High definition is the future entertainment standard of tomorrow's video's. Playing high definition content on current generation PCs can bog down even the fastest processors because there is more data to handle. Similar to the need for DVD accelerators a few years ago, nVIDIA PureVideo enables computer users to view MPEG-2/DVD and WMV9 High Definition formats on the monitor without slowing the Albatron KI51PV-754 system to a crawl.

The PureVideo standard incorporates a hardware accelerator for the afore mentioned MPEG-2/DVD, and Microsoft Windows Media High Definition Video standards (WMV9 HD). According to nVIDIA's documentation on PureVideo, the GPU (GeForce 6 and 7 series GPUs) takes on video decoding tasks from the CPU, and the end result is smoother, shutter free High Definition playback. nVIDIA PureVideo also supports most current and future high definition formats.

PureVideo is more than just a media accelerator; it also includes features to improve video picture quality. DVD, cable and satellite video provide poor crispness, clearness and smoothness that consumers have been desperate to be "saved from." nVIDIA's PureVideo technology applies spatial temporal de-interlacing to apparently deliver a better image than traditional de-interlacing can muster. PureVideo also fixes the 3:2 pull down problem that can arise from 24 fps video being converted to 30 fps for viewing on TVs or monitors. By recovering the original 24 frame content, PureVideo allows for a clear crisper image.

Another neat feature of PureVideo is its ability to scale videos to any resolution, while maintaining a relatively detailed picture. This means users can view lower resolution videos at a high resolution without suffering too much from blocky or blurry pictures.

Examining CPU Load with PureVideo

To test PureVideo's High Definition accelerating capabilities on the Albatron KI51PV-754, we'll playback a video downloaded from Microsoft's WMV HD Content Showcase through Windows Media Player 10. "The Discoverers" (IMAX) video is available in both 720P and 1080P formats. AMD processor utilization will be monitored via Task Manager.

CPU usage was relatively high when running the 720P version of the Discoverers video and jumped between 50-60%.

Running the 1080P version of the Discoverers video really increases load on the Albatron KI51PV-754 motherboard and its AMD Athlon64 3200+ (754) processor. CPU usage hovers between 75-85%, which is fairly significant so you wouldn't want to be running anything in the background.

The BIOS Options in Brief:

There are basic memory tweaks here, we had to set the memory to run at DDR-333 MHz mode to get the motherboard to run smoothly.

The only real option of any value here is the Frame Buffer Size. If you're not going to be playing any games on the integrated Geforce 6150, set the value to between 8-16MB. That should be sufficient for basic Windows tasks. The TV-out signal is compatible with NTSC-M/J, PAL-M/BDGHI/N/NC.

The motherboard clock frequency can be adjusted from 200-450 MHz in 1 MHz increments. You can adjust the AMD Athlon64 processor multiplier as well as change the HTT multiplier and PCI Express frequency. There are no voltage options, so you won't get very far if you do decide to try and overclock.

We decided to skip overclocking tests on the Albatron KI51PV-754 mini-ITX motherboard because it really isn't built for this kind of application.

Up next, system specs and then several rounds of office and total-system benchmarks.