ASRock's High-End Vision 3D 252B HTPC Review
by Ganesh T S on May 7, 2012 6:15 AM EST- Posted in
- Home Theater
- Sandy Bridge
- HTPC
- GT 540M
- NVIDIA
HTPC enthusiasts are often concerned about the quality of pictures output by the system. While this is a very subjective metric, we have decided to take as much of an objective approach as possible. Starting with the Core 100 review in 2010, we have been using the HQV 2.0 benchmark for this purpose.
The HQV 2.0 test suite consists of 39 different streams divided into 4 different classes. The playback device is assigned scores for each, depending on how well it plays the stream. Each test was repeated multiple times to ensure that the correct score was assigned. The scoring details are available in the testing guide on the HQV website.
In the table below, we indicate the maximum score possible for each test, and how much the ASRock Vision 3D 252B was able to get. As mentioned in the previous section, we used NVIDIA Graphics Driver v301.24 for the benchmarking.
| HQV 2.0 Benchmark - ASRock Vision 3D 252B | ||||
| Test Class | Chapter | Tests | Max. Score | ASRock Vision 3D 252B (NVIDIA GT 540M) |
| Video Conversion | Video Resolution | Dial | 5 | 5 |
| Dial with Static Pattern | 5 | 5 | ||
| Gray Bars | 5 | 5 | ||
| Violin | 5 | 5 | ||
| Film Resolution | Stadium 2:2 | 5 | 5 | |
| Stadium 3:2 | 5 | 5 | ||
| Overlay On Film | Horizontal Text Scroll | 5 | 3 | |
| Vertical Text Scroll | 5 | 3 | ||
| Cadence Response Time | Transition to 3:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | |
| Transition to 2:2 Lock | 5 | 5 | ||
| Multi-Cadence | 2:2:2:4 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 5 | |
| 2:3:3:2 24 FPS DVCam Video | 5 | 5 | ||
| 3:2:3:2:2 24 FPS Vari-Speed | 5 | 5 | ||
| 5:5 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| 6:4 12 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| 8:7 8 FPS Animation | 5 | 5 | ||
| Color Upsampling Errors | Interlace Chroma Problem (ICP) | 5 | 5 | |
| Chroma Upsampling Error (CUE) | 5 | 5 | ||
| Noise and Artifact Reduction | Random Noise | SailBoat | 5 | 5 |
| Flower | 5 | 5 | ||
| Sunrise | 5 | 5 | ||
| Harbour Night | 5 | 5 | ||
| Compression Artifacts | Scrolling Text | 5 | 5 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 5 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 5 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 5 | ||
| Upscaled Compression Artifacts | Text Pattern | 5 | 3 | |
| Roller Coaster | 5 | 3 | ||
| Ferris Wheel | 5 | 3 | ||
| Bridge Traffic | 5 | 3 | ||
| Image Scaling and Enhancements | Scaling and Filtering | Luminance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 |
| Chrominance Frequency Bands | 5 | 5 | ||
| Vanishing Text | 5 | 5 | ||
| Resolution Enhancement | Brook, Mountain, Flower, Hair, Wood | 15 | 15 | |
| Video Conversion | Contrast Enhancement | Theme Park | 5 | 2 |
| Driftwood | 5 | 2 | ||
| Beach at Dusk | 5 | 2 | ||
| White and Black Cats | 5 | 2 | ||
| Skin Tone Correction | Skin Tones | 10 | 0 | |
| Total Score | 210 | 176 | ||
When compared with the other SFF HTPCs, the score doesn't look out-of-place.
However, we have seen NVIDIA GPUs scoring higher in earlier reviews. This is just an indicator of how new driver releases tend to break existing features. As we will see in the next section, there are a number of knobs in the driver which just don't work at all.
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jabber - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I bought about a dozen of the first generation Atom boxes and they are all still trucking and the customers still love them.I still want one for myself.
TerdFerguson - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
For what they were meant for, the little ION machines were flipping fantastic. With a package price of below $200 for everything but the OS, it's a value proposition that hasn't been matched by anything since.duploxxx - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
yes there are but not all OEM have the guts to do it right and just stuff garbage onto consumers. If they love it means they have never used anything else...http://www.anandtech.com/show/4442/zotac-zbox-braz...
BPB - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
Am I the only guy who goes to the bottom of the specs sheet first and looks fir price? This thing is way too much for an HTPC.duploxxx - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
what would you expect if you see following specs...Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5-2520M
(2 x 3.00 GHz (3.20 GHz Turbo), 32nm, 3MB L2, 35W)
Graphics NVIDIA GT 540M (1 GB VRAM)
1 reason why you would need these 2 parts into a HTPC, can be replaced by 1 APU which cost less and consumes less in total, end of story.
BPB - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I am not saying it isn't worth it. I am saying I see HTPC in the review title, look at the price, and think it's not worth reading the article. Simply can't see spending that on an HTPC, that's all. It is not a knock on the product. I'd be very happy owning this.cknobman - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
Agreed.Over $1000 for a HTPC and then with these specs to boot?
Im not saying the specs are bad but they are certainly not worth of over $1000.
mbzastava - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I recall reading a nice comment from the Intel NUC article which points out how this new form factor is just repackaged laptop parts whith a nice new profit margin. I couldn't agree with him more.The question you should be asking is: Why does this unit cost around $1000 when you could get a similarly specced laptop for almost $300 less?
ganeshts - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
Economy of scale - How many such HTPCs are going to be purchased vs. how many laptops the vendor would sell.blackbrrd - Monday, May 7, 2012 - link
I just use a laptop as a HTPC. You can get a decent laptop for waaay less than this costs, and you can use it as a laptop if you need one.