computer cpu thingy

enfield_freddy

My old computer went bang , so I am using a intel NUC 2820 for the time being , bought to use as a media player , but now pinched and put into use as a full PC.
started buying the bits to get up and running
Asus H81m-plus motherboard
2 x 8 g crucial ddr3 / 1600
now here comes the hard bit , the CPU.
in the "old" days , the bigger they were (power) they had a higher number, this is not the case with the i3/i5/i7 series
there are about 400 of the !!!!!!s , cutting them down to "haswells" there must still be over 80 of em.
some i3s are faster than i5s , some i7s are slower than some i5s , the numbers game dosnt work.
I know the difference between i3/i5/i7 , as in duel core v 4 core and hyperthreading etc,
trying to fink a RECENT chart showing the i3 range (available in the UK to choose the best valve/speed/cost.
anyone seen a decent list?

GunJack

you could do worse than starting here:-

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

enfield_freddy

cheers the numbers are all over the place regarding performance , unless anyone can advise against , i3 4370 looks the best bet

Mirno

The first number is the generation - the 4000 series is the latest (Haswell was the code name before Intel's marketing department got to work).

The next 3 numbers are a rough indicator of performance, but only within a given generation.

There may then come some extra letters:
K means the core is unlocked and can be overclocked - for enthusiasts to mess around with
S means mid-power range (65W max power output)
T means low power range (35-45W TDP).

If you're putting it in a small form factor case, I would be tending to aim at the S, but preferably the T range processors. The heat that a full Haswell puts out can be pretty high, and without the air to cool it, you may have it slow itself down to stop itself from melting!

enfield_freddy

ok , thanks for that info in the model numbers , sort of makes sence


the case and the PSU were from my last build , which was the old Pentium duel core/core two e5700 , , which I think used about 120w , the haswells are going to consume 1/2 of this , so should be ok .


just checked the 4370 against the 5700 , umm slight difference

Cycrow

what will you use the pc for ?

if you only use it for basic tasks then you could get away with a cheaper cpu and save some money.

i3's are perfectly decent for internet/office tasks

if you are not to bothered about saving money, then i would probably go for an i5

its also a good idea to go with retail rather than OEM if you have the choice.

the price difference is usually small and it comes with a heatsink/fan

enfield_freddy

well , I have always been a believer of not buying the most expensive , as a new model is released the prices drop.


I use ssd drives and do a lot of vid format converting and streaming from a nas to a player (sumvision micro 4) , file explorer / right click /play to (win 8.1 mediaversion).


the nuc (intel 2820) I have is brilliant , but a bit underpowered with a full install of win 8 and proggies , but is brilliant with a old 30g ssd running openelec.


had I have known that my main box was going to break , I would have paid the extra and got an i3 or 5 model.


my motherboard is toast , no USB (or ps2) due to a horrible made in china amazon sorsed card reader.


tried about 3 different usb cards , (pci) but non are there at boot , just in windows

Cycrow

i would definatly go for an i5 then, the extra cores will help cut down the encoding time of the videos.

As for the speed, the faster ones tend to have a higher premium, so they arn't that great when it comes to value for money.

i would go for something like the i5-4440 or i5-4460.

Johnmcl7

Cycrow wrote: »

i would definatly go for an i5 then, the extra cores will help cut down the encoding time of the videos.

As for the speed, the faster ones tend to have a higher premium, so they arn't that great when it comes to value for money.

i would go for something like the i5-4440 or i5-4460.

Agreed - video encoding/conversion can very much take advantage of the extra physical cores and worth considering:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7963/the-intel-haswell-refresh-review-core-i7-4790-i5-4690-and-i3-4360-tested/3

That said, the desktop i3's are still good value for money as the lack of turboboost doesn't hurt their performance that much as unlike the mobile parts, the desktop i3's have a high starting clock speed.

John

paddyrg

The cores might or might not make much difference with video encoding - depends on the software. Sorenson Squeeze makes fair use of multiple cores in that you (or certainly could) encode a stream or two per core simultaneously, but CPU speed may make a bigger speed difference if you encode fewer, larger files than multiple smaller ones.

enfield_freddy

now here,s a weird one , I have just installed a copy of Sorenson Squeeze (ver 9), really annoyed as its installed quicktime rubbish on its install , umm it does not encode MKV files to mp4 , that is about the only format that I cannot get free software to do quickly.


I shall now "attempt" to remove quicktime