Core i7 or Core 2 Quad for a HTPC?

[akasixcon]

I'm in the midst of creating a home theatre PC
Its purpose is to output videos to my HDTV
Others include extracting / compressing rar files
It will be downloading files from iTunes, Netflix and such

Basically, I will be doing a lot of multitasking both in internet and PC

How much RAM should I be aiming for?

 

[Druid]

For a lot of multitasking, you're going to want more power, so you would go with the i7. That uses triple channel RAM, so you'd go with 6 GB. I would get a Phenom II x4 940 over a core2quad. It is a better bang for your buck.

Still, I think for an HTPC, you don't need that much power. If you aren't doing any more multitasking than what you listed, I would go with either:

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor - Processors - Desktops

or to save money:

Newegg.com - AMD Phenom II X3 720 2.8GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Black Processor - Processors - Desktops

No one buys core 2 quads anymore. An i7 setup is going to cost you a lot more than any HTPC should, so I really advise against going that route.

Edit: Btw, anyone know when they renamed the 920 to Bloomfield from Nilhelm? Is it because of the D0 stepping revision or something

 

[jfenwick]

Dang that's a lot of power for an HTPC. I have two HTPCs in my place, the primary powers my 1080p 42" in the tv room and it's an X2 3600+, 2GB RAM and 8600gts and I've never had a problem running HD through there or with multitasking.

My second is an X2 4200+ with onboard video and yeah, at times it chugs a bit with multitasking but as for video playback, no problems at all on 720p 37" LCD.

If all you're planning is multitasking then yeah, as mentioned above...any gaming? I know my primary htpc is a backup game comp for my annual LAN party but that's only 3 days a year. Will need a gpu upgrade this year.

I just picked up an AMD 2300BE for my next htpc off the classifieds for $25. Looking to build the HTPC for under $150 (HD not included).

 

[Hefemeister]

my htpc is a a64 4000+ with a 7800gtx, 2gb of ram and it does just fine outputting to a 40" 1080p.

Sure I do all of my heavy work on my i7 but for playback, websurfing and casual gaming it works just fine.

i7 is too much power for an htpc in my book.

 

[philbar71]

my htcp is a crappy athalon XP with 512mb of ram, running on win 7 o_0

 

[akasixcon]

If all you're planning is multitasking then yeah, as mentioned above...any gaming? I know my primary htpc is a backup game comp for my annual LAN party but that's only 3 days a year.

I'm planning to have my laptop control my HTPC
I don't even plan on having my HTPC to have a monitor
I'm just going to set it up to be up and running
Hide it behind the desk and remote into it when I want to watch movies

my htcp is a crappy athalon XP with 512mb of ram, running on win 7 o_0

The main issue I need a powerful processor is processing compressed file.
A 16gb file takes about 20 minutes to uncompress with a Pentium 4
In my Core 2 Duo laptop, it slashes it down to less than half of that
I could only imagine what a Core 2 Quad (or athlon phenom)
I mainly want this computer to function as an HTPC and a server
Load some backups to it, compressing, uncompressing files

Any suggestions?

 

[Druid]

Why don't you just compress files on your regular pc? If you have to have it though, I say go with the AMD Phenom II x4 940. i7 is just too costly for an HTPC. If it wasn't for you wanting to do this, I would say go for the 720. That's what I put in the HTPC I built for my family for our 52". That computer is a backup gaming pc too, so I have a core 216 in it as well .

 

[Slaymate]

You could always go with the i5 750 instead of the i7.

 

[jordon]

i think you should go with the core i7... it will be better in the long run

 

[Druid]

That is what I would say if this was a normal use pc, but it is an HTPC...