How good are Intel HD Integrated GFX ?

Dolby

Dolby

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The last few months I've been looking for a micro HTPC PC and recently found one I'd like. However these things can't be upgraded ...

http://www.takealot.com/lenovo-ideacentre-q190-intel-core-i3-compact-desktop-pc/PLID40640650

The advert doesn't say much, but it appears these are the specs :

Intel® Core™ i3-3217U Processor (3M Cache, 1.80 GHz)
# of Cores 2
# of Threads 4
4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333 MHz
Graphics Base Frequency 350 MHz
Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency 1.05 GHzProcessor Graphics ‡ Intel® HD Graphics 4000
 
They've been decent for integrated since HD 3000, and only getting better. More than enough for FHD playback. Wouldn't know about 4K as it's useless for the most part when it comes to TV.
 
Good stuff - thanks PP!

I think this is what I want then!
 
I wouldn't want to play games on it, but it will be fine for watching movies.
 
****ing terrible is your answer. But more than enough for an HTPC, those things don't exactly require a lot of horsepower.
 
Second the nuc. I use one as my media server and download manager. Sonar.

Amazing little machine
 
Dolby said:
The last few months I've been looking for a micro HTPC PC and recently found one I'd like. However these things can't be upgraded ...

http://www.takealot.com/lenovo-ideacentre-q190-intel-core-i3-compact-desktop-pc/PLID40640650

The advert doesn't say much, but it appears these are the specs :

Intel® Core™ i3-3217U Processor (3M Cache, 1.80 GHz)
# of Cores 2
# of Threads 4
4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM 1333 MHz
Graphics Base Frequency 350 MHz
Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency 1.05 GHzProcessor Graphics ‡ Intel® HD Graphics 4000
Click to expand...

The intel gt3e(broadwell desktop and notebook) and gt4e(skylake notebook) aka hd540(skylake notebook) aka Intel Iris Pro is pretty damn good. I have the broadwell desktop variant and i play madmax on 720p with a respectable ~40 fps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE_ta7itoTg

Edit: The only reason you would want to build a box around the gt3e graphics is for the size. If size is not a factor or a partial factor rather get a CM elite 130 chassis with a Nvidia or AMD GPU. You can get much more performance for less money.
 
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Really just going to be Kodi - no gaming.

I've got an HP microserver which is perfect actually, but I just want a sleeker looking front end and moving the HP out the lounge as a NAS.

The Intel NUC is the same price, a Celeron and most importantly doesn't have a SPDIF connection which I need. I think this is the only mini PC with one?
 
ozziej said:
If you just want a HTPC, get Kodi and a raspberry Pi. Its less than R1000.
Click to expand...

Bit underpowered - heard it battle with a few skins? I'm looking for quick and responsive, so I'll rather go too high.
 
The NUC's are expensive. I have the core I5 NUC. There is nothing it cannot handle. Uses no power and just keeps on chugging. I should have put a larger SSD in it though.
 
You could also look at an Android media player - far more powerful than a Raspberry Pi.

Bear in mind, whether you use a Windows Mini PC or an Android Mini PC, streaming over Wifi is not great. Don't expect to be able to stream HD over Wifi unless you have a very, very good wifi setup. If you use Ethernet, you won't have a problem. Or just put the stuff onto an external hard drive.
 
Keep H.265 in mind. It's supposed to be the successor to H.264 and I've already seen some shows and movies being encoded with it (aka HEVC).

I'll tell you right now an Athlon X2 6000+ (3GHz) with a N9600GT which seems to be more or less on equal footing (with perhaps a little bit extra gpu power) can't play these files in realtime.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3217U-vs-AMD-Athlon-X2-6000

If I had to buy an HTPC right now, I'd look toward Skylake as they have hardware decoding for H.265 and consume less power.
 
You could build a more powerful media PC with dedicated HD5450 for cheaper, the advantage of this means you would have extra space for HDD's. In fact, you could add in a 120GB SSD, and still have a 2TB HDD.
 
SykomantiS said:
Keep H.265 in mind. It's supposed to be the successor to H.264 and I've already seen some shows and movies being encoded with it (aka HEVC).

I'll tell you right now an Athlon X2 6000+ (3GHz) with a N9600GT which seems to be more or less on equal footing (with perhaps a little bit extra gpu power) can't play these files in realtime.
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i3-3217U-vs-AMD-Athlon-X2-6000

If I had to buy an HTPC right now, I'd look toward Skylake as they have hardware decoding for H.265 and consume less power.
Click to expand...

9600GT is quite old though isn't it? If he waits for Skylake to come to Mini PCs, he could be waiting a while. Newer graphics shouldn't struggle as much.
 
Ancalagon said:
9600GT is quite old though isn't it? If he waits for Skylake to come to Mini PCs, he could be waiting a while. Newer graphics shouldn't struggle as much.
Click to expand...

This is true, but the 96GT is still stronger than HD3000.

The problem is, the only GPU with hardware decoding to deal with H.265 is the GTX960. So at this point in time the GPU can't really help much anyway (and even if you could get the gpu to decode using pixel shaders, see above). Your CPU will be decoding in software mode and from what I've seen, it isn't up to the task.

I'm basing this assumption on the link that shows the i3 in the OP to be roughly equal in performance to the 6000+
 
Well unless he wants to play games a i3 NUC would actually be way more than capable.
 
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