Boxee on Imac - GPU runs hot

[JimKirk]

I just loaded up boxee on the I7 that I have and let me tell you it is great.

There is a catch though.

It makes the graphics card run at 70 and the fans spin up to 1900rpm and the Imac gets loud.

How come a sub 200 dollar d-link box running on a tegra cpu can run boxee without all the noise? I don't think that box even has a fan.

Similarly my wdtv live is also fanless and seems to pump out 1080p just fine.

Any thoughts on this? Is graphics on the Mac that lame?

 

[msw123307]

Seems like I read something about Boxee running much more smoothly on Windows. Something about Adobe not updating the other systems (which I think has been an issue for years.).

 

[wkearney99]

How come a sub 200 dollar d-link box running on a tegra cpu can run boxee without all the noise?

Boxes like that have custom chips in them designed specifically for handling video. Same as something like a Tivo. Those boxes typically do a great job at video but can't do much in the way of general computer processing.

Think of it like a sports car versus a pickup truck. A sports car does a great job handling and going fast but isn't very good for much else. A pickup truck can haul dirt, groceries, furniture, friends... whatever, but won't go super fast or handle curves. (Yes, of course, there are always hot rod exceptions both ways).

The little video players are suped-up solely for the playback purposes and won't let you do anywhere near the wide range of things you can do with a general purpose computer. There's some areas of overlap, but not much.