CPU Testing
This article outlines the testing methodology that MissingRemote.com uses. You will find, over time, that this document will change as we our test bench improves, our budget changes (hopefully for the better) and of course inpur from our readers. Our focus for these tests will be how the CPU performs in Media Center and digital media activities.
Our goal will be to test CPUs that make sense from a budget and performance perspective. We have no plans to run out and test the high-end $1000 plus CPUs because there are not that many builders out there that use "extreme" CPUs. Going forward, we hope to concentrate on the $80 to $300 budget range.
Blu-ray Playback
Programs:
Media Center
Total Media Theater (TMT)
Reliability and Performance Monitor (used for logging purposes)
Test:
The object is to test CPU usage during high-defintion optical disc playback. This test will give the reader an idea what kind of CPU it takes to playback the latest high definition CODECS. A seperate digital media playback test will be presented later in the article that focuses on different containers.
Two different Blu-ray discs will be used for this test. One disc that has been encoded using H.264 and one disc that has been encoded using VC-1. Each disc will be played back for 5 minutes. This time span will should allow for a representative sample of the movie that has both high and low bit rates.
The monitor stated above will be used to log the CPU usage. The number presented to the reader in our article will be an average of the 5 minute interval with highest and lowest CPU usage reported with reference to a particular scene. A snapshot of the per core usage and graph will be included for verification purposes.
Cases with and without hardware acceleration will be presented.
DVD Playback
Programs:
Media Center
Reliability and Performance Monitor (used for logging purposes)
Test:
The object of this test is to test CPU usage during standard definition playback. This particular benchmark is already showing its age before it makes it into regular use, however, we feel it is neccesary to present this number to provide an over all picture of what your HTPC is capable of. This particular number has a bit more meaning when you add it in to our multi-tasking test. All modern video cards have sort of acelleration designed to improve playback, as such, we expect this number to be pretty small.
A DVD will be played back for a period of 5 minutes and the CPU usage will be logged during the tests. An average of the 5 minute interval will be used for the article. A snapshot of the per core usage and graph will be included for verification purposes.