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Need more processor power; what is my best move on the cheap


Nitrousbird

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Now that I have a Blu Ray burner, and am re-encoding discs to single layer BD size...processer power is a factor. A BIG factor. :(

 

I am not a PC gamer, so that's not a concern. My current rig

 

- Asus A8N SLI Deluxe motherboard; can run in SLI but I don't, Socket 939

- Two matching XFX 7600GT XXX edition video cards; running two monitors each via DVI

- 4GB Ram, max for the board. PC3200 (sad, I know)

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+, pretty much not overclocked @ 2.45 GHz per core. I can safely go to 2.7GHz on stock cooling, but was having issues that ended up being a previous OS problem, and haven't went back to overclocking it yet.

- Two DVD burners

- One 8x Blu-Ray burner

- 5 hard drives; one 500GB 7200RPM, 4 160GB 7200RPM. The 160GB drives are in a RAID-0.

 

Media reader and some other BS too. The problem is that encoding Blu-Ray is S-L-O-W. DVD isn't a problem, but we are talking 7-8GB vs 40-45GB

 

I could invest in a water cooling solution, and I've heard of this processor going 3.2 to 3.4GHz on water. I still doubt I will get what I want with that solution; I think quad core is my answer.

 

I am in the house-buying process, so money is TIGHT. Really tight. I am sure I will live with this for a bit, but I want to have my eyes open for a great deal. i7 stuff is still too pricey, but I don't want to go overly outdated. Or maybe just find a cheap water cooling solution as a stop-gap?

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Do a Intel Q6600, asus P5Q pro mother board(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299) and add CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

 

 

price break down is q6600 $199, p5q pro $119 with $15mir, corsair ram - $44.99 with $25MIR= $364.97, 324.97 after MIR

 

combine it with current video cards, power supply etc and youll be fine, but what power supply are you running currently?

 

that would be a quad core option,

 

dual core option would be, same ram and mother board just get a E8400 at 164.99 so your not saving much going this option.

 

I assume you have SATA correct?

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To add something functional to the post I just had my socket 939 board fry on me and looking to replace it. I would look at something along the lines of a e8400 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA

 

I have heard couple different things for motherboard so still not sure on that.

 

But I am kinda behind on some of the new hardware it still confuses me.

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i would tell you to buy an OEM 9850 Black Edition from Newegg, with a certain Hardforum discount code you can get it for $90 shipped, you WILL NOT find a better deal for that price.

i just did this upgrade with chip, board, and ram. kept everything else and only spent like $200

 

9850 BE = 2.5GHZ quad core with unlocked multiplier for overclocking $90

nice mobo = anywhere from $60-$90

4GB 1066MHZ ram = $40-$50

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Do a Intel Q6600, asus P5Q pro mother board(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131299) and add CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

 

 

price break down is q6600 $199, p5q pro $119 with $15mir, corsair ram - $44.99 with $25MIR= $364.97, 324.97 after MIR

 

combine it with current video cards, power supply etc and youll be fine, but what power supply are you running currently?

 

that would be a quad core option,

 

dual core option would be, same ram and mother board just get a E8400 at 164.99 so your not saving much going this option.

 

I assume you have SATA correct?

 

You can get Q6600's for far less than $199, i'd never pay that much for one nor recommend anyone get that chip for that price. At that price point I'd go for an i7 920 or at least a yorkfield class 45nm quad.

 

i7 920 is $229 here: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0300438

 

Here's an MSI i7 board for $169 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130221

 

Otherwise, you can go LGA775 but it's nearly EOL:

$85 mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128389

Q8300 for $190: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115207

or Q9400 for $230: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115131

 

DDR2 Ram is super cheap so stock it with as much as you can, DDR3 is a bit more expensive for the i7 but in the long run the i7 is the way to go. You can also get some deals if you look at computer forum classifieds.

 

Here is a real cheap mobo that will run a quad core: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500018

 

I own one and it's a decent board, but it's not the top performer and it has very limited upgradeability. At $35 AR though, it's very hard to beat it's performance/value ratio.

 

You can also opt for a dual core processor over the quad, such as this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115056

 

There are also MUCH cheaper options for mobo and etc, but there is no point in recommending you buy junk.

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Maybe you shouldn't have gotten yourself into a TIGHT position with your money. That would have been the responsible thing to do :rolleyes:.

I have the cash to buy whatever the hell I want; but that cash is ear marked for buying another HOUSE. That is why money is tight; I can't be spending money on BS when I should be using it for house stuff. Sorry you can't manage your money.

 

Otherwise, the Q6600 has been a consideration, but seems to be getting outdated. Any news on price breaks for i7 stuff (the boards tend to be pricey for anything decent). It sucks that my PC takes forever to encode Blu-Ray, but I "can" wait.

 

And yes, all of my stuff is SATA, and have a good 600W power supply.

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Are there any interim water cooling solutions that I could mostly transfer over to a new setup later (by changing nothing but the heat sink). That might be a reasonable solution for now.

 

Yes, build a decent Danger Den kit and all you have to do later is swap out the waterblock. (Just did this when I went I7). $50 for the new block and you are ready to rock!

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I know you may be able to get the q6600 cheaper however if youve been watching the market of processors you'd know the price went up $20-$30 on intel processors while the core i7 prices have dropped.

 

Joe just piece your own watercooling setup together instead of buying a kit. but generally a good water cooling setup can cost a decent amount.

 

generally you can buy a good pump, reservoir, good radiator, tubing, clamps and CPU block and its all reusable except the block. generally when you make a setup and change out you will need to redo the coolant hoses for the new block setup because its rare that motherboards have the CPU in the same location.

 

generally your looking at 200-400 for a water cooling setup.

 

most your money will be in a radiator for the computer.

 

Just look at what danger den has to offer and you will be fine.

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I know you may be able to get the q6600 cheaper however if youve been watching the market of processors you'd know the price went up $20-$30 on intel processors while the core i7 prices have dropped.

 

Joe just piece your own watercooling setup together instead of buying a kit. but generally a good water cooling setup can cost a decent amount.

 

generally you can buy a good pump, reservoir, good radiator, tubing, clamps and CPU block and its all reusable except the block. generally when you make a setup and change out you will need to redo the coolant hoses for the new block setup because its rare that motherboards have the CPU in the same location.

 

generally your looking at 200-400 for a water cooling setup.

 

most your money will be in a radiator for the computer.

 

Just look at what danger den has to offer and you will be fine.

 

There are MANY good parts out there for watercooling. Also, many of the newer waterblocks will cross platforms. The Swiftech Apogee GT and DteK FuZion can be used on both AMD and Intel platforms. Many of the new blocks come with the hardware for both, or they can be easily purchased.

 

+1 though on building your own system. Many of the pre-built kits are garbage. I'm partial to the Petra's kit: http://www.petrastechshop.com/wacoki.html or the swiftech kit: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swh2edukit.html

 

System #1:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/1407/1002006.th.jpg

 

System #2:

http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/7545/1001202mu6.th.jpg

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I'm going to take a different approach to this.

 

Buy a new videocard. There is applications now for both Nvidia and ATI cards that uses your GPU to encode video. And they are fucking fast.

 

I use Badaboom (nvidia only) with my 9600GT, and I can transcode videos at 4-5x the speed my Q6600 can. Imagine what you can do with a GTX280 or so.

 

Badaboom should support bluray but you might want to look into the ATI option using their AVIVO Transcoder.

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I'm going to take a different approach to this.

 

Buy a new videocard. There is applications now for both Nvidia and ATI cards that uses your GPU to encode video. And they are fucking fast.

 

I use Badaboom (nvidia only) with my 9600GT, and I can transcode videos at 4-5x the speed my Q6600 can. Imagine what you can do with a GTX280 or so.

 

Badaboom should support bluray but you might want to look into the ATI option using their AVIVO Transcoder.

 

Any more info on the software; if it can't do Blu-Ray, it isn't useful to me at all. I'll tell you what; this crap I am using now takes FOREVER!

 

Looks like I'll have to do a little more research on water cooling as well. I am pretty good at getting stuff on the cheap. :)

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I'm going to take a different approach to this.

 

Buy a new videocard. There is applications now for both Nvidia and ATI cards that uses your GPU to encode video. And they are fucking fast.

 

I use Badaboom (nvidia only) with my 9600GT, and I can transcode videos at 4-5x the speed my Q6600 can. Imagine what you can do with a GTX280 or so.

 

Badaboom should support bluray but you might want to look into the ATI option using their AVIVO Transcoder.

 

Sounds like a much better option than an entire system update. I'd like more info myself.

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Well, playing with it more, Demuxing each m2ts file looks like the better way to go. Very hard drive intensive, but 4 drives in a RAID-0 has that covered reasonably well. I have been messing with it some, and I think I will be able to pull enough info out of each file that I may not need compression for most movies; I'm discovering there is a LOT of waste on the Blu Ray discs (8 audio tracks, 1080p track + 2 720p tracks for the main movie, etc.). I only want the best audio and video track; can't see why I would want the rest.

 

I think just spending some time pulling out what I don't need will care for 80% of the movies that are dual layer; I'll have to work on compression for the others...the transcoding software I have tried so far has caused intermintant slightly choppy video.

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i would tell you to buy an OEM 9850 Black Edition from Newegg, with a certain Hardforum discount code you can get it for $90 shipped, you WILL NOT find a better deal for that price.

i just did this upgrade with chip, board, and ram. kept everything else and only spent like $200

 

9850 BE = 2.5GHZ quad core with unlocked multiplier for overclocking $90

nice mobo = anywhere from $60-$90

4GB 1066MHZ ram = $40-$50

 

Would you think the 9850 is better than the X3 710? I get that there is another core, but isn't 2mb L3 cache weak?

 

Edit: Found my answer...

 

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Edited by iwishiwascool
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