Encoding a dvd/blu ray to H 264 video with a FX 8150

[tekkenfreak]

Hello,
I am running a program called dvd catalyst and us it to rip dvds and blu rays to an H 264/mp4 format. When the encoding starts, everything is at the mercy of the encoding. Web browsing is slow and even if I wanted to jump on World of warcraft the fps drop to around 10-12 fps until either the encoding is done or I stop the encoding and everything is back to normal. One other thing I would like to mention is that there is a high pitched whine when this going on as well. The bios settings are all at defaults and there is no overclocking. Here are my specs if this helps.

AMD Fx-8150
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 V1.1
2 sticks of DDR3 Ocz 10700 4gb ram
2 sticks of DDR3 Patriot 12800 vengeance 4gb ram
Ernmax Aftermarket CPU cooler.
64GB SSD Patriot For OS
2tb black WD drive
1.5tb barracuda Seagate drive

 

[rolli59]

It is because the encoding is multithreaded and wants to use all the CPU leaving little spare for other tasks.

 

[tekkenfreak]

I had an old intel dual core processor that didn't react like this. I have read that AMD processors have a hard time when encoding in H264. There has to be something that can fix this. There has to be something deeper that is causing this. I mean why is there is a high pitch whining noise when this encoding is going on?

 

[rolli59]

The whining can be caused by a fan or coil whine from a PSU under high load.

 

[tekkenfreak]

just realized I should have added that and I apologize. I have tried 2 different PSU a OCZ 550w and I have a cosair Xt750 in currently. Both caused the Whine that I hear and it seems to be coming from around the CPU area. I mean there has to be someone that has gone through the same issue I have. Why would it take a step backwards with better parts then my 7 year old intel core duo???

 

[rolli59]

Time wise the encoding should be happening a lot faster. It is possible that the whine is coming from your motherboard, CPU power regulation.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

WHICH graphics card have you got as most mid to high range cards will encode a LOT better than a cpu... ?

All the best Brett

 

[tekkenfreak]

@roli59 I can try disabling all of the power management stuff any suggestions on what to disable on the MB?

@Brett928S2 I currently have a Asus 7870.

 

[rolli59]

I am not sure it is going to help the CPU you have is very power hungry. Your board has very limited regulation and only a 4 pin CPU power plug.

 

[tekkenfreak]

So you feel that I am stuck and that another motherboard is recommended?

 

[rolli59]

I really do not know what to say but the CPU being a power hog does not help. So maybe a better board will help at least with the whine.

 

[tekkenfreak]

I think I am going to disable all of the power management options on the MB and start from there. I just got this MB 3 months ago and don't want to go that route if I can help it. I also do notice using any other encoding other then H 264 will not tax the system as much and I can go on business as usual.

 

[jaguarskx]

The only fix for the H.264 encoding hogging up all the resources is to set the priority level of DVD Catalyst to "Below normal" or limit the "Affinity" to just 6 cores in Windows Task Manager.

 

[tekkenfreak]

@jaguarskx Which cores would I disable? Does it matter?

 

[popatim]

the FX has an issue with encoding h264 because of its architecture; sharing L2 and FPU (floating point unit) between two cores.

You can try limiting your app to 4 or 6 cores to give your game some cpu.

Also check your hdd setup for encoding. With what you listed I would use the 2tb drive as source, the SSD as scratch, and the 1.5tb as destination. And when your done encoding move the file off the destination drive and put it in your final storage drive and make a backup (or leave a copy on the destination drive as the backup)

 

[popatim]

you would limit to adjacent cores. if they start with 0 then 0&1, or 2&3..etc
if they start with 1 then 1&2, 2&3.. that way you are leaving a whole bulldozer module for your games

 

[tekkenfreak]

@popatim My source is either a dvd or a blu ray movie and I rip them to be put on a nook tablet. I encode the files to the 1.5tb. Not sure what you mean by "scratch." If your talking temp files I checked dvd catalyst and can't find anywhere that it dumps temp files to.
Also I noticed that I have to keep changing the affinity every time I rip a tv episode or a new movie.

And what kind of processor would be good for something like this in future if
I decide to unload the FX 8150 on to someone that doesn't encode video.


Yeah affinity settings to the cores doesn't help. World of Warcraft and dvd catalyst are both slow and the whine continues.

 

[popatim]

I just searched thru the user manual and didnt find a setting for a scratch disk (which is virtual memory for video software) so I'm not sure what it uses once it runs out of real memory.

Its been a while since I Wow'd is it still a dual core game? If so then one of the Ivy i7's should do ok.

Can you write a large file to the 1.5gb drive to make sure its not causing your buzz?

 

[tekkenfreak]

Well WoW does use multi cores, and I did write over a 2gb file to the 1.5tb and no high pitched whine.

 

[popatim]

by chance did you try limiting the encoder to 4 cores and letting wow have 4 cores?

 

[tekkenfreak]

I did but there was no change I still got the slow down both in wow and dvd catalyst and of course the whine.