Thinking of getting another 1155 mobo and i3 maybe cheap i5 cpu for a media server for the house, is it a bad time to buy SB, isnt ivy bridge due sometime soon ?
If its for a media server then all you need is this. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel-pentium-g620-s-1155-dual-core-260ghz-3mb-smart-cache-65w-retail No need for anything more powerful.
Not really a bad time no since if you go P67 or Z68 you can update the bios and drop in an ivy bridge CPU next year if you want.
Was gonna run a cable and use it as my HTPC too, current ones mobo has died. G620 still sufficient for 1080p playback ?
There will probably be a new chipset out with IB, but as said above it should be compatible with the current P67 and Z68 boards. The only real benefit you'll see for that use would be a lower power consumption. If the SB chip will do what you want does it really matter if IB is only a few months away?
Already have a 2500k & p8p67 evo in my main rig and its excellent, which is why i was thinking 1155 again for a media server. Anybody any idea what gpu the g620 has, all i can find is " intel HD graphics " whereas the i3 actually say HD2000/HD3000.
There are 4 Cougar Point (Sandy Bridge) chipsets that will be able to accept Ivy Bridge processors. H61, H67, P67 and Z68 based boards with an updated BIOS will be able to run Ivy Bridge processors. The attached diagram details features that are compatible across Panther Point and Cougar Point
HD2000/3000 will easily be enough for 1080p playback on the i3s and i5s - I suspect the g620 using HD2000 will be fine also. Apparently it will here: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18324333
On the Intel website (http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/CS-031174.htm) it says: Based on that, I would say that as Intel only call the iGPU "Intel HD Graphics", it is the earlier implementation, as described in the above document.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4524/the-sandy-bridge-pentium-review-pentium-g850-g840-g620-g620t-tested/1 Seems its identical to to a HD 2000
I have a g620 in my htpc. It does have the hd2000 which does fine for most playback. In my experience with it so far it starts to fall over once you playback high bitrate hd stuff over 4096kbps. I get odd effect that I can only describe as similar to texture pop in, where a scene will be blurred for a moment and pop into clarity which occurs most often after a camera position change or during fast action. It's definitely a good cpu however, especially at it's price point. If you need more in the gpu department something like a gtx520 could be added and still be cheaper than i3.
I'd get a NAS for storage and an Atom/Ion box for playback. Not found anything my Acer Revo R3700 (running XBMC) hasn't been able to play yet!
Probably the wrong thing to suugest to someone who has an Intel avatar but have you considered the AMD A series APU. As expected the intel chips will piss all over it for cpu performance but it does have a relatively decent graphics core.
I have, but FM1 to me is a dead socket, as far as im aware there is no upgrade path to it. Whereas if i buy another 1155 system, i can chuck a quad core in it down the line should i need it and still have a powerful system, maybe even one of the ivy bridge chips.
This would be plenty to play back 1080p if you want to save a few quid: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zotac-ZBOX-...2MHI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1323871000&sr=8-2
