AMD64 HTPC

I had previously written about the D945GCLF board from Intel that comes with their new flagship Atom 230 low power processor. I had investigated its use as a potential HTPC platform as it is an integrated platform that is powerful enough to playback almost all kinds of video content. There is also little argument that it is a low power platform, which is important for a machine that will be placed in the living room.

Up till today, the only other alternative seemed to be the VIA Nano processor platform. It is another low power platform that is in direct competition with the Intel offering. AMD seemed to have little to offer as an alternative. But a detailed benchmark released today from Tom’s Hardware has blown all prior expectations.

They took an underpowered Athlon 64 processor and under clocked it at 1GHz versus the 1.6GHz speed that the Atom runs at. They coupled this processor with an advanced HTPC focused motherboard that has a modern Radeon 3200 graphics processor with built in HDMI, DVI and VGA outputs. The result is an AMD platform the runs faster while consuming less power than the Atom platform.

While the Atom platform requires 1 fan to cool down the main chipset, the AMD platform is capable of running without a fan on both the chipset and the processor. This allows it to run silent, which is fairly important for a HTPC. I would not want the HTPC fans to be drowning out any movie that I may be watching on it. So, this gave me an idea on options.

It may actually be better to build an AMD based HTPC system that runs completely silent. The price of the D945GCLF is listed as under RM250 for dealerships. The prices of the low powered AMD processors are pretty cheap. A low powered Sempron 64 LE-1150 is listed at under RM100 from the latest LowYat prices. There are a number of AMD motherboards that are priced from between RM150 to RM350, depending on the specifications.

From various benchmarks, the Sempron 64 is easily 3-4 times faster than the Atom and 2-3 times faster than the Athlon 64 2000. Although the fully loaded power is 60% higher than the Atom system, the idle power is only 8% more than the Atom. Another advantage to using the AMD system is that the processor can be replaced with a more powerful and lower powered one, when such a processor becomes available in the future. So, there is a further upgrade path available.

So, this is just another very plausible option to consider.

Notes: Sempron LE-1150 (RM90) LE-1200 (RM95) and GA-MA74GM-S2H (740G@RM240) A-S78H (780G@RM265) shelf price.