Core I3–530 HTPC

For quite a while now I have been enjoying my HTPC with everything working perfectly.  I finally got lossless audio (TrueHD and DTS-HD) as well as the Blu-Ray integration I was looking for, working the way I expect them to.  My HTPC has been the center of all my entertainment needs for quite some time and I consider it one of the more critical components of my audio/video setup.  When Intel released the Clarkdale platform, I was intrigued by the possibility that I could “streamline” and simplify my HTPC by utilizing the integration that this platform offered.  In theory I would use less power since it would not need the use of a discrete audio or video card.  Even though the Core I3 has a 73 watt TDP, that includes the CPU, Video, Audio, as well as the onboard controllers.  In addition, the possibility of a single driver would help simplify updating going forward.  Since I can never leave things well enough alone, I decided that it was time to upgrade my old HTPC and test out the latest technology to see if there was an overall benefit in several categories such as power consumption, performance, stability, and of course playback results as compared to my initial setup.  I was especially interested in verifying functionality now that Arcsoft had just released an update to TMT 3 that included support for the Clarkdale platform.  Specifically, TrueHD and DTS-HD pass-through to my receiver.

Specs before upgrade

Specs after upgrade

Build Impressions

As home builds go, this upgrade was fairly painless.  Having been a Gigabyte fan for more than 6 years now, I naturally chose one for my build.  I find that they provide the best value/performance/compatibility/features for your money.  Since this was an upgrade, I reused my existing Silverstone Case, my existing OCZ SSD, and my Pioneer Blu-Ray DVD player.  I attempted to reuse the existing power supply which was a Thermaltake 600 Watt multi 12V rail supply however as I have experienced many times before during upgrades or builds, the older multi-rail supplies simply do not work on Core IX products whether it is the I3, I5, and certainly the I7.  It does not seem to matter that the processor does not require much power, it just simply refuses to boot with some of the older supplies.  To be fair, most of the problem supplies have been from the older Thermaltake products, however I have seen it on others as well.  Do yourself a favor and get a power supply that is efficient and uses a single 12 Volt rail.  This will eliminate having problems upgrading or building up a Core IX system.  Once I replaced the supply everything came up, the system posted as expected.

Power Efficiency 

Playback Impressions (stability, software, picture quality, and performance)

It is nice to save power but how well does it work?  Despite being more power efficient as well as contain an onboard audio/video chip, the Core I3–530 is a more powerful and faster processor than the older E series chip that I removed from my system.  My overall impression was the system was more responsive, quicker in loading applications, and visually faster than it was before.  One of the critical things for me was whether or not it would handle TMT 3 since it is layered on top of WMC and allow for smooth Blu-Ray playback as that is mostly what I use it for.  Since support of the Clarkdale platform requires a patch from Arcsoft, I downloaded the patch and installed it.  Before going too much farther, I spent a little time adjusting the display graphics properties so that I could fine tune the scaling to match my plasma display (see screen shots below).  After the adjustments I went straight to a Blu-Ray movie to see how it would perform.  The Blu-Ray playback was very smooth and I had no issues with TMT 3 during the short time I have been testing it.  I also tested the upscaling of standard DVD’s and found it was outstanding.  Unlike my recent experience with current ATI cards, the upscaling of the Intel graphics was superb and showed none of the color washout that I saw on the ATI 5750 playing standard DVDs.  It was at least on par with current generation nVidia cards and possibly even better.  Navigation within WMC was also very fast and smooth.  Despite pulling content from two different WHS servers, scrolling through the menus, features, and browsing through all my content was very smooth and mostly lag free.

Overall Value

Weighing in all the factors that help make a purchasing decision such as price, performance, compatibility, value, and future proofing, the Core I3 chip is the ideal HTPC chip (IMO).  The CPU itself is not cheap but is reasonable ($124) and a motherboard will cost you approximately $90.  If you shop around for deals on memory, case, and power supply, you can put together a great system that will handle all your media playback, lossless audio support, and enough CPU power to support virtually any add-in software, all while drawing minimal power.  The components I selected for my build I already had, but much cheaper equivalents are out there to lower overall cost.  If you shop hard enough you could put together a decent box for around ~$450.  I am not saying that it is at the same price point or power efficiency as an Atom based system, however considering the extra headroom in CPU power as well as lossless HD audio/video, it may help take you well into the future without suffering from performance issues.  With the Core I3 you are able to buy high end features without having to spend a fortune to get them.  Although it is certainly not one of the cheapest solutions, it may provide the best cost of ownership in the long run.  If you buy a little more CPU power for your HTPC than you need right now, you may be able to get more life from it and do more with it along the way.  Speed and performance have always been important to me and this fits the bill without breaking the bank.

Conclusion

I am very pleased with the outcome of the upgrade and would certainly recommend this platform for either an HTPC or a mid range desktop.  I have never been a fan of integrated graphics however I was very impressed with how fluid even the most demanding video tasks were handled as well as the video playback quality of both DVD and Blu-Ray.  Throw in some outstanding audio with low power consumption and you have a great combo that can double as a workstation.  I would certainly not use the integrated graphics for gaming, but I will say that Intel has certainly done a great job outfitting this chip for HD playback.  This by far the most cost effective mid range HTPC platform I have had the pleasure of using.  If you are in the market to upgrade or considering a new build, you might want to have a look at a Core I3 before you make your final decision.