRM content (stuff from HBO/etc) then there is the possibility that it may not work after a CPU change. CPU is one of the items with a "high" value in DRM calculations and would give you a "copying prohibited" message on any DRMed recordings. You may also need to reactivate windows after a CPU change.

[DavidinCT]

I still use a QX9650 chip, Core 2 Quad @ 3ghz. A 4-5 year old CPU, I am running WMC @ 2160p @ 60hz (4K) and runs perfect with a GTX750ti. No problems with performance in any way. So you can get away with a lower CPU but, why would you ?

Only think I could suggest is if you plan on holding on to the HTPC for a LONG time, keep the i5 in there, as when my CPU starts to get too old to use, you could still be running.

As someone who has been in the computer market for 25 years now, sold, built and support, if your planning to hold on to a computer for the longest time buy the fastest thing you can afford as it will last the longest...and I would think the same applies here...

[LuckyDay]

I still use a QX9650 chip, Core 2 Quad @ 3ghz. A 4-5 year old CPU, I am running WMC @ 2160p @ 60hz (4K) and runs perfect with a GTX750ti. No problems with performance in any way. So you can get away with a lower CPU but, why would you ?

Only think I could suggest is if you plan on holding on to the HTPC for a LONG time, keep the i5 in there, as when my CPU starts to get too old to use, you could still be running.

As someone who has been in the computer market for 25 years now, sold, built and support, if your planning to hold on to a computer for the longest time buy the fastest thing you can afford as it will last the longest...and I would think the same applies here...

The problem is we are talking about a dedicated use system.

If you are thinking of or planning on using this machine for more tasks eventually, consider what the upgrade can do for you.

If it will remain an HTPC, dedicated to the same tasks for the life of the system, keep the i3.

Telling him to to buy the best and fastest is like saying you should buy an i7 or Xeon for the machine that runs the cash register at your local grocery store. The purpose of the system matters, the "safeguard for the future" is a relic and doesn't apply to every situation. It only applies to people who push their PC to the limits and don't use it for a specific single simple task.

[LuckyDay]

Let's also be clear here, we are talking about a current generation i3. That Chip will do everything he wants to do and more for as many years as an i5 or an i7 would do the same thing. The discussion would be different if he was asking about keeping a pentium 4 for that currently works for his uses.

[Doctor Feelgood]

I agree that the I5 3570K is overkill - definitely look at making the swap and getting some $$ off eBay for that CPU! Right now I have an i3 3220T, i3 3225, and an i3 3245 as stand alone HTPCs and they are also honestly overkill. The 3220T system was built up to be super low power since it is under my dresser in the bedroom and has to be quiet/cool. The other 2 of the 3 did have the same G620 chips mentioned before, and I only upgraded since at one time one of the systems also handled all Blue Iris activity for 4 IP cameras, and the other doubled as the media server before getting a NAS on the network.

When the CPU switch was made, of all the recorded shows we had - only my Daughter's "Sofia the First's" were lost due to the CPU change, but I was able to re-record all of them from re-runs in just a few weeks time. I was surprised that my Discovery, Science Channel, A&E, HBO, and other channel recordings were all there and that only Disney Junior was impacted.

[choliscott]

As far as copy protection goes, the only channels I would have to worry about are the paid channels (HBO, Showtime, etc), which I don't record from anyways

I did swap out the I5 for the I3 to see how that works & for the 1/2 hour that I played around with it (watch live TV, watched a recorded Show & watched a recorded show, while at the same time used MediaBrowser's live TV feature, I didn't notice any hesitation.

If the I3 might even be considered overkill for the tasks I mentioned, would something like the G3258 (at stock or O/C?, also dedicated or integrated video?) be more of what I should be using? I picked up a z87 motherboard last year for $20 (AR on clearance) & recently picked up a G3258 to play around with

[Doctor Feelgood]

I had a G3258 for a weeks too (having a Micro Center nearby with a reduced tax rate is a really bad thing)... I was using it for desktop stuff, but overall I felt that it was too weak for tasks like ripping videos, and if I tried to watch streamed/local clips while it was working on tasks like that the video quality suffered (using the Integrated HD graphics, which is what I use on all of these systems). I never tried to use the G620 for the same tasks, but I have to imagine that since the G620 never let me down in the HTPCs, that the G3258 would perform even better.

[LuckyDay]

As far as copy protection goes, the only channels I would have to worry about are the paid channels (HBO, Showtime, etc), which I don't record from anyways

I did swap out the I5 for the I3 to see how that works & for the 1/2 hour that I played around with it (watch live TV, watched a recorded Show & watched a recorded show, while at the same time used MediaBrowser's live TV feature, I didn't notice any hesitation.

If the I3 might even be considered overkill for the tasks I mentioned, would something like the G3258 (at stock or O/C?, also dedicated or integrated video?) be more of what I should be using? I picked up a z87 motherboard last year for $20 (AR on clearance) & recently picked up a G3258 to play around with

It should be perfectly fine. Again, you need to plan for the most intensive tasks you're going to be doing with the machine. I would stress test the hell out of MediaBrowser transcoding to another device via the internet on the G3258 if you're going to do that a lot. Of all of the things you listed, that's the only one I can imagine even really coming close to bothering the CPU (and I would still doubt it will be a problem).

[choliscott]

In that case, I'll probably won't go any lower then the I3. I really don't feel like swapping out the board, to find out that (for some reason) it couldn't handle it & then switching everything back. At least this way here, if I had an issue with the I3, all I have to do is swap the CPU & reapply the heat sink & fan

It should be perfectly fine. Again, you need to plan for the most intensive tasks you're going to be doing with the machine. I would stress test the hell out of MediaBrowser transcoding to another device via the internet on the G3258 if you're going to do that a lot. Of all of the things you listed, that's the only one I can imagine even really coming close to bothering the CPU (and I would still doubt it will be a problem).

[LuckyDay]

That's probably a good bet. The i3 gives you room to do more still and it's still a good low power chip. Although the pentium would likely be fine it's never bad to have a bit more power than what you require.