CPU for video encoding

[Johnnie.it]

Is there a reason you're only looking at AMD CPU's? An i5-3570K can be had for under $200 USD.

Also, I might consider moving to a combo intel cpu+mainboard, as long as I don't have to sell a kidney

Look, I know that intel processors deliver top performance. If it was for me, I'd have a quad xeon box.
Unfortunately, it's kinda out of my budget.

From what you posted, buying an i5-3570k (€210 here, 35 more than an FX-8150; throw in a new mainboard and a new heatsink, I'd end spending up 100€ more than before) does not justify the somewhat slight performance increase.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Look, I know that intel processors deliver top performance. If it was for me, I'd have a quad xeon box.
Unfortunately, it's kinda out of my budget.

From what you posted, buying an i5-3570k (€210 here, 35 more than an FX-8150; throw in a new mainboard and a new heatsink, I'd end spending up 100€ more than before) does not justify the somewhat slight performance increase.

Depends on what you want to do with the machine. I know you are talking about encoding, but you also mentioned gaming, so I wasnt clear whether you wanted to use this machine for gaming to or use a different one.

For gaming and most other uses, the 3570K would be superior and use less power. For encoding, and since you already have the mb, the FX is the way to go if you dont mind the extra power use. It would take a long time if ever to get back the extra cost of the 3570 in power savings, I know, but somehow using so much power for the same performance just bothers me.

 

[tweakboy]

Hi there guys, I'll need a quick advice about that, as the selection of AMD CPUs on the bench section is quite limited.

Right now I've got a Phenom II x4 955 3.2 BE, but the x264 encoding takes really a lot of time so I was considering to upgrade my CPU.
Judging by the results on the benchmark section, viable candidates were the Phenom II X4 980 and the FX-8150.
I was oriented towards AMD because of a price issue in the first place, and also because my current mainboard already supports both of them.

Is there any cheaper (I mean €/fps) intel processor I should consider?
Of course, that mean I'd have to replace the mainboard too.

This rig I used mainly for gaming, there's also 2x4gb gskill ripjaw 1333 cas7 and a 6950. Up until now it's handled anything I could throw at it, always at 1080p and max details.
Now I started converting all my bluray discs for my htpc...the fellowship of the ring took 15 hours and I just can't stand that. Of course I could sacrifice some quality to speed up the process, but if a couple hundred euros can solve the issue, why not?

So, what do you think?

...aaaaand of course, let me thank you in advance

Intel 3990k 6 core 12 threads 15MB Cache

Or grab a Sandy 2600k and OC the heck out of it. My dad does video editing on Sandy @ 4.2Ghz its very fast and you will have HT on your side so 8 threads going to work. gl

 

[Makaveli]

Intel 3990k 6 core 12 threads 15MB Cache

Or grab a Sandy 2600k and OC the heck out of it. My dad does video editing on Sandy @ 4.2Ghz its very fast and you will have HT on your side so 8 threads going to work. gl

Why is he going to do any of that when it clearly says in his post that he just wants to upgrade the cpu. His board supports both an X6 and a FX processor.

Do you bother to read anything before posting?

 

[Yuriman]

Look, I know that intel processors deliver top performance. If it was for me, I'd have a quad xeon box.
Unfortunately, it's kinda out of my budget.

From what you posted, buying an i5-3570k (€210 here, 35 more than an FX-8150; throw in a new mainboard and a new heatsink, I'd end spending up 100€ more than before) does not justify the somewhat slight performance increase.

Depends on what you want to do with the machine. I know you are talking about encoding, but you also mentioned gaming, so I wasnt clear whether you wanted to use this machine for gaming to or use a different one.

For gaming and most other uses, the 3570K would be superior and use less power. For encoding, and since you already have the mb, the FX is the way to go if you dont mind the extra power use. It would take a long time if ever to get back the extra cost of the 3570 in power savings, I know, but somehow using so much power for the same performance just bothers me.

If you plan to do any kind of overclocking, the i5 is less likely to need a new heatsink than the FX-8xxx because it produces a lot less heat and draws a lot less power so saves you on electricity twice - from powering it and also less load on your A/C system. You can probably get a 4.2-4.3ghz overclock with the i5 on the stock heatsink and without increasing the voltage and it will still only draw 2/3 the power of an FX doing the same work.

If you do anything else with your system and care a lot about the performance in them, things like games or single-threaded encoding (ie iTunes), my vote is for the i5, it spanks the FX in things that can't fill 8 threads.

If you don't plan to overclock then you *could* shave a lot off of your costs by going with a non-K processor and dropping down from a Z chipset to an H, but I would recommend going with Bulldozer in that case. If you can throw an FX-8150 in your current board then it's definitely a more economical option.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

1 hour video @ 30frames/s = 108000 frames.

8150:
1st pass 108000/123,92 = 871 seconds = 14,52 minutes
2nd pass 108000/37,42 = 2886 seconds = 48,10 minutes
Total encoding time (video only) 14,52 + 48,10 = 62,62 minutes

3570K:
1st pass 108000/166,53 = 648 seconds = 10,81 minutes
2nd pass 108000/33,78 = 3197 seconds = 53,29 minutes
Total encoding time (video only) 10,81 + 53,29 = 64,10 minutes

A bit closer than I thought it would be at first glance, still a narrow win for Bulldozer. One of the very few uses where you can actually justify it vs SB/IB.

It's crazy to think anyone is recommending bulldozer for anything.

It's about even with the i5 (in an application that uses 8 threads), yet uses twice as much power to do it.

Let's not forget IB scales well with clock speeds and does not become an inferno of 500w power draw like bulldozer.


Invest in your future, sell your current setup to fund an Intel setup.

 

[Johnnie.it]

Come on guys, no need to fight because of me.
I love you all, you know...

Anyway, my case stands (well, not really, since it's a desktop).
Intel stuff is pretty sweet but costs way too much for what I need it to do.

Anyway, thanks everybody for your help.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

FX is going to cost you more ever time you send electricity through it.

For every dollar you spend on the FX chip to do your work, it would have cost you 50 cents to do it on the Intel setup.

 

[Yuriman]

FX is going to cost you more ever time you send electricity through it.

For every dollar you spend on the FX chip to do your work, it would have cost you 50 cents to do it on the Intel setup.

True, but maybe he has utilities included with his rent?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Save the planet?

 

[Idontcare]

FX is going to cost you more ever time you send electricity through it.

If it uses 100W more power, and he uses it fully loaded 8hrs/day, and if he pays $0.10/kWHr, then he's looking at bulldozer costing him an extra $30/yr versus going with the IB chip.

 

[jones377]

It's crazy to think anyone is recommending bulldozer for anything.

Well, personally I would go with the i5 but since he has the option to upgrade the CPU only and claims that he does ALOT of encoding with x264 I think BD is still on the table. it's ok though, not everyone needs to have the same opinion. The world is a big place, it's got room for lots of different views

 

[guskline]

To me the solution is simple. If you keep your present mb go AMD 8150. If you go to a new mb go Intel.

 

[NTMBK]

If it uses 100W more power, and he uses it fully loaded 8hrs/day, and if he pays $0.10/kWHr, then he's looking at bulldozer costing him an extra $30/yr versus going with the IB chip.

Plus, that means that he can turn on his heating marginally less often. (Yay physics!)

 

[Yuriman]

If it uses 100W more power, and he uses it fully loaded 8hrs/day, and if he pays $0.10/kWHr, then he's looking at bulldozer costing him an extra $30/yr versus going with the IB chip.

Power is relatively cheap here in Florida but you can effectively double the cost of anything you use here because everyone runs their air conditioning 9 months out of the year. $30 to power a CPU, and then optimistically ~$40 to push that heat outside 9 months of the year = $70 per year operating costs. Break even point is roughly 2 years then.

 

[NTMBK]

Power is relatively cheap here in Florida but you can effectively double the cost of anything you use here because everyone runs their air conditioning 9 months out of the year. $30 to power a CPU, and then optimistically ~$40 to push that heat outside 9 months of the year = $70 per year operating costs. Break even point is roughly 2 years then.

Precisely the opposite of the situation here in Scotland!

 

[bononos]

Precisely the opposite of the situation here in Scotland!

The price of electricity or the temperature?

 

[Idontcare]

Yeah here in Pennsylvania the heat from my computers is subsidizing the heat-pump that is trying to maintain my house temperature at a balmy 67F/19.4C for ~6months out of the year (winter). The other 6 months the same heat-pump ends up working against the computer heat while trying to keep the house at a crisp and cool 78F/25.6C (summer).

It is probably a wash in terms of heating and cooling costs for my computers, no multiplicative effect. Was not the case in Dallas, just like Florida for Yuriman.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Precisely the opposite of the situation here in Scotland!

And Denmark... I even think I could justify a Bulldozer setup doubling as a space heater in winter... that heat has to go -somewhere-...

 

[AtenRa]

Precisely the opposite of the situation here in Scotland!

OT,

where in Scotland ??

 

[Johnnie.it]

Plus, that means that he can turn on his heating marginally less often. (Yay physics!)

Yes, brace yourselves, winter is coming.

Actually, I live in the sweet sweet south of france (although I'm not french).
Here I don't need air conditioning in summer nor heating in winter.
Temperatures are very very sweet all year round, except perhaps for a couple of weeks in july and february ^__^
Still, I could live with a couple degrees more for the next few months.

Anyway, I ended up as I told with an ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 and an FX-8150.

Also, bear in mind that I don't always use this pc. I've got a fusion based NAS/htpc, a laptop for office productivity and an atom tablet for browsing 9gag on the couch.
This is just my gaming rig, and is now going to double as encoder.

 

[Yuriman]

Yes, brace yourselves, winter is coming.

Actually, I live in the sweet sweet south of france (although I'm not french).
Here I don't need air conditioning in summer nor heating in winter.
Temperatures are very very sweet all year round, except perhaps for a couple of weeks in july and february ^__^
Still, I could live with a couple degrees more for the next few months.

Anyway, I ended up as I told with an ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 and an FX-8150.

Also, bear in mind that I don't always use this pc. I've got a fusion based NAS/htpc, a laptop for office productivity and an atom tablet for browsing 9gag on the couch.
This is just my gaming rig, and is now going to double as encoder.

Food for thought:

For encoding, BD is competitive, but I would definitely not recommend an 8150 over an i5 for gaming.

 

[exar333]

If it uses 100W more power, and he uses it fully loaded 8hrs/day, and if he pays $0.10/kWHr, then he's looking at bulldozer costing him an extra $30/yr versus going with the IB chip.

And if you OC both the i5 and the BD, that delta only grows. It could easily be $50/year if the OP OCs both to ~4.5ghz.

 

[exar333]

You dont have the same Quality as with the x264 codec, it may be ok to use QuickSync when you play the video in small screens (phones or pads) but for a big screen viewing(TV or Projector) you need x264 for the best Image Quality.

Unless you dont care having the best IQ.

Spot on with this comment.

QuickSync should really be used for 480P or less source material on large screens, and anything goes for pads/tablets/phones.

Haswell is debuting HQ quicksync, but that won't be around until 2013. NOT trying to derail the thread, just bringing this up. Whether its competitive with x264 remains to be seen...

 

[AtenRa]

I will insist on waiting for PileDriver, FX8320 will cost less than current FX8150 and have the same performance + lower power (dont ask me to provide evidence )