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The ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard is an AMD 785G platform built with Home Theatre PC and High Definition media applications in mind. Key to its allure are a trifecta of video outputs.
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High-Definition Content playback and ATI Stream testing
No one can deny that high definition content has
been warmly embraced, but what with the success of Blue
Ray, today's mainstream
media center PCs need HD decoding acceleration like never before. AMD Unified Video
Decoder 2 directs HD playback decoding to the integrated Radeon HD 4200 GPU,
rather than to the AMD processor, allowing the system to playback VC-1, MPEG-2
and H.264 content up to 1080p resolution with less CPU usage. On the rear I/O of the ASUS M4A785TD-V EVO motherboard
there are HDMI, DVI-D and analog VGA connectors. The DVI and HDMI ports are HDCP
compliant, while the latter supports audio streams.
Overall,
all HD playback was smooth and uninterrupted, and showed no visible artifacting
or visual anomalies. First up are the Blu-Ray playback tests and then HDD based
HD 720p/1080i content playback. The goal of both rounds of testing is low
overall CPU utilization.
 Blu-Ray Disc HD
Playback |
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Blu-Ray High Definition content demands a lot of PC
processing resources during playback, if CPU load becomes too high that can lead
to jittery video quality or other artifacts. Many integrated graphics processors
now feature Blu-Ray and High Definition H.264, VC1 and M-PEG2 content
acceleration decoders to offload this processing from the CPU, freeing up system
resources for other tasks.
The PCSTATS Blu-Ray HD content playback test scenario monitors average CPU
utilization. It's simple and to the point. The motherboard's integrated graphics
processor is taxed in the same way it would be in your home theatre environment,
and average percent CPU utilization monitored with Windows task manager. Lower
CPU utilization values are best, provided video playback remains smooth and
stutter free.
How PCSTATS Tests: Each integrated graphics motherboard is
connected to an ASUS
MK241 wide screen 1920x1200 (1080P) resolution LCD display with an
HDMI cable. The Blu-Ray movie "10,000 BC" (VC1 encrypted) is then
played back from Chapter 22 on an ASUS BC-1205PT Blu-ray combo drive, using WinDVD Platinum software and the average fluctuation of CPU
load recorded. Lower results are better.
 Blu-Ray Content Playback
Tests (BR-DVD) |
| Integrated Graphics Solution: |
% CPU Utilization |
Ranking |
| Intel GMA X4500HD |
32 - 38% |
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 AMD HD 4200 |
7 - 10% |
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| AMD HD 3300 |
6 - 14% |
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| Nforce 750a |
18 - 20% |
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Under
testing we found that Blu-Ray playback wasn't a huge tax on the AMD 785G
chipset. While Intel's G45 chipset paired with a Core 2 Duo E6750 stayed at
around 30 to 40% CPU load, the AMD 785G chipset stayed consistently under 10% load while
playing back high-def content.Watching Blu-ray movies over the ASUS motherboard's
HDMI connection was flawless.
| Hard Drive HD 720p/1080i
Playback |
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Playing high definition content on current
generation PCs can bog down even the fastest processors because there is more
data to handle. To test the integrated graphics processor's capabilities at HD
content accelerating capabilities, we played the High Definition video clip,
"The Discoverers" at 720P and 1080i from the hard drive while monitoring the
percentage of CPU utilization through Task Manager. Lower results are
better.
Again, CPU utilization here on the ASUS
M4A785TD-V EVO system is minimal. High Definition video will have no
problem playing back on this hardware, even if the CPU is replaced by a CPU like
the Athlon II X4 620. This all thanks to hardware
accelerated decoding.
ATI Stream and Hardware acceleration on the desktop
To test out hardware acceleration of the desktop under ATI Stream, we used
Cyberlink's MediaShow Espresso. It's a transcoding program that can take
advantage of both CPUs and GPUs in order to convert video files from one format
to another. MediaShow Espresso has a very simple interface for adding new files
and several transcoding presets to make it easy to get your videos formatted
properly.
We tested MediaShow Espresso with the trailer for Pixar's Up! The original
file format was a 1920x1080 Quicktime.MOV file, encoded in H.264-avc1. We
transcoded the file into a 1080p mpeg-2 file using just an Athlon II X2 250 CPU
first, and then the Radeon HD 4200 IGP GPU.
| Hardware |
.MOV Transcode Time |
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| Athlon II X2 250 (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, no hardware acceleration)
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2:59 |
| Athlon II X2 250 (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, hardware decoding
enabled) |
2:55 |
| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (with discrete graphics, no hardware
acceleration) |
2:14 |
| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP, no hardware
acceleration) |
2:12 |
| Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (with Radeon HD 4200 IGP hardware
decoding enabled) |
1:49 |
As you can see, both the CPU and GPU work together in these instances to accelerate
encoding performance. While the Radeon HD 4200 IGP on the ASUS M4A785TD-V
EVO isn't dramatically decreasing encoding times, it is shaving off a few
seconds off every encode. The faster the processor, the more pronounced the
effect of having hardware accelerated decoding becomes.
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