Worthwhile to upgrade from i3-2100

[Riggings]

Currently have a Dell Inspiron 620 running a i3-2100 with 6 gb of ddr3 ram mainly used for encoding and converting movies to dvd. Would it be worthwhile to upgrade? Not looking from a benchmark perspective but from real world performance gains of 30% or more. If so what processor would be your suggestion for biggest gains as well as best bang for the buck processor.

 

[i7Baby]

You need to look at the CPU support list for your motherboard. Dell might not have one. Post a link to the motherboard.

 

[CTurbo]

A ssd would make a greater overall impact than upgrading to a faster cpu. But it would be easy and probably pretty cheap to throw in a Sandy Bridget i5 or Ivy Bridge if your mobo supports them.

 

[Riggings]

I wouldn't be upgrading the processor to work with the current mobo it would be a completely new system built in a mini itx as I would prefer a smaller footprint. Just wondering if I would see any significant gains in the converting to make it worthwhile. Currently achieving 200+ fps in ConvertX however if I can see gains of 30% or more it's worth investing the dollars to reduce the time.

 

[CTurbo]

Well everything depends on your budget.

 

[Solandri]

Currently have a Dell Inspiron 620 running a i3-2100 with 6 gb of ddr3 ram mainly used for encoding and converting movies to dvd. Would it be worthwhile to upgrade?

The big question would be, how long does it take your current system to encode a (say) 1 hour video?

For video encoding and conversion, the CPU is usually the biggest bottleneck. A SSD is almost irrelevant since any read/writes will just be sequential and not at the full speed of even the HDD.

The desktop i3 is a dual core with turbo boost and hyperthreading.
The desktop i5 is a quad core with turbo boost.
The desktop i7 is a qud core with turbo boost, hyperthreading, and a little extra L3 cache.

Of the three, I think the desktop i5 is the best bang for the buck CPU. Because it's a quad core vs. the i3's dual core, it should cut your encoding times almost in half. With one big caveat:

Video encoding is no longer a CPU-only task. Many programs now take advantage of the GPU as well. Intel's Quick Sync is specifically made to leverage their CPUs' integrated GPU for video encoding. And from the benchmarks I've seen, it will make a much bigger difference than i3 vs i7.

So if your encoding software doesn't use Quick Sync, then an upgrade to an i5 is probably worth it. If it does use Quick Sync, then you'll have to research how much faster Quick Sync is in the newer Intel CPUs you're thinking of upgrading to.

BTW, Quick Sync first appeared with Sandy Bridge processors, so your i3-2100 already has it. If your encoding software isn't using it, you should try turning it on. Or try different encoding software which supports it. From what I've seen, there's a tiny almost-imperceptible drop in quality, while (for Sandy Bridge) you get roughly double the encoding speed. The speed difference is even bigger on newer gen CPUs.

 

[i7Baby]

eg
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.47 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $279.46

 

[Riggings]

Currently I have this set but just don't know how much gain I would see over the i3. Then the question becomes if I moved to a i7 or Xeon would it be worth the investment. That's why I was wondering if it would be worth upgrade first then best processor for the task as well as best bang for the buck processor.

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/r2KzjX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/r2KzjX/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($258.32 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($79.99 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Asus H87I-PLUS Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.66 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.50 @ Vuugo)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($201.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($59.75 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($23.05 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1107.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-22 15:51 EST-0500

Thank you for your time responding btw.