In this article I’m going to test a few things like video playback and the temperatures. Good videoplayback is of course required in a HTPC, we don’t want to have a bad experience. All tests are done with the same files, and the same scenes.
The framerate (FPS) for the files is I’ve tested is either 23.96 or 25 FPS, and the bitrate for the files I used can go up to 30 Mbps.

Testing DVD playback

For DVD playback I will use XBMC, with it’s default settings. I find it hard to judge this part. Since the DVD resolution isn’t 720p or 1080p you (Or XBMC) has to upscale. And upscaling doesn’t improve the video quality (much). The DVD resolution is 704×576 or 720×576 (PAL), also known as 576p. This is much lower than 1280×720 used for 720p, or 1920×1080 used for 1080p.

When using 1080p, a DVD “fits” almost 2.5 times in width, and almost two times in height. XBMC doesn’t have problems with upscaling, the DVD can be watched without problems. Did the image quality improve? Very hard to tell, maybe that it depends on the used DVD, I couldn’t notice any difference. And to be honest, I doubt that I will play much DVD’s on this HTPC.

Testing 720p MKV playback

Easy! I can write a lot of crap about 720p playback, but I don’t see any reason to do so. Playing 720p files works perfectly with all the players I’ve tested. Even without hardware acceleration. As you can read in the following part about the 1080p playback, hardware acceleration is important, but for 720p it doesn’t make much difference. With or without hardware acceleration, it plays them all flawlessly.

Testing 1080p MKV playback @ Windows

When it comes to 1080p MKV playback, software can make or break your mood. On this “less powerful” motherboard the key to success is GPU hardware acceleration, called DXVA in Windows or VDPAU in Linux. I can write a very long story about the experiences I had, but I will only write a small summary per tested player. The main question is: Is the Atom D525 powerful enough to play 1080p?

XBMC

So far 1080p files will not play properly in XBMC, they are all stuttering every few seconds. I can’t get a stable playback. The FPS is very low, the maximum FPS I’ve seen is 12 FPS. The WIKI provides some possible solutions in the 1080p playback is jerky and misses frames artice, but so far I had no luck to get that working.
Edit: Even when this article is still being written, and even isn’t published yet… I feel kinda dumb here. I guess I totally overlooked an option in XBMC. I can now play 1080p smoothly. How? By enabling DXVA2 support. Easy! You can enable this Under the menu System > Video > Playback. I guess I was expecting DXVA to be enabled by default, just like the XBMC Live version.

VLC

With the default settings the video is crippled and the video hangs literary every second. Somehow it still shows 10 FPS, but it was more like 1 frame per 10 seconds. Since VLC v1.1 you can enable experimental GPU support in the settings. This will improve the playback a lot, but the FPS will still drop on a regular base. This varies between 15 and 25 FPS. And because of this you can’t rely on VLC to view your 1080p movies.

Media Player Classic:Home Cinema

MPC:HC seems to do the job quite well, it uses DXVA, and the playback isn’t stuttering. The FPS is sometimes dropping a few FPS, but mostly around 25 FPS.

MediaPortal

After installing SAF (Standalone Filters) I could play my MKV files, with DXVA support. MediaPortal is able to keep the FPS at a stable 25 FPS.

Splash Lite / Splash Pro (trial)

Although the free version is missing some features, like SPDIF audio output, it does it’s job quite well! The FPS is once again 25 FPS. I can’t notice any playback difference in the free Lite, or the 30 days trial/paid Pro version.

CPU Usage

When checking the CPU usage during 1080p playback I can see that the ASUS AT5IONT-I has enough CPU power. In XBMC and VLC the CPU usage was around 30%, in MPC-HC it was near 15%, in MediaPortal and Splash Lite around 10%. I must add that it is a little bit strange that VLC couldn’t play the files properly, it didn’t use the GPU by default, but neither did it use the whole CPU.
I can only come to one conclusion: The AT5IONT-I is powerful enough for 1080p MKV playback, if you use the right software!

Testing 1080p MKV playback @ Linux

When using the XBMC Live CD or the normal Linux version, XMBC does support full hardware acceleration trough VDPAU. Therefor there isn’t any problem with 1080p playback. XBMC is the only program I’ve tested here. I can’t really tell if there is any difference between the Windows version of XBMC and the Linux version, if it comes to playback.

Temperatures

Temperature IDLE

Temperature IDLE

One major concern about this motherboard are the temperatures. The system is fanless by default, so you can expect higher temperatures, especially if you don’t have enough airflow.

For the measurements the program SpeedFan is used. And OpenHardwareMonitor as backup. For playback I will use Splash Pro trial since it seems to have the “best” hardware acceleration support.
Temperature sensors are known to be inaccurate, the real temperature can be higher or lower. So we have to “trust” the sensors here, I don’t have the right equipment for this. In this tests I will measure the IDLE temperature, 720p playback, and 1080p plackback temperatures, and a test with 100% cpu load with BurnInTest Pro trial. All values are in Celsius.

Fanless

In the first test I will test this motherboard in it’s default configuration: Fanless. The HTPC case will be closed, so a normal environment is created. The only airflow is caused by the rising warm air.
Temp 1 Temp 2 Core 1 Core 2 GPU HDD
IDLE 49 47 25 22 53 32
720p 67 66 51 49 74 32
1080p 68 66 53 51 81 33
100% 66 66 61 50 75 34
2x 60mm outtake
In this test I will add two 60mm casefans, which both will act as outtake fans. Again, the case will be closed.
The first test, while the fans are running on 5 volt each, 7 or 12 volt isn’t nice for your ears.
Temp 1 Temp 2 Core 1 Core 2 GPU HDD
IDLE 47 45 20 19 50 31
720p 57 57 39 36 69 32
1080p 55 56 38 36 65 32
100% 51 49 27 25 55 30

2x 60mm intake + 120mm

Temperature with only a 120mm fan - IDLE

Temperature with only a 120mm fan - IDLE

In this last test I will add an additional 120mm fan. The fan in this test is just laying on top of the heatsink. The 120mm fan is connected to a Zalman Fanmate 2, so the voltage/speed, and related to that also the noise, can be adjusted in realtime.
The range is between 5 and 12 volt. In this test the fan is running at maximum speed, so in a quiet room you can hear the fan.
The screenshot next to this table is taken with only the 120mm fan connected.
Temp 1 Temp 2 Core 1 Core 2 GPU HDD
IDLE 30 31 7 6 34 29
720p 33 32 7 6 35 29
1080p 34 36 7 7 44 30
100% 33 33 7 7 42 29

Temperature Conclusion

In this test I noticed that the temperature can rise in seconds. For example while the system was IDLE, switching between some windows can make a difference of 5 degrees Celsius. It does also cools down within a few seconds to the previous temperature. I don’t know what I need to think about that. Are the sensors correct? Does it really rise and cool down this quick? Also, the Core 1 and Core 2 sensors… What about them? With the fanless setup or 2x 60mm fans the temperature seems normal, after adding the 120mm fan the temperature doesn’t exceed 10 degrees Celsius.

The harddrive doesn’t seem to be affected too much by the fans, neither does the temperature rise or cool down as quickly as the CPU/GPU does. I think that the temperature depends more on the load/use of the harddrive, since the HTPC case is cool from the inside.

Network transfer

The ASUS AT5IONT-I comes with an onboard Gbit network adapter, the Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller, with the RTL8167 chipset. When I copy files from my Synology NAS, also connected with a Gbit connection, the speed is very nice, although it varies per file. While copying large MKV files, the speed lays around 40-50 MB/s. Which isn’t bad at all. When I copy files to my Synology NAS the transfer speed is a little bit lower, between 35 and 40 MB/s. While transferring the files, in both directions, I got about 30% extra CPU load. This probably means that the network card doesn’t have it’s own dedicated CPU, and relies on the host CPU.

Power consumption

40 watt

40 watt

Depending on your use, your HTPC will probably run a lot. So power consumption can be important for you. To measure the power consumption I’m using a simple Cresta RCE1106. I must admit, I was surprised by the power consumption. In my measurements I’m using a harddrive, which consumes 7-11 watt, which depends if it is IDLE, seeks, reads or writes.

Watt Task
5W Standby/off
6W Windows 7 Sleep mode
30-40 Boot
34-35 Showing the desktop
35-37 Just running XBMC
35-37 DVD playback via network
37-40 720p playback via network
37-40 1080p playback via network
40-43 100% Load

The difference between all tasks is very small. I’d expect a wider range of power consumption, mainly with 1080p content. If you replace the harddrive with a SSD, or maybe a less power consuming 5400 RPM drive, I’m sure that you can subtract a few more watt.

Final conclusion

Originally this motherboard is designed to run fanless. And yes, it is able to run without any fans at all. Still… If you can I’d prefer a low RPM 120mm fan on the heatsink, it decreases the temperature to a much nicer level. At this moment I’ve only attached the 120 mm fan to the fan controller, since the 60 mm fans, even at 5 volt, are producing a high pitch noise.
When we take a closer look to the playback of various files you can’t complain much, the GPU and CPU are powerful enough to play every content you wish. Even Flash :)
If you are planning to build a new HTPC, the ASUS AT5IONT-I isn’t a bad choice.
Pro’s
+ Fanless/silent
+ CPU/GPU has more power than expected
+ Low power consumption
+ Two USB 3.0 ports
+ All modern/general connection types available

Con’s
- Memory QVL isn’t correct, BIOS update required
- Price: It is not a cheap motherboard
- HDMI/SDPIF connector a little bit to close next to each other
- Extra on-board USB would be welcome
- PS2 keyboard/mouse. Why… seriously…

Pictures