Best processor for encoding?

I

I3eyond

Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
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Will be mainly for encoding, something to run complex models as well as statistical analyses.

Pref. $400 price range, but I would like to know what all out there is good in a "good" "better" "best" scheme.

Thanks!
 
well, without even knowing the program CPU usage (cache, IMC, HT support, etc), I'm going to venture the strongest CPU for the sub 401USD price range.:

i7 2600k.
 
You can only do better if you move up to the 6 core lga1366 i7s. They also offer more PCIe lanes and higher memory bandwidth. But they carry a heft premium for the relative gain. You'd have to factor in what your cost/time is to really say if it is worth it or not however.
 
depending on how well bulldozer CPUs perform, they may be worth waiting for, but that also depends on how threaded your work is. If you're using x264, that scales quite well up to 16 cores, last i heard.

Right now i don't think you can beat the i7 2600k though.
 
2600k, you could almost build 2 2600k setups (cheapo components) for the price of a 990x.
 
2600k. Next on the list would probably be either the Core i7 950 or the Phenom II X6 1100T.

XEON perhaps?
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What's the point? Compared to consumer chips, they're slow and they're expensive.
 
Best case would be if you could use CUDA or similar - but that's obviously well beyond the scope of what you're looking for.
 
Sandy bridge 2600k w/ quicksync will smoke anything!

However it will not use qs unless coupled to h67 chipsets.
 
finny76 said:
XEON perhaps?
Click to expand...
Xeons can be divided into three basic categories.

Firstly there those that are minor variants of desktop chips but with features like support for ecc ram and generally a moderate price premium.

Then there are those that support use in systems with two CPU. If you are trying to build the fastest encoding rig (for CPU based encoders) that money can buy then these are likeky the way go but the price tag is very steep. Expect to be spending £2K+ on processors to get a dual xeon setup that can significantly beat an i7-990x.

Finally there are those that support more than two sockets but the price tags on those are extreme and last I checked the clock speed on them sucked so unless your app can scale well to over 16 cores they aren't going to be much use.

I don't think any of these are what the original poster is after.
 
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vsboxerboy said:
Best case would be if you could use CUDA or similar - but that's obviously well beyond the scope of what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

tangoseal said:
Sandy bridge 2600k w/ quicksync will smoke anything!

However it will not use qs unless coupled to h67 chipsets.
Click to expand...

From what I understand both Quicksync and GPU methods do not produce the same results as using the CPU.
 
In that price range, a i7 970 will CRUSH anything else you can find, by a large margin. Real cores > fast logical cores in encoding.
 
My Q9450 can do 130-200fps first pass and 60-80fps second pass on x264 at 3.6GHz. :D
 
I3eyond said:
Will be mainly for encoding, something to run complex models as well as statistical analyses.

Pref. $400 price range, but I would like to know what all out there is good in a "good" "better" "best" scheme.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

1090T from AMD if you want the best bang for the buck CPU/MOBO. 2600K if you don't mind spending more for slightly more performance, and more on that same MOBO but 2600k uses less power so prob better if you will use it for a few years you might make up the difference in electric bills over time.
 
Blahman said:
proof/settings? :eek:
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Not sure what the settings were, probably 300kbps+ at 720x480 at the least. This was years ago -- I haven't really done any encoding for that long. :\ You'll have to believe me when I say it was DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD: fast. My eyeballs were poppin' out of their sockets when I saw how fast it was encoding stuff. I will see what I can at least dig up. I did this through MeGUI.

EDIT:
x264_dp_ Unrestricted 2pass HQ @ x kbps (Qwerty).xml
Code: 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<GenericProfileOfx264Settings xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <Name>Unrestricted 2pass HQ @ x kbps (Qwerty)</Name>
  <Settings>
    <EncodingMode>4</EncodingMode>
    <BitrateQuantizer>517</BitrateQuantizer>
    <KeyframeInterval>250</KeyframeInterval>
    <NbBframes>3</NbBframes>
    <MinQuantizer>10</MinQuantizer>
    <MaxQuantizer>51</MaxQuantizer>
    <V4MV>false</V4MV>
    <QPel>false</QPel>
    <Trellis>false</Trellis>
    <CreditsQuantizer>40</CreditsQuantizer>
    <Logfile>.stats</Logfile>
    <VideoName />
    <CustomEncoderOptions />
    <FourCC>0</FourCC>
    <MaxNumberOfPasses>3</MaxNumberOfPasses>
    <NbThreads>0</NbThreads>
    <x264Preset>99</x264Preset>
    <Turbo>migrated</Turbo>
    <X264Nalhrd>migrated</X264Nalhrd>
    <x264PresetLevel>medium</x264PresetLevel>
    <x264Tuning>0</x264Tuning>
    <QuantizerCRF>3072</QuantizerCRF>
    <EncodeInterlaced>false</EncodeInterlaced>
    <NoDCTDecimate>false</NoDCTDecimate>
    <PSNRCalculation>false</PSNRCalculation>
    <NoFastPSkip>false</NoFastPSkip>
    <NoiseReduction>0</NoiseReduction>
    <NoMixedRefs>false</NoMixedRefs>
    <X264Trellis>2</X264Trellis>
    <NbRefFrames>5</NbRefFrames>
    <AlphaDeblock>-1</AlphaDeblock>
    <BetaDeblock>-1</BetaDeblock>
    <SubPelRefinement>6</SubPelRefinement>
    <MaxQuantDelta>4</MaxQuantDelta>
    <TempQuantBlur>0</TempQuantBlur>
    <BframePredictionMode>3</BframePredictionMode>
    <VBVBufferSize>-1</VBVBufferSize>
    <VBVMaxBitrate>-1</VBVMaxBitrate>
    <METype>2</METype>
    <MERange>16</MERange>
    <MinGOPSize>25</MinGOPSize>
    <IPFactor>1.4</IPFactor>
    <PBFactor>1.3</PBFactor>
    <ChromaQPOffset>0</ChromaQPOffset>
    <VBVInitialBuffer>0.9</VBVInitialBuffer>
    <BitrateVariance>1.0</BitrateVariance>
    <QuantCompression>0.6</QuantCompression>
    <TempComplexityBlur>20</TempComplexityBlur>
    <TempQuanBlurCC>0.5</TempQuanBlurCC>
    <SCDSensitivity>40</SCDSensitivity>
    <BframeBias>0</BframeBias>
    <PsyRDO>1.0</PsyRDO>
    <PsyTrellis>0</PsyTrellis>
    <Deblock>true</Deblock>
    <Cabac>true</Cabac>
    <UseQPFile>false</UseQPFile>
    <WeightedBPrediction>true</WeightedBPrediction>
    <WeightedPPrediction>2</WeightedPPrediction>
    <NewAdaptiveBFrames>1</NewAdaptiveBFrames>
    <x264BFramePyramid>0</x264BFramePyramid>
    <ChromaME>true</ChromaME>
    <MacroBlockOptions>2</MacroBlockOptions>
    <P8x8mv>true</P8x8mv>
    <B8x8mv>true</B8x8mv>
    <I4x4mv>true</I4x4mv>
    <I8x8mv>true</I8x8mv>
    <P4x4mv>true</P4x4mv>
    <AdaptiveDCT>true</AdaptiveDCT>
    <SSIMCalculation>false</SSIMCalculation>
    <QuantizerMatrix>Flat (none)</QuantizerMatrix>
    <QuantizerMatrixType>0</QuantizerMatrixType>
    <DeadZoneInter>21</DeadZoneInter>
    <DeadZoneIntra>11</DeadZoneIntra>
    <OpenGop>0</OpenGop>
    <X264PullDown>0</X264PullDown>
    <SampleAR>0</SampleAR>
    <ColorMatrix>0</ColorMatrix>
    <ColorPrim>0</ColorPrim>
    <Transfer>0</Transfer>
    <AQmode>1</AQmode>
    <AQstrength>1.0</AQstrength>
    <QPFile>.qp</QPFile>
    <fullRange>false</fullRange>
    <x264AdvancedSettings>false</x264AdvancedSettings>
    <Lookahead>40</Lookahead>
    <NoMBTree>true</NoMBTree>
    <ThreadInput>true</ThreadInput>
    <NoPsy>false</NoPsy>
    <Scenecut>true</Scenecut>
    <Nalhrd>0</Nalhrd>
    <X264Aud>false</X264Aud>
    <X264SlowFirstpass>false</X264SlowFirstpass>
    <PicStruct>false</PicStruct>
    <FakeInterlaced>false</FakeInterlaced>
    <NonDeterministic>false</NonDeterministic>
    <SlicesNb>0</SlicesNb>
    <MaxSliceSyzeBytes>0</MaxSliceSyzeBytes>
    <MaxSliceSyzeMBs>0</MaxSliceSyzeMBs>
    <Profile>2</Profile>
    <Level>15</Level>
  </Settings>
</GenericProfileOfx264Settings>

Btw, if you don't believe me, go right on ahead. I don't care; for all I care and know, my CPU is wicked sick and do not regret this purchase to this very day (plus its price value has only went down $100 since I bought it like 4 years ago for $300 -- current prices are at around $300-$350), and am *very* happy that it can and does encode at the speeds I claimed. It wasn't for just one video either (although it slightly varies from video to video depending on bitrate and stuff).

The profile I CODE'd above is the profile I used for all my things. Use it for MeGUI. Might have to tinker around with it as it apparently doesn't get recognized by latest version of MeGUI and stuff. A buddy of mine made the configuration for me to the best of his knowledge about the x264 encoder and the most optimal/best overall settings. XviD is such a total POS compared to x264 lol.

EDIT2: http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=33923 <-- Yorkfield Q9450
Two of the outstanding things about the Q9450 is that unlike many other quadcores, it has two physical dies with two cores per die, and that it has a 12MB L2-Cache. The majority of processors do not come close to this; you will usually find around 6MB, and less 8MB, and much much less 12MB (not as easy to find + expensive out the arse).
 
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Cerulean, I know this sounds like a dick joke, but....

it's not the size of the cache that counts, it's where you put it.

Shared L3 caches have proven (well, at least in the Nehalam and Sandy Bridge architectures) to be more effective than large private L2 caches (at least in Anand's runs at video encoding).
 
I would go Sandy Bridge, either 2600k or wait and see what happens with bulldozer and socket 2011. 2600k's are just EPIC. I have one running at 4.8Ghz (@66C) folding Bigadv and hitting nearly 50k PPD depending on WU, now if I could get my ram faster...
 
jeremyshaw said:
Cerulean, I know this sounds like a dick joke, but....

it's not the size of the cache that counts, it's where you put it.

Shared L3 caches have proven (well, at least in the Nehalam and Sandy Bridge architectures) to be more effective than large private L2 caches (at least in Anand's runs at video encoding).
Click to expand...
Dun dun dunnn! :D hahaha

Ah well, I'm not saying the Q9450 is the best. I went a major leap from AMD Athlon XP 1600+ to Q9450. ;o I'm on a 10-15 year refresh cycle.
 
teletran8 said:
1090T from AMD if you want the best bang for the buck CPU/MOBO. 2600K if you don't mind spending more for slightly more performance, and more on that same MOBO but 2600k uses less power so prob better if you will use it for a few years you might make up the difference in electric bills over time.
Click to expand...

ummmm... NO
 
How about a dual C32 rig? 12 cores of AMD goodness should be right around ~ 400 or so.
Link

As a bonus, I think you can use up to 32GB ddr unreg (cheapie) ram, and the dual socket asus board is around $280.
 
Robstar said:
How about a dual C32 rig? 12 cores of AMD goodness should be right around ~ 400 or so.
Link

As a bonus, I think you can use up to 32GB ddr unreg (cheapie) ram, and the dual socket asus board is around $280.
Click to expand...

The more physical cores > virtual is only applicable when scaling or comparing Intel with Intel. AMDs architecture is so far behind an i7 920 would do a better job and it has 2 less cores.
 
German Muscle said:
The more physical cores > virtual is only applicable when scaling or comparing Intel with Intel. AMDs architecture is so far behind an i7 920 would do a better job and it has 2 less cores.
Click to expand...

I think this depends on the software. Can OP clarify?
 
Robstar said:
How about a dual C32 rig? 12 cores of AMD goodness should be right around ~ 400 or so.
Link

As a bonus, I think you can use up to 32GB ddr unreg (cheapie) ram, and the dual socket asus board is around $280.
Click to expand...

AMD processors, like the Phenom II X6 and even dual hexa cores, like the Opteron 2431 are way outclassed by Intel i7 processors, because of the lacking SSE4.1 extensions that are extensively used in CPUintensive tasks. AMD CPU's are not advised for video editing.
 
limitedaccess said:
From what I understand both Quicksync and GPU methods do not produce the same results as using the CPU.
Click to expand...

Im not sure about quality. I use it on my 2500K ITX H67. It looks good to me. Its not as fast as some rave about. Its faster than my 6970 using the same software on my bigger faster 2600K.

Its definitely faster on the stock speed 2500K QuickSync than overclocked 2600K with HT on and 4.8ghz.
 
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