AMD x2 3800+ not enough for 1080P

[Raistlfiren]

Hey,
I am trying to turn my server into a media center pc and the current specs are as follows:
AMD X2 3800+
4 GB RAM
MSI 9400 GT
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe MOBO

Is this not enough to push 1080P MKV movies or not? At the moment it is stuttering like crazy and I am getting lost packets errors under multiple different media players on linux. I am running debian and I am streaming from my computer to my TV via HDMI on the 9400 GT. Do I not have something setup correctly, or is the 3800 not powerful enough to push 1080P movies with audio? If so is there a step up socket 939 processor out there that can push it or do I need to do a full system update?

[LoRd_MuldeR]

While the X2 3800+ should be able to do this in software, any up-to-date graphic's card will be able to decode H.264 (up to 1080p) with its built-in hardware decoder at near-zero CPU usage ;)

For example with CoreAVC 1.9.5 and "hardware" decoding enabled I can playback high-bitrate (~23 MBit/s) 1080p H.264 content flawlessly at ~5% CPU load...

[AnonCrow]

ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe MOBO
The mobo does support up to athlon x2 4800+ , if you're willing to spend the money/can actually find one somewhere.

Do I not have something setup correctly
What are you using for playback, Mplayer, Xine, MythTV (http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/VDPAU#Enabling_VDPAU_in_MythFrontend) ?

Recent enough Nvidia binary drivers ? At least NVIDIA 180.16 which are a year old.

[Blue_MiSfit]

A 9400gt should handle decoding in DXVA with almost no CPU usage.

Dont put ANY more money into a 939 system (!)

~MiSfit

[Raistlfiren]

Thanks all for the great replies! I started looking up some more on hardware decoding under linux and it seems like it is half way new to the scene. Currently I have the latest linux Nvidia drivers: 190.53. I am right now trying to just get mplayer working for the video files since I seem to be the most familiar with it although whichever media player is easiest to setup is the best route for me. I just want to get things moving on this HTPC. I am guessing that the best route on getting hardware decoding support for h264 files under linux is by compiling mplayer or xine from scratch to support the decoding? Like in the following two articles : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1037625
http://blog.mymediasystem.net/avchd/xine-vdpau-the-first-contact/
Is this really the only way to go about doing this?

Raist

[Gusar]

For Ubuntu there are for sure PPAs (Personal Package Archives) with precompiled MPlayer builds capable of hardware video decoding. Sorry, I can't give you a link, as I don't use Ubuntu. But it wouldn't surprise me if other distributions also provide appropriate MPlayer builds. Which distro are you using?

[Raistlfiren]

Yeah that is what I thought but I am currently running Debian AMD64 bit... Not quiet Ubuntu but close!

[Blue_MiSfit]

Whoops, missed the bit that you're trying to this all on Linux. I see you're trying to make things difficult! (I kid, I'm just not much of a desktop Linux guy)

That being said, compiling mplayer shouldn't be too difficult. That's probably your best bet. Just sure you compile the version with hardware acceleration!

~MiSfit

[Raistlfiren]

Yeah I got it working after updating my debian distro to squeezy. Then I was able to install the testing SVN package of mplayer with vdpau support. Now no stuttering! Next step XBMC!

Thanks for the help!

Raist