Upgrade E350 - Intel or AMD?

locky123

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Built my first HTPC over 2 years ago and now find that its slow loading and using XBMC Aeon Nox, sometimes it freezes during movie playback and sometimes not smooth, dropping frames.

Asrock E350M1, 4GB RAM, Win 7 64 bit, 3 normal drives - small one for OS, 1TB and 2TB for media, use MCE remote. PicoPSU 80W with 60W brick, Silverstone ML03B case.

I assume the CPU is the weakest link, so considering one that will work but still be power efficient.

From what I read Intel generally use less power than AMD.

Any CPU/mobo recommendations so that I can work out costs and will I still be able to use the PicoPSU (it is quiet, maybe a bigger brick)?
 
I use a celeron 847 it works very well ! Maybe look out for the celeron 1037 now though ebuyer was selling a Acer revo with the 1037 for £100 around Christmas not sure if that deals still on
 
The Intel G1610 Box Celeron Dual Core Processor (2.6GHz, 2MB Cache Socket 1155) is about £30 and is more powerfull, but will take more W.

I wonder if its better to go more power to cope with Aeon Nox and find a B75 mobo?
 
Have you tried a clean install of Windows. Windows tends to slow down over a year or so although I have to admit Windows 8 only seemed to slow slightly in its first year. Just creating a new account and moving your data to it can give a noticeable improvement in performance with a clean profile. Vista was especially bad in this respect so I usually reinstalled every 9 months!

Chris
 
I could try a clean install, do I just use the Backup addon to copy everything imcluding skin settings?
 
Dunno if this is any help, but I've recently upgraded to a mini-ITX Gigabyte GA-B75N and a Celeron G1620, using an old Antec Skeleton Mini 'case' which uses a 90W power brick. I've got it connected to a power meter plug, and so far it hasn't shown over 47W under (a pretty standard) load so far.
 

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