No one can deny that high
definition content has been warmly embraced, but what with the success of Blue
Ray, today's mainstream media center PCs
need HD decoding acceleration like never before. AMD hope to address HD decoding
in the 790GX chipset with its 'Unified Video Decoder'. UVD directs HD playback
decoding to the integrated Radeon HD 3200 GPU, rather than to the AMD processor, allowing the system to playback VC-1, MPEG-2 and
H.264 content up to 1080p resolution with less CPU usage.
On the rear I/O of the ASUS M3A78-T motherboard
there are HDMI, DVI-D and analog VGA connectors. The DVI and HDMI ports are HDCP
compliant, while the latter supports audio streams.
Overall, all HD playback was smooth and uninterrupted,
and showed no visible artifacting or visual anomalies. First up are the Blu-Ray
playback tests and then HDD based
HD 720p/1080i content playback. The goal of both rounds of testing
is low overall CPU utilization.
 Blu-Ray High Definition
Content Playback Tests | |
|
Blu-Ray High Definition content demands a lot of PC processing
resources during playback, if CPU load becomes too high that can lead to
jittery video quality or other artifacts. Many integrated graphics
processors now feature Blu-Ray and High Definition H.264, VC1 and M-PEG2
content acceleration decoders to offload this processing from the CPU,
freeing up system resources for other tasks.
The PCSTATS Blu-Ray HD content playback test scenario monitors average
CPU utilization. It's simple and to the point. The motherboard's
integrated graphics processor is taxed in the same way it would be in your
home theatre environment, and average percent CPU utilization monitored
with Windows task manager. Lower CPU utilization values are best, provided
video playback remains smooth and stutter free.
How PCSTATS Tests: Each integrated graphics motherboard is connected to an ASUS
MK241 wide screen 1920x1200 (1080P) resolution LCD display
with an HDMI cable. The Blu-Ray movie "10,000 BC" (VC1 encrypted)
is then played back from Chapter 22 on an ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray combo drive,
using WinDVD Platinum software and the average fluctuation of CPU load
recorded. |
|
| Motherboard |
Core Logic IGP |
Blu-Ray Playback
CPU Utilization |
Video Playback
@ 1080p
Quality |
| Intel DG45ID (Intel G45) |
Intel GMA X4500HD |
32% - 38% |
No issues |
| ASUS P5Q-EM
(Intel G45) |
Intel GMA X4500HD |
38% |
No issues |
| Biostar Tpower N750 (nVidia nForce
750a) |
Nforce 750a |
18% - 20% |
No issues |
 ASUS M3A78T (AMD 790GX) |
AMD HD3300 |
6% - 9% |
No issues |
| Foxconn A7DA-S (AMD 790GX) |
AMD HD3300 |
14% - 24% |
No issues | |
The AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition CPU is barely
taxed when doing Blu-ray playback on the ASUS M3A78-T motherboard. Having a
Radeon HD 3300 and an extra core available brings the overall CPU usage to
negligible levels as compared to the Foxconn A7DA-S motherboard.
Hard Drive
720p/1080i Video Playback
Playing high definition content on current
generation PCs can bog down even the fastest processors because there is more
data to handle. To test the integrated graphics processor's capabilities at HD
content accelerating capabilities, we played the High Definition video clip,
"The Discoverers" at 720P and 1080i from the hard drive while monitoring the
percentage of CPU utilization through Task Manager. Lower results are
better.
| HDD 720p/1080i Video Playback (Discoverers
Video Clip) |
| 720P (Avg): |
Percent CPU Utilization |
Ranking |
| Intel
DG45ID (Onboard G45 ) |
17 |
   |
| ASUS
P5Q-EM (Onboard G45 ) |
9 |
|
| ASUS M3A78-T
(onboard HD 3300 video) |
17 |
   |
|
Foxconn A7DA-S (onboard HD 3300 video) |
30 |
   |
| ECS
A780GM-A (Onboard HD 3200 Video |
30 |
|
|
Foxconn A690GM2MA-RS2H (Onboard Video) |
35 |
|
|
Biostar Tpower N750 (onboard nF 750a video) |
24 |
|
|
Biostar TF8200 A2+ (onboard GF 8200 video) |
60 |
|
| 1080i (Avg): |
Percent CPU Utilization |
Ranking |
| Intel
DG45ID (Onboard G45 ) |
20 |
|
| ASUS
P5Q-EM (Onboard G45 ) |
12 |
|
| ASUS M3A78-T
(onboard HD 300 video) |
22 |
|
|
Foxconn A7DA-S (onboard HD 3300 video) |
49 |
|
| ECS
A780GM-A (Onboard HD 3200 Video |
53 |
|
|
Foxconn A690GM2MA-RS2H (Onboard Video) |
49 |
|
|
Biostar Tpower N750 (onboard nF 750a video) |
18 |
|
|
Biostar TF8200 A2+ (onboard GF 8200 video) |
64 |
| |
A combination of
moving to a faster triple core processor and switching vendors from Foxconn to ASUS brings
a dramatic reduction in overall processor load for the AMD 790GX chipset.
Let's take
a look at the ASUS M3A78-T's impact on power consumption next - could all
this processor power turn into higher power consumption?
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