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Testing Methodology
As I´ve told you at the beginning, DXVA is targeted to use a mid-low GPU in a system so it can match a high CPU performance when playing HD content. If you try using CPU, you´ll need at least a Core 2 Duo or AMD equivalent to watch it stutter-free. If you own a low-end system, HD contente playback is nearly impossible, but if you have a mid-low GPU that meets the required series then you´re done because that´s the clue for HD. Now, thinking on you, readers, the tests are targeted for 2 kinds of audiences:
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Those who have a mid or high-end PC and they use it for all their activities including home entertainment.
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Those who bought a low-end PC and they have a GPU or in fact, people who bought an HTPC for entertainment purposes. This second class needs to take advantage of all their components because otherwise it won´t do what it´s supposed to.
Playing music, watching image galleries, reproducing your favorite videos, movies, and surfing on the internet while still having some power to play from time to time is the reason HTPCs were done. From all this, a CPU can do them all without problems, even playing DVDs, but HD is the present and a low-end CPU or even a mid-grade CPU won´t be able to smoothly reproduce 1080p content. Let´s check our test systems and you will quickly understand why I choose them now.
Test System (High-End)
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Motherboard: ASUS Rampage II Extreme X58
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System Memory: 3x1GB Kingston Hyper X 1866MHz 7-8-7-20
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Audio: X-Fi Titanium
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Video: ATI HD 4870 1GB Edition
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Disk Drive 1: Western Digital 150GB 10,000 RPM SATA
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Disk Drive 2: (Paging File) Western Digital 320 GB 7,000 RPM SATA
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Optical Drive: LG SATA 20x DVD R/W
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Enclosure: Sunbeam Tech Station
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PSU: Antec Signature Series 850 watts
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Monitor: Acer P241w 2ms
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Test System (Low-End ION-based HTPC)
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Motherboard: ASRock AMCP7AION-HT
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System Memory: 2x1GB Elixir DDR2 800MHz 5-5-5 (1700Mb usable)
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Processor: Intel Atom 330
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Audio: On-board Realtek
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Disk Drive 1: Seagate 320GB 5,400 RPM SATA
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Optical Drive: SATA 20x DVD R/W /Blu-Ray
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Enclosure: ASRock enclosure
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PSU: 65 watts AC-DC converter
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Monitor: Acer P241w 2ms
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I won´t really show lots of graphics and numbers. Based on what we want to check, the important value is the CPU usage while watching HD videos. Additionally, I did some GPU usage tests for you on the High-end PC. Other than that, I´ll show you some image comparisons in order to see IQ with and without GPU usage. System RAM used will also change with the GPU acceleration so keep an eye on that value.
Software
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