Hi All, i am getting another PC for video encoding/transcoding mostly, It's not gonna be anything to special (expensive) i have 2 options, I was wondering what option would suit me best for "x264 1080p encoding/transcoding" Option #1 CPU: Intel CORE 2 DUO E8400 3.00GHz, 6MB, 1333MHz, LGA775 Motherboard: ASUS P5G41T-MLE S775 RAM: 2GB DDR3 PC10600 Hard Drive: 500GB SATAII Optical Drive: DVD 22X Dual Layer Writer Sound: Six (5.1)-channel audio subsystem using the Realtek* ALC662 Graphics: Graphic Engine: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220, Video Memory: DDR2 1GB, Engine Clock: 625 MHz, Memory Clock: 800 MHz ( 400 MHz DDR2 ) Network: 10/100/1000 Mbits/s LAN subsystem using a Realtek RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet Controller Case: Penta Digital Multimedia ATX PSU : 500 Watt ATX Power Supply Option #2 CPU: Intel CORE 2 QUAD Q8400 2.66GHz, 4MB, 1333FSB, LGA775 Motherboard: ASUS P5G41T-MLE S775 RAM: 2GB DDR3 PC10600 Hard Drive: 500GB SATAII Optical Drive: DVD 22X Dual Layer Writer Sound: Six (5.1)-channel audio subsystem using the Realtek* ALC662 Graphics: ATI Radeon HD4350 PCI-E 2.0 512MB 64-bit GDDR2 Network: 10/100/1000 Mbits/s LAN subsystem using a Realtek RTL8111C Gigabit Ethernet Controller Case: Penta Digital Multimedia ATX PSU : 500 Watt ATX Power Supply Ok so these are the 2 options i have to choose from, I cannot mix and match or alter them in anyway, it's either 1 or the other. Keep in mind that option #1 has an Nvidia card so CUDA can be enabled.... Basically what i want to know is, will the Dual Core with CUDA running out perform the Quad Core with no CUDA (It has an ATI Card) for x264 1080p encoding/transcoding etc... ??? Any help would be much appreciated guys, thank you very much
Cuda makes very little difference, and then it depends on the app as to weather or not it is even utilized. The Quad Core is better, but your looking at long term reliability issues with the asus mobos. You really should set your goal at a Core i5. The Core 2 line up is old and being phased out. With an i5 you will be able to upgrade in the future.
Thx Xplorer4, Yeah i was leaning towards the Quad Core for obvious reasons... TPMGENC Xpress can use CUDA and is a good app but for the most part i use AVIDEMUX which does not... As for the i5 that would be great, but the budget just wont stretch at the moment. So for h264/1080p playback the "ATI Radeon HD4350 PCI-E 2.0 512MB 64-bit GDDR2" will be fine i take it ? or will it mostly be processed by the Quad Core CPU ???
I would really try for the stretch; even if you have to use onboard graphics for a while; good onboard graphics can play 1080P just fine.
I didnt realize onboard was that powerful these days...but none the less, thedeificone, whats your actual budget? You may sacrifice some performance over a Dell,HP,etc, but unlike the HP,Dell,etc you will have much more room to upgrade. With a Core i5 OEM build, your going to be limited, likley, to a core i5 build and a low end video card, but with a custom build, down the road you could upgrade that Core i5 to a Core i7, that low end video card to a high end video card, and so forth.