Build Advice LGA1155 or LGA1156?

Hi everyone

I'm in the process of building a mini-ITX PC primarily for HTPC, media encoding and serving use, but with a little light gaming chucked in. I got a Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 at the end of last year and was planning to marry it up to a LGA1156 Core i3, but I could grab an Intel DH67CF and LGA1155 Core i3 instead.

Graphics card will be a Zotac GT 430 (I want true 24p Blu-ray and HDMI 1.4 3D compatibility, as well as 720p gaming).

My question is: do you think there's any point? Should I just grab a cheap i3-540, or start from scratch and go for a i3-2100? Or, indeed, should I spend a bit more and get an i5-2500, as it has additional headroom but doesn't use much more energy than the i3-2100 when idle?

My main considerations are power consumption and noise, but I also don't want this to be a significant downgrade from the X9650-based system I have now performance-wise.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Will

 

I would just look at benchmarks for the CPUs you are considering and see which one is best bang for buck.

 

i3 2100 will have a little lower power consumption, and a little more performance. Question is if it is worth the money. Considering you already got a H55 board, the answer is probably no. Core i3 530 with P55 board and SSD and HD5870 was using ~60W in idle, same without HD5870 and using H55 board used ~40W in idle. H67 + i3 2100 will probably cut single digit watts from that number, but it is really worth the investment ? I don't think so.

I'm cooling the i3 530 passively with Coolink Corator DS, which is a bit cooler, but you get the idea . CPU is idling at 31/36C, at load it reaches 70C after a hour of mprime... In other words, if you don't need the extra performance of i5 2500 or HD3000, then scrap the idea of upgrading.

Plus if you are lucky, you can get a cheap Core i3 5xx from someone who is upgrading .

 

I would get a cheap second hand i3 540 from the marketplace and be done with it. No point in buying a new motherboard if you have a perfectly fine one laying around.

Edit: I actually have a system like that, and it's perfect for your needs

 

Core i3 2100 might be an advantage for you if you'll do a lot of encoding as you can take advantage of the new QuickSync encoding tech in Sandy Bridge. The caveat is that you need to have a display hooked up to the integrated graphics to take advantage of it (thanks to strange design decisions by Intel). This has a solution in the form of Lucid's Virtu chip, but I don't know of any boards currently available that have this chip.

 

Here's some benchmarks between the i3 2100 and the i3 540 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/289?vs=143.

I think if you are going to upgrade to a 1155 socket I would spend a little extra and maybe get the i5 2300 or 2500, but for your needs the whole upgrade probably wouldnt be worth it

 

Big thanks for your suggestions everyone. It's a tough decision - looking at the benchmark link 3lusive posted Sandy Bridge seems such a leap forward, but getting a 540 would save me a good chunk of money.

I think there's a danger I'm going to get an i5-2500k (it's cheaper than the 2500 on CCL). I'm sure I'll appreciate it on the odd occasion I polish off Photoshop. And it'll give me the warm glow of knowing I've got up to date kit.

That'll leave me up one Gigabyte motherboard and down £150...

 

Thanks for all the help and advice - much appreciated!

After looking at the benchmarks 3lusive suggested I think I'm going to be tempted into getting an i5-2500. I know it's much pricier but I reckon it'll pay dividends whenever I need to polish off Photoshop (not that I often do), and having a Sandy Bridge chip will make me feel like I'm not missing out. I know I don't really need it - it's mainly for peace of mind.

If I do that, the good news is the Gigabyte motherboard won't go to waste. I reckon I'll get a second-hand i3-530 when I can afford it and turn it into a Boxee or XBMC box. I'll use the RAM and HDD from my current PC.

This is all getting expensive...