AMD Catalyst 9.8 Delivers New Kernel Support

[tmpdir]

I've read a lot about the recent catalyst driver but most information seems to be about different versions. Also read this thread from beginning to end (except the part about power usage... thanks skipped that one)

I'm considering a 785g board for an extra htpc. My livingroom htpc will stay with nvidia using vdpau. But a AMD boards are cheaper with a newer socket (the 9400 series are all soon to be old sockets).

How is the overal quality and performance for playing SD video, 720p and 1080i on a 785g with for example X2 2.8ghz cpu? I know there is no acceleration for the comming time, only interested in the quality and performance.

[CNCFarraday]

I've read a lot about the recent catalyst driver but most information seems to be about different versions. Also read this thread from beginning to end (except the part about power usage... thanks skipped that one)

I'm considering a 785g board for an extra htpc. My livingroom htpc will stay with nvidia using vdpau. But a AMD boards are cheaper with a newer socket (the 9400 series are all soon to be old sockets).

How is the overall quality and performance for playing SD video, 720p and 1080i on a 785g with for example X2 2.8ghz cpu? I know there is no acceleration for the coming time, only interested in the quality and performance.

I can see 1080p MKVs (x246/DTS) on an Athlon x5 5050e (2.5GHz) / Gigabyte Mobo with integrated radeon 3200 / 4GB RAM with VLC > 0.9 on a AMD64 Kernel >=.26.

Assuming you don't fold@home and have httpd serving 200 clients, it is more than enough. I never encountered problems with 1080p playback. CPU usage is high but I have a 45W "energy efficient" Athlon with a Zalman copper cooler. The loudest thing in that box is the occasional creek-creek sound of the hdd.

Btw,the "i" in 1080i is for interlaced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i). SO the actual vertical resolution is ~800 pixels. If I can see full frame 1920x1080 x264-compressed video on a 2.5 X2, you can see interlaced ~800 / 720 on a 2.8 X2.

Also, I always build the latest "stable" version of VLC from source, rather than the deb/yum/rpm ones.

[tmpdir]

I can see 1080p MKVs (x246/DTS) on an Athlon x5 5050e (2.5GHz) / Gigabyte Mobo with integrated radeon 3200 / 4GB RAM with VLC > 0.9 on a AMD64 Kernel >=.26.

Assuming you don't fold@home and have httpd serving 200 clients, it is more than enough. I never encountered problems with 1080p playback. CPU usage is high but I have a 45W "energy efficient" Athlon with a Zalman copper cooler. The loudest thing in that box is the occasional creek-creek sound of the hdd.

Thanks CNCFarraday, I'm thinking about a similar tdp (the newer 45W athlon x2 2.8 or 2.9), which should be available in the next couple of weeks. haven't looked into cooling yet, don't expect that there will be any problems with such a low value.

Did you need any special configuration? or is it just installing the latest catalyst driver and there you go (sounds almost to easy )

Btw,the "i" in 1080i is for interlaced (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i). SO the actual vertical resolution is ~800 pixels. If I can see full frame 1920x1080 x264-compressed video on a 2.5 X2, you can see interlaced ~800 / 720 on a 2.8 X2.

Also, I always build the latest "stable" version of VLC from source, rather than the deb/yum/rpm ones.

I was aware of this, but thanks... extra info is always appreciated. By the way I intend to use XBMC with an VDR backend for the pvr functions.

I wanted to make sure the catalyst driver offers stable video playing capabilities.

[AdrenalineJunky]

i also have a 3200 and have no problems with 1080p, using mplayer.

cpu usage is normally 15-20% on a phenom 9950, 2.6ghz. so you shouldn't have any problems with a 2.8ghz dual core.

[Pfanne]

ok i got my new dell 1555 and im trying to play hon...
the games runs just fine, but when it is maximized it stays on top even if i switch the desktop (im using compiz)
the mouse indicates that i did switch the desktop and i can use the other application, but the display still shows hon...
the fullscreen window isnt redirected. if i play the game windowed everything works just fine.
havent tried without compositing yet, but this sucks and maybe somebody here had the problem and knows a fix..
thanks in advance

[CNCFarraday]

Thanks CNCFarraday, I'm thinking about a similar tdp (the newer 45W athlon x2 2.8 or 2.9), which should be available in the next couple of weeks. haven't looked into cooling yet, don't expect that there will be any problems with such a low value.

Well depends. At home, in the room I spend most of my time and also watch films, there are 4 machines right now. I've invested in top range zalman coolers for all on cpus (zm 9600 / 99000) and video cards (the dedicated ones).

It doesn't hurt to put a nice big copper cooler, even on a 45W CPU.

Did you need any special configuration? or is it just installing the latest catalyst driver and there you go (sounds almost to easy )

Well, I tested it on Debian/Ubuntu/OpenSuSe, all AMD64 kernel.26 and all with VLC 1.0.1 compiled from source with the support modules compiled by hand. But that's because I use special build systems on all machines and "normal" builds won't do. Also, all have Catalyst 9.8. I had some problems with Debian, there's a bug when installing some packages that depend on libglu1-mesa and then installing ATi's fglrx blob, the libGLU.so.1 won't link when compiling VLC.

I can't say anything about HDMI and such as I don't have any HDMI capable display. Also, no info on PVR/TV stuff. I don't have a TV for like 8 years or so...

[energyman]

has Zalman finally learned there lesson and use PWM fans or do they still use their shitty fancontrol? And what about changing the fans? Is that still a 'well, I have to replace the whole thing' operation?
Their attaching system, still a cluster f***?

Btw, Scythe Shuriken..... now that is a small, quiet cooler.

have a look at frostytech - they test coolers for a living.



http://www.frostytech.com/

[Pfanne]

ok i checked.
the same happens with metacity, too. (no compositing)

[bridgman]

Doesn't metacity have a compositor as well these days ? Just checking...

[Pfanne]

i checked.
metcitys compositor isnt activated by default, so its the same with or without compositing.