Video Encoding/Streaming on a budget

mtballer

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Aug 19, 2011
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Hi Friends,

This is my first time posting on here, so I'm not totally sure that I'll post in the correct formats and such. Basically, I'm looking to build a computer that is going to go in the sound booth at my church. We are using Audacity to record the audio and Adobe Flash Media Encoder to live stream video to our website. The current computer that we are using is probably 6-7 years old and is having major problems keeping up. It is time to replace it with something that is going to last us a while.

Budget: Hopefully less than $600 in hardware.

Intel or AMD: I was favoring Intel, but I think that it is more the name than anything. I'm open to suggestions, it appears as though to keep the pricing down it might be an AMD computer and that is fine.

Purpose: Audio recording/video encoding-streaming. No gaming, just the video streaming and Internet/website use.

Case: I like the Antec 300, but am open to suggestions

Memory: I'm thinking that 8GB of ram would be nice, more future planning than anything. Open to suggestions.

Hard drive: Probably go with the Samsung F3, with adding another one at some point for backups (don't need two in the initial).

Thank you all for your help! I hope that I have been able to lay out some things that can get me going in the right direction. I have spent hours looking though this forum and have learned a lot. Just didn't find exactly what I was looking for. Let me know if you have any questions or anything that would help you suggest things.

Nick

 
Solution
Processor : AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE - $120
Motherboard : Any Asus/Gigabyte AM3+ - $70
RAM : 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz - $60
Graphics Card : ATI Raedon HD 5670 1GB - $125
HDD : Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200RPM - $65

Why not Intel?
Intel's i3 2100 costs the same as X4 955 BE but its good for gaming only. In heavy multitasking or video transcoding 4 physical cores are better than 2 in the i3. The i5 2500K on the other side, lacks hyperthreading so even if it will outperform a 955BE I dont like it because Video Transcoding/HD Streaming generally uses many cpu threads. So you'll be limited to only 4 threads in the i5. The i7 2600K is the best for this job, but its way too much overpriced IMO.

So, the X4 955 BE is the best for you. Plus, you can...

008Rohit

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Processor : AMD Phenom II X4 955 BE - $120
Motherboard : Any Asus/Gigabyte AM3+ - $70
RAM : 8GB DDR3 1333Mhz - $60
Graphics Card : ATI Raedon HD 5670 1GB - $125
HDD : Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200RPM - $65

Why not Intel?
Intel's i3 2100 costs the same as X4 955 BE but its good for gaming only. In heavy multitasking or video transcoding 4 physical cores are better than 2 in the i3. The i5 2500K on the other side, lacks hyperthreading so even if it will outperform a 955BE I dont like it because Video Transcoding/HD Streaming generally uses many cpu threads. So you'll be limited to only 4 threads in the i5. The i7 2600K is the best for this job, but its way too much overpriced IMO.

So, the X4 955 BE is the best for you. Plus, you can upgrade to a bulldozer based cpu in future if you get an AM3+ MoBo. :)
 
Solution

mtballer

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Aug 19, 2011
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Thank you very much! I appreciate your explanation. Do you have a recommendation of a PSU? Or will pretty much any one do.

Nick
 

mtballer

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Aug 19, 2011
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Thanks. I noticed that the x4 965 has a $15 discount code on it so it would be cheaper than the 955 (newegg). Seemed like a good deal, a slight boost in raw processing power.