DVD/Bluray Ripping Build

[Sailsa]

Hey Tom's Hardware Community,

I need to build (or just purchase) a new desktop to fulfill the following tasks:
Ripping DVD / Bluray discs
Converting ripped files with Handbrake
Acting as a Server to view ripped files on several TV's around home
Basic computer tasks (MS Office, Email, Web Surfing, etc.)
It will not be used to play PC games.

I already have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and am just replacing an old existing desktop. I want a tower with enough space for a few hard drives to store hundreds of videos and a processor that won't take forever to rip and convert lots of files. However, I would like to keep the Budget as low as possible. ~$500-$600 (lower is better) including Windows license would be ideal. Any suggestions on how to pull this off would be appreciated.

 

[mbreslin1954]

I bought my Intel i7-4770k to do the same thing, except I don't just rip blu-rays, I also re-encode TV shows and movies (using HandBrake). Ideally you'll want a quad-core with hyperthreading, like the i7-4770, so that you get eight logical processors. Encoding video with HandBrake uses every possible core you can throw at the job -- the more CPU cores the faster the encoding will go.

However, with your budget limitation you'll be lucky to be able to afford a quad-core without hyperthreading, but I would not advise getting anything less than a real quad-core. For multi-threaded applications like HandBrake encoding, an AMD CPU with lots of cores might make more sense. That's about the only area where AMD can out-perform Intel, and even then barely. Unfortunately I'm not up to speed on AMD CPUs and can't suggest anything, I've been buying Intel CPUs ever since Lynfield came out.

 

[mbreslin1954]

Although this chart is almost two years old (why doesn't Tom's have a CPU comparison chart later than 2013??), it will give you an idea of how the various CPUs stack up running HandBrake:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/cpu-charts-2013/-31-Handbrake,3164.html

It looks like an AMD FX-8350 (Vishera 8c/8t) is the cheapest, at $180. Everything better costs lots more.

 

[mbreslin1954]

Although an Intel Haswell i5-4570 is very close to the FX-8350 and only $25 more.