While HD MPEG-2 and HD VC-1 can easily be handled by a modern Core 2 Duo, H.264 represents a substantial challenge. Even with the lower-quality broadcast H.264 sample, CPU utilization was already 63% on a Core 2 Duo, which probably the fastest SSE3 performance clock-for-clock. When it came to high-bitrate H.264, the CPU-only solution was inadequate. With H.264 likely becoming the preferred encoding CODEC for future Blu-Ray discs, clearly GPU-accelerated performance is needed. While CoreAVC has a reputation for high-performance H.264 decoding, it still wasn’t a match for PureVideo HD hardware. While we were unable to test CoreAVC with HD-DVD content due to AACS content restrictions, it seems unlikely that you will b able to play an ultra-high bitrate video clip such as Virtual Trip: Yozakura on even a Core 2 Duo Extreme.
Although we haven’t looked at picture quality in this article, it’s important to realize that while MPEG-2 decoding is easily handled with today’s CPUs, GPU-based decoding is still important from a picture quality perspective. To date, there are no software solutions that can provide high-quality content-based inverse telecine of 1080i sources. With hardware supporting content-based inverse telecine of 1080i HDTV, virtually every scripted high-definition TV show broadcast as 1080i60 can be reconstructed into the true 1080p24 image.
What about ATI’s performance? We’ll have those numbers for you in the future. Likewise, it will be interesting to see what sort of bitrates are going to be found in the upcoming H.264 Blu-Ray discs.
ATI Radeon HD 5570 Performance Preview
The Radeon 5570 fuses ATI's 400-shader Redwood graphics core with a low-profile board design, giving you the guts of the 5670 in a package that's similar to the 5450. How does the final product compare to ATI's other sub-$100 offerings, as well as the GeForce 9600 GT and Radeon 4670. You'll have to read today's article to find out!
ATI Radeon 5450 Performance Preview
With prices ranging from $49-$59, ATI's Radeon 5450 brings DX11 and Eyefinity to the entry-level price bracket for the first time. But how does it perform? Find out in today's article!
Mass Effect 2 PC Review
BioWare's latest chapter in the Mass Effect series has earned overwhelmingly positive praise on consoles, but is the game still enjoyable on the PC? Find out in today's review!
AMD's New Year CPUs: Athlon II X4 635, Athlon II X3 440, Athlon II X2 255, & Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Tested
Ready to pull the trigger on a new budget CPU? If so, you'll be glad you waited, as today AMD's providing a free 100MHz speed bump on their latest dual, triple, and quad-core Athlon II CPUs. But that's not all. For the tweakers out there that love to OC, AMD's brought back the Phenom II X2. The 555 Black Edition is AMD's fastest dual-core yet, and it's based on AMD's new C3 Rev. See how the new CPUs OC and perform in today's article!
Gigabyte USB 3.0 Boards Compared: P55A-UD6 and X58A-UD7
Promising transfer rates up to 10X higher than USB 2.0, next-generation USB 3.0 devices should offer considerably more speed to get things done. The same applies for SATA 6Gb/sec. But does the substance live up to the hype? Yes and no. Join us as we take a look at both of these technologies in Gigabyte's latest motherboards for the P55 and X58 platforms!
NVIDIA GF100 'Fermi' Graphics Architecture Overview
With DX11, 512 shaders, and a 384-bit memory interface, NVIDIA's next-generation GF100 GPU certainly looks impressive at first glance. It doesn't stop there though. NVIDIA's significantly upped their tessellation performance with GF100's new PolyMorph engines, and thanks to a tweaked ROP subsystem, the new GPU should deliver improved 8xAA performance as well. Join us as we take a closer look inside GF100's new architecture in this article!
ATI Radeon HD 5670 Performance Preview
Priced at $99 and offering features like DirectX 11 and Eyefinity, ATI's Radeon 5670 is poised to take over the heart of the mainstream graphics market. But is it powerful enough to displace the Radeon 4850 and 4770? How well does it OC? Find out in today's article!
Building a Core i7-920 Gaming Rig
With his Core 2 Extreme X6800 PC beginning to show signs of age, Vandy just finished upgrading his primary gaming rig to Core i7 over the holidays. With dual GeForce GTX 275s, and his Core i7-920 OC'ed to 4GHz, it's a pretty powerful performer. Read about the rest of the components used inside!
Intel Core i5-661 'Clarkdale' Performance Preview
With a 3.33GHz stock clock speed, integrated DX10 graphics core, and 32-nm manufacturing process, Intel's Core i5-661 is designed to make Core 2 Duo obsolete. But does it accomplish its mission? See how it performs with and without its integrated graphics in today's article!
Top Games of 2010
Because multiple blockbuster games were pushed back from Q4'09 to 2010, the next few months should be pretty busy for gamers. Games like Splinter Cell Conviction, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Supreme Commander 2, Mass Effect 2, and BioShock 2 are all expected within the first 3 months of 2010. Hopefully next year we'll also see the debut of games like id Software's RAGE and StarCraft 2. Join us as Vandy highlights some of the most anticipated games of next year in this article!
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