Hey guys,
I'm in the process of buying the parts for my HTPC who is going to be used for movies and internet. No games. I have not decided which processor between the Intel G2020 or the AMD A6 5400 to buy.
I'm going to use a Streacom F1C case which is similar to a mac mini.
Can you guys give me a hand in making a decision please?
Thanks for your opinion Bruce, very much appreciated. Another question: Are both of them good for bluray playback in case I decide to buy one?
The AMD has better inbuilt graphics but the G2020 has inbuilt graphics (HD2500) that are more than capable for 1080p video.
As Bruce points out they are both suitable as HTPC CPUs althought the intel has a slight edge in lower CPU temperature.
Intel for me. My i3-2100 does it all.
AMD is always better for HTPC.
Any particular reason for this claim? What will the A6 do better than the Pentium for HTPC?
It depends what you intend to do with said HTPC. For some people the HTPC is also a casual gaming machine, BD ripping machine or video editing rig; in which case a low voltage or under-volted Core i3 + discrete GPU would wipe many AMD options off the floor.
In my case I'm just going to use the HTPC for movies and internet. And the case I got does not have the space for a discrete GPU.
If you're afraid that you might run into issues with 1080p playback performance, then the safe bet is the AMD APU.
I've used an Intel Celeron G530 for 1080p mkv playback before. 1080p, 24 FPS, soft styled subs, no issues with lag but the CPU utilisation was quite high at around 60%.
It runs it fine, so I suppose anything Ivy Bridge would play back 1080p blu ray with no issues.
Both will more than do the job. My personal preference is the G2020 as it is lower power (and this translates to less fan speed and less noise).