topgeek

So I have a LGA775 socket system with no CPU.

Its going to be used exclusively as an HTPC - no gaming - but definitely 1080p/blue ray stuff feeding on to a 55" bravia with a 9800 passively cooled video card.

I'm also trying to keep the CPU cool with passive cooling or a very, very quiet fan.. so I won't be overclocking.

E5300 @ 2.6 Ghz has a CPU benchmark of 1666 and neweggs for $70
E5400 @ 2.7 Ghz has a CPU benchmark of 1701 and neweggs for $90
E7400 @ 2.8 Ghz has a CPU benchmark of 1865 and neweggs for $120

Are all 3 of these plenty strong to run all kinds of video.. flash, hulu, blueray, 1080p mkvs, etc? ...or am I misunderstanding and better to spring for the E7400 (or higher?)

I won't be doing any ripping/encoding on this machine - I have an i7 for that.

All advice greatly appreciated as I'm looking to order a bunch of stuff tomorrow.

cheers,
Ed

JaCkHoLe

The E5300 should provide plenty of power, plus it is the cheapest so i would pick that one up. My HTPC is using an E2180 @ 2ghz and it slices through video like butter.

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topgeek

OR.. am I totally underpowered (?) and should I be looking at something like q Q8400 @ 2.66 ghz with a cpu benchmark of 3582 and new eggs for $170?

I don't mind spending a bit more as long as it guarantees I'll never get stutter/lag/hesitation like I am running busy 1080p with an FX-53 and 6800GT.

M4DM4N

even E5200 if you find it is good enough, otherwise, take the E5300 and you will be fine for videos.

*I ran my e5200 stock a while ago and watched TDK and did not see stutter.

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To do list : Swap my old q6600 out of my gf pc for the e5200 .
Q9550 C1 @ 4ghz
E5200 R0 @3.75

topgeek

That's good to hear... it looks like its benchmark is 1133 so all of these should be ok. +rep

JaCkHoLe

Well of course if money is not that big a deal then spring for the more powerful CPU. Using a 9800GT for your video you should have no trouble. But if you wanna keep it passively cooled i would get the lower clocked one.

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"I see, I see." said the blind man to his deaf wife.

OCN Water Cooling Club

tipsycoma

EDIT: Didn't see that you had the mobo already.

The e7400 is a great CPU. You can find some cheap 775 socket CPU's here on OCN. Check out the for sale section

Spritanium

The e5300 is fine for an htpc. It's good for gaming, too. The e5xxx series is very versatile and budget-minded.

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C.Jackson

As everyone else has said, the E5300 would be fine. Pretty soon everything will be offloaded to your GPU anyway.
For example, my sig rig plays 1080p MKV files with ~5% CPU usage on one core (0-2% on the other). I have no problem playing Hulu content or playing HD flash content on ABC's website (@3300 kbps) fullscreened at 1440x900.

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pcnuttie

If i were you, i'd wait til after Thanksgiving cuz of Black Fridays, you won't know what will hit on sale for cheap and who knows maybe you can afford a quad core for a cheaper price!