Laptop hardware for high-bitrate 1080p playback.

[TheOtherJN]

Read the Playback FAQ, and I'm confused as to where these recent CPUs stack up in regards to the 2008/2010 guidelines posted there.

"Recent" CPUs in question:

• Intel Core i3 3110M @ 2.4 GHz
• Intel Core i5 3230M @ 2.6 GHz

Legend:
High-end --- 3GHz or higher maximum clock speed on Intel Core 2/Athlon II/Phenom architecture
Mid-end --- 2GHz or higher maximum clock speed on Intel Core 2/Athlon II/Phenom architecture
Low-end -- 1.2GHz or higher maximum clock speed on Intel Atom/Core 2 Mobile low-voltage/Athlon architecture
High-bitrate --- More than 4Mbps

High-bitrate 1080p with CPU-intensive karaoke effects

• High-end dual-core with hardware-assisted decoding
• 2GHz quad-core with hardware-assisted decoding

Is the i3 3110M a high-end CPU that can play high-bitrate 1080p with CPU-intensive karaoke effects?
Is the i5 3230M a mid-end CPU with its greater-than-2, but less-than-3 GHz clock speed?
Is the i5 3230M a mid-end CPU that can play high-bitrate 1080p with CPU-intensive karaoke effects?

[vuzedome]

I'm on an i5-3337u and no 10-bit is too hard, 4GB ram and CPU @ 1.8GHz.

[TheOtherJN]

Sorry, does that mean "No, 10-bit is too hard", or does that mean "There exists no 10-bit file that is too hard"?

EDIT: To be clear, I'm looking to buy a laptop model which offers a choice of either of those two CPUs and want to justify getting the lower priced one over the more expensive one.

I am not going to have a discrete GPU for hardware decoding. Does this affect which CPU I should go with?

As it turns out, both CPUs have 2 cores and 4 threads, and have the same power consumption. The difference in price is $70.
- Am I in a position where I should be getting the most clock speed?
- Will .1 GHz make a substantial difference in smooth video playback to warrant +$70 on?

[Krudda]

Do you plan to use lav filters, evr custom, haali or madvr?
Personally, on a dual core 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 2117U with 4GB of RAM, I experience no issues with up to 26Mbps playback. However, I am only using evr custom.

I can't really offer any advice on this though, I don't have a lot of experience with laptops in this manner.

[vuzedome]

I meant that I have no problems with 10-bit, so far.

[Gh0st93]

Whats the price difference between the i3 and i5?

[TheOtherJN]

Do you plan to use lav filters, evr custom, haali or madvr?

I doubt I'll be using madVR. I can settle with using just EVR CP, but would adding LAV filters and Haali on top of that really change things up?

Whats the price difference between the i3 and i5?

$70.


I've done more research and experimenting. I'm not sure if this is a good simulation, but I turned my desktop CPU (Q6700) into a 2 core, 2.5 GHz processor and played back the highest bitrate encode I could find (GP's Macross: Do You Remember Love encode). The CPU usage for both cores were stuck at 95-100% for the majority of the duration of the scene with the famous song, with all the karaoke effects, things happening on screen, and gratuitous grain. I noticed a few dropped frames, but it was largely smooth playback. This is using EVR CP.

I compared the statistics of the Q6700 and the 3120M (3110M as stated in OP was an error), and the 3120M beats the Q6700 ever so slightly.

Ultimately, I'm deciding on the i5 3230M CPU, to be safe on the processing power needs; it also offers 20% better performance per watt than the 3120M (very important because I expect to be using it for a decade). The 3230M would pay its cost back almost exactly in 3 years.

I'm going to go with the more expensive laptop, unless there is anything else I should know about before jumping the gun?

[Gh0st93]

$70.... Unless that $70 will break you, then go with it, Also holy shit 10 years...... Definitely get the i5...

[Bozobub]

I've actually found that even some seriously powerful newer encodes can chug on , if they get to crazy with the karaoke; I think i need to diddle with my codec chain =p .  But honestly, there's very few relatively recent CPUs that can't handle the load of intensive 1080p 10-bit playback; I run a Core2Quad Yorkfield at 3 GHz and very few things cause any problems at all, and then ONLY during karaoke with silly amounts of effects (I think I merely need to change my sub handling).  Each successive generation of CPU handles multimedia even better, so...

[cold_hell]

1. The frequency is not good for comparison on different CPUs
2. All mobile iCore have their own GPU and it is enough too keep madVR's scaling
Intel's hardware scaling is good, so madVR is not problem for HD graphics (DXVA2 scaling) and it doesn't increase the CPU usage compared to EVR-CP (or at least I can't notice it).
3. There is no hardware decoding for 10bit, so DXVA/QuickSync/CUDA is pointless
4.There is an automatic turbo boost (like 10-20% dynamic overclock) http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/turbo-boost/turbo-boost-technology.html
5. Karaokes are not so heavy - in fact very light if you use xy-vsfilter. If there is some problem you can always use XySubFilter in combination with MadVR for pre-rendered subs, but it has too many bugs (at least for me) to be in any use at all. It seems there are some effects that only my desktop cpu can handle and the laptop literally dies- animated transformation "\t" on large objects, but so far Commie is the only group that does such things from time to time, so there is no problem at all
6. From my test even first gen i5m can handle 100Mbps (i5-480m) without dropping frames with LAV and MadVR (all trade quality for performance options disabled).
7. Generally if you don't play games or encode, both will be fine (otherwise PC will be better).
8. The laptops are hardly upgradable or not upgradable at all, so do yourself a favor and buy the better CPU. It will be bad if you need to replace the whole system just because of the weak cpu after few months <.<

[vuzedome]

Usually it's the karaoke effects which breaks the CPU, too much razzle and dazzle the CPU can't keep up with the razzmatazz.

[kitamesume]

relevant to this topic, intel's HD graphics with MadVR is astounding, when set to DXVA2 scalers it uses lanczos based ASICs which has a reasonably good quality.
since its using DXVA2 as the scaler, MadVR overhead isn't that much.

madvr and xysubfilter works with intel's IGP too, its not like either are picky.

madvr could cause an intel HD to croak though, but not much on the HD4400 or HD4600 which are present in i3-haswells.

edit: i found an intel HD4600 madvr test
http://missingremote.com/review/intel-hd-4600-madvr-performance
edit: found another madvr test
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7007/intels-haswell-an-htpc-perspective/5

edit: according to someone in avsforums, intel's DXVA2 scaler uses lanczos o.o
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1454235/unhappy-with-intel-hd4000-ati-card-suggestions

edit: on a further note, xysubfilter's CPU overhead is drastically less than xy-VSFilter.

edit2: on another note, you'll have to go with Haswell based i3 or i5, since only Haswell based IGP had fixed the 24fps issue.

[Tornado15550]

I have a 2.4Ghz Core i3, and have no issues playing high bitrate 1080p whatsoever.

[vuzedome]

relevant to this topic, intel's HD graphics with MadVR is astounding, when set to DXVA2 scalers it uses lanczos based ASICs which has a reasonably good quality.
since its using DXVA2 as the scaler, MadVR overhead isn't that much.

madvr and xysubfilter works with intel's IGP too, its not like either are picky.

madvr could cause an intel HD to croak though, but not much on the HD4400 or HD4600 which are present in i3-haswells.

edit: i found an intel HD4600 madvr test
http://missingremote.com/review/intel-hd-4600-madvr-performance
edit: found another madvr test
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7007/intels-haswell-an-htpc-perspective/5

edit: according to someone in avsforums, intel's DXVA2 scaler uses lanczos o.o
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1454235/unhappy-with-intel-hd4000-ati-card-suggestions

edit: on a further note, xysubfilter's CPU overhead is drastically less than xy-VSFilter.

edit2: on another note, you'll have to go with Haswell based i3 or i5, since only Haswell based IGP had fixed the 24fps issue.

Damn, back to power saving mode for me. Performance lets my AMD graphics kick in but according to this madvr would do great on Intel.

Edit, LOOKS GREAT!

[mianghuei]

On my side, a i5-2450m 2.5Ghz with turbo boost up to 3.1ghz will lag at high bitrate 1080p 10 bit and also "low bitrate 1080p 10bit + intensive typesetting, karaoke".

[Gh0st93]

If you hit it, it will go faster.*1


Proven fact.*2




1.)I am in no way liable for anything you do. 2.) Also I doubt that is a proven fact.

[kitamesume]

On my side, a i5-2450m 2.5Ghz with turbo boost up to 3.1ghz will lag at high bitrate 1080p 10 bit and also "low bitrate 1080p 10bit + intensive typesetting, karaoke".

your i5-2450m is essentially the same as my i3-2100 yet i don't even break 40% CPU usage at all?
which player are you using by the way.

[vuzedome]

On my side, a i5-2450m 2.5Ghz with turbo boost up to 3.1ghz will lag at high bitrate 1080p 10 bit and also "low bitrate 1080p 10bit + intensive typesetting, karaoke".

your i5-2450m is essentially the same as my i3-2100 yet i don't even break 40% CPU usage at all?
which player are you using by the way.

I think the right question would be: What video?

[Krudda]

Well, I'd think it's more a matter of what setup. As I said before in this thread, my shitty, 1.8GHz dual core piece of $350 ultra-cheap laptop, can play up to (and possibly more) twenty six megabits per second. Though, that was only 720p, but the bitrate matters more in this situation. This limit I state only because I don't have a video more demanding than that (well, until last week where I created one at 323Mb/s and it ran fine)

So if this shitbox can do it, I'm sure anything can.

[mianghuei]

On my side, a i5-2450m 2.5Ghz with turbo boost up to 3.1ghz will lag at high bitrate 1080p 10 bit and also "low bitrate 1080p 10bit + intensive typesetting, karaoke".

your i5-2450m is essentially the same as my i3-2100 yet i don't even break 40% CPU usage at all?
which player are you using by the way.

I think the right question would be: What video?

Video: [FFF] Valvrave the Liberator 1080p Hi10p

and also Music PVs that are 1080p Hi10p like Kaylith Music's preserved roses.