need CPU advice

[notanotheracct]

alright so i'm going to build a pc whose main purpose will be for video editing and figured i'd start by choosing a CPU. as a note, i plan to spend $1500-2000 at most on the whole rig, including monitor.

i was thinking something like a p4 3.0-3.2 a month or 2 ago but am now curious about dual core and HT. i was expecting to pay $200-300 for the CPU to stay within budget. so any advice on my build?


btw, i would rather go with AMD, especially for their low power consumption, but have noticed P4's to be overall better for video editing.

 

[fate]

Hmm I'd say maybe one of the 64 bit Prescott chips, that'd run about the middle of your cpu budget.

 

[BePe86]

Well, if you want AMD, and dual-core, I think you need to increase your CPU budget a bit. I dunno how much the X2 3800+ will cost, but I really doubt it would fit that CPU budget of yours.

But of course, Prescott is still a <b>hot</b> choice for video encoding, no doubt about that. But if you want dual cores, then increase shift your budget a bit.

Also, if you don't want to increase your budget that much, the Pentium D is still a choice, however, with the power usage and heat generation, I would really not recommend it. Besides, total system costs between a Pentium D and X2 isn't that much, when you take the more expensive motherboards, larger PSU, more expensive DDR2-ram into the calculation.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by BePe86 on 07/11/05 06:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[notanotheracct]

so it's something like 4 choices then ( in no particular order):


#1) INTEL PENTIUM 4 630 PROCESSOR @ 3.0GHz LGA775 800FSB 2MB CACHE 64BIT W/ HYPER-THREADING TECHNOLOGY (about $200)

#2) INTEL PENTIUM D 830 LGA775 PROCESSOR @ 3.0GHz DUAL-CORE EM64T 800FSB 2x1MB CACHE 64-bit COMPUTING (about $350)

#3) AMD Athlon 64 4200+ X2 2.2GHz 512KBx2 L2 Cache 939-Pin 64-bit Dual Core (about $550)

#4) wait for a cheaper AMD 64 X2? - http://www.pcmech.com/newsitem.php?id=1158 (click on the source, i can't link directly) (about $350)


the main question i have is what type of difference have there been in the video editing benchmarks between intel and amd? if there isn't such a huge difference between the mentioned cpu's then i might lean towards amd (by "huge" i mean like 30min vs 40min for a 2 hour video being acceptable to me, as an example).

if no one has any qualms with said cpu's i think i'll try to get some price estimates for rigs with at least 3 of them. also, i was thinking 1gb of ram would be enough, any thoughts?

 

[BePe86]

Here's a nice review, just to give you an idea:

<A HREF="http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=11" target="_new">http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=11</A>

I would like to help you some more, but that will have to be tomorrow, now I need some good sleep.

 

[AiloveHaibara]

if u prefer AMD,then X2 4200+ is a good choice
although 2 840(XE&D)are better performance ,they are expensive and very high power consumption
other intel processors are lower fps than X2 4200+ accroding to the link,hmmm
don't forget to buy 1gb memory,it's significant for your rig

 

[endyen]

For a chip in that price range, an A64 3500 would be your best bet. In editing, it would be about the same as the others ( or in the same ball park) as editing is more user intensive than chip intensive. Even for rendering, the 3500 would give great value

 

[HansGruber]

840(XE&D)are better performance

ROFL !

Stop telling lies !

840 outperforms slowest AMD X2 only in few rendering/encoding benches, but in 90% of the applications X2 4200 crushes Intel.

<font color=red>"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
- Albert Einstein</font color=red>

 

[notanotheracct]

for my own curiosity i threw some parts together to get a quick idea on what prices i might expect and the amd rig doesn't seem too bad. i'm gonna check out a better setup because if i go for amd i'll definitely wanna OC it.


CPU - INTEL PENTIUM D 830 $330
MB - GIGABYTE 8I945P-G LGA 775 $148
RAM - Corsair 512MB DDR2 667MHZ 64MBX64 NONECC 240DIMM UNBUFF $81 x2 640
Corsair (System Memory) PC4200 DDR2-533 512MB $48 x2 574 (wasn't sure about the correct MHZ of the RAM so i took the two i thought would fit)
case - 100
monitor - ViewSonic VP191B Black 19" 8m $440
V CRD - ATI (Sapphire) Radeon X800 256 MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/DVI $209
HD - WESTERN DIGITAL 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB $105 x2

$1499 total


CPU - AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4200 $526
MB - Asus A8VE DELUXE $123
RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM $53 x2
case - 100
monitor - ViewSonic VP191B Black 19" 8m $440
V CRD - ATI (Sapphire) Radeon X800 256 MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/DVI $209
HD - WESTERN DIGITAL 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB $105 x2

$1614 total


and as a reminder, i didn't double check if the parts were compatible. i used to hear alot of good things about corsair but don't know how they are now, i sure don't like the lcd displays; same goes with pretty much all the other parts. i also never could figure out a good case.

 

[jmwpom3]

Do you really need 500GB of HDD space??
Drop the secon one and put that cash into the next step vid card or just drop it totally if you need to make that original 1500 total.
I'm assuming the second set of AMD items btw. That guy should really accomplish everything you need it to without burning the house down.

<font color=blue> Failure is not an option -- it comes bundled with Windows. </font color=blue>

 

[Yohoho]

You wouldn't believe how fast you can fill 250 GB when you're editing your holiday DV's. 500 GB is much more comfortable.

 

[dunklegend]

If you're going to OC get the DFI Lanparty, or the Epox nforce 4 ultra (The Epox it's almost as good as the DFI but cheaper)

Note: This is for the AMD setup.

<font color=red>It's impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious<font color=red>

 

[pkquat]

Just my 2cents. I planned for my system to be able to handle a lot of video editing so I've read a bunch on it. If you are planning on doing extensive and exclusive video editing, especially while you are at the PC, then the Pentium is the way to go. What's been recommended is the fastest single core you can afford (for Intel systems). There were some advantages to a dual core with some editing programs that were able to run two separate threads simultaneously with a dual processor. Future programs may exploit this. The review stated the (Intel) dual cores were not much faster than a faster single core. There was a post or article in the comunity or techreports where it was mentioned any single core worked fine compiling multiple streams overnight (where time was not a factor). I think they also mentioned improvements in the overnight time with a dual core, but when it overnight will you really notice. I think programs will take advantage of dual core and 64bit in the future. Probably dual core before 64 bit though. When that happens you could always upgrade the processor.

AMD now has SSE3, and appears to come closer to Intel in single core processing times. The difference is only a few minutes per hour for some applications. AMD even beats Intel in some applications, yet Intel kicks AMD's but in other. It depends on the encoder. I think more will be optimized for AMD in the future.

I myself decided to go with AMD. It will get the job done just fine. For the cost difference (MB + processor) I can process faster than with an Intel system (using a 955X chipset). Plus the AMD is less power hungry, and runs cooler underload and over all. I know one person with a year old 3.2 Prescott system that had to get a custom cooling system, and cut a hole for another 120mm fan to his case. I also chose AMD after the 9?? debacle.

What are you using to capture the video? What program do you plan on using for editing?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pkquat on 07/15/05 02:54 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pkquat]

My bad for not reading completely. There are a number of reviews - comparisons of the AMD and Intel processors with video encoding. As I mentioned the new AMD's with the Venice and San Diego cores, and the dual cores did well. THG (AMD vs Intel) mentions that with a dual core Pentium, you have a better chance being able to edit video in the background while you do other things.

For an AMD system I would recommend the nForce4 or nForce4 Ultra chipset. I am going with the Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 MB. Its gotten good reviews, and uses passive chipset cooling (no custom fans to die on me).

Advice regarding memory I have gotten is:
1: Don't get "VALUE" ram.
2: Get at least 1GB (A matched paior is best)
3: More ram is benificial for editing, ie 2GB was mentioned. Especially if you will be doing multiple threads overnight.

 

[HansGruber]

Hmm I'd say maybe one of the 64 bit Prescott chips, that'd run about the middle of your cpu budget.

LMAO at Intel and its "operation forums".

<font color=red>"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."
- Albert Einstein</font color=red>