Socket 775 CPU upgrade from E6400

H

HDClown

Limp Gawd
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Nov 30, 2004
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I've embarked on a project of importing old VHS tape. As part of this, I run a few filters to enhance video and sound, and I'm looking to speed up the process.

Current setup is 2.4ghz C2D E6400 with ASUS P5K Deluxe. All my data work occurs on a RAID5 array with 4x7200rpm drivers on an Adaptec 5405 RAID controller.

It takes an average of 1 1/2 hrs to encode 2 hrs of video captured in AVI container with HuffYUV in YUV2 format. I capture in VirtualDub and runs ome filters there. I've been doing encoding with TMPGEnc Xpress but may switch to AVStoDVD which uses HCenc. Both are multi-threaded.

I'm hoping to speed the encoding up as much as possible. Ideally I'd get a new i5/i7 setup, but I'm not looking to dump that much cash into the box right now, so a CPU upgrade is the best I can muster. I'm looking at a $200 cap and I've come up with 2 options:

3.16Ghz C2D E8500
2.66ghz C2Q Q9400

Given my tasks and tools, which is going to be a better choice?
 
IMHO, those two CPUs (at current street prices) are much too expensive for the improvement in performance over your current E6400 that they deliver (unless you live near a Microcenter), especially since LGA775 is now a "dead" socket (or more specifically, it is very near the end of its production life).
 
If you wanna stick with socket 775, go with a used Q9550 or Q9650. THey are both good processors if you can find one at a decent price.
 
I went from an e6750 @ 3.2 to a Q9550 @ 3.8.
To be honest it didn't help that much for what I play, but I consider it a good deal at $180 from MC.
 
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Dark12 said:
I went from an e6750 @ 3.2 to a Q9550 @ 3.8.
To be honest it didn't help that much for what I play, but I consider it a good deal at $180 from MC.
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So you did'nt see much of a improvement? I would assume you just game,just curious because I joined this forum just to buy a Q9550 offered by a forum member,at a reasonable price.I have a simular system E6750 on a Abit IP-35 pro.
However the Q9550 I just bought,(when I receive it) will go on my DFI UT X-48 trs,

OP if you don't live near a MC just buy a used Q9550 from a trusted source,for a reasonable price,under $200.if possible.
 
Definitely buy a used Q9550.... someone on the forums bought me one and with shipping it came out o about $205 I believe. Nice person who did that. I love this chip! If you can't get a new one for tha price buy a used one then!
 
Smashed Ixnay said:
Definitely buy a used Q9550.... someone on the forums bought me one and with shipping it came out o about $205 I believe. Nice person who did that. I love this chip! If you can't get a new one for tha price buy a used one then!
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Pretty much the BFTB upgrade from *any* LGA775 CPU (if the mobo allows) is Q9400/9505/9550. The only real exception (despite the chipset supporting quads) are nForce 7100/630i-based motherboards; however, that is because of the single-channel memory support that is a holdback (in the case of these HTPC/Shuttle-case mATX stalwarts, I'd recommend the second-gen Celly DC E3300/3400 instead; suitably overcranked, of course). 1 MB on-die cache, VT-x, dual-core, and when overclocked runs like the [H]orde after pillaging Starbucks - all for about $40 at MC (retail).
 
Smashed Ixnay said:
Definitely buy a used Q9550.... someone on the forums bought me one and with shipping it came out o about $205 I believe. Nice person who did that. I love this chip! If you can't get a new one for tha price buy a used one then!
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This and overclock the crap out of it.
 
Smashed Ixnay said:
Definitely buy a used Q9550.... someone on the forums bought me one and with shipping it came out o about $205 I believe. Nice person who did that. I love this chip! If you can't get a new one for tha price buy a used one then!
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rive22 said:
This and overclock the crap out of it.
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+2 The Q9550 is still a very capable CPU. Without upgrading to an entirely new platform (i1,i5,i7 or AMD), the Q9550 is going to give you a considerable performance boost. Even a Q6600 would do the job better then your E6400 and those are going anywhere from $100 to $150 (way too high imo) on the forums and a lot og them have been popping up lately. Depending on the mobo, Q6600 for 65nm and Q9550 for 45nm tech. Both excellent CPUs.
 
I went from an E8400 (which I am looking to sell, fyi) to a Q9550 specifically for using Handbrake to encode video, and I have not been disappointed.
 
Everybody loves the blockbuster 45nm CPUs.

For op that's a q9400/450/550 and for gaming that's an e8400 (quad for gaming only if you expect to use the system into 2012 or you play BC2 all day AND you better have >800mhz ram for quad gaming for OC headroom)

Also some video encoding can be more/less multi-threaded so keep that in mind. I'd imagine most encoding will make use of 4+ cores now but some will not
 
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I have no clue what motherboard you have so I don't know what kind of support it has for CPUs. You'll need to look up what CPUs you can use on the motherboard. I only mention this because you say you have an E6400 CPU which means you could be using a P965 chipset based board. If that's the case, you may not be able to use 45nm CPUs such as the Q9550. In that case, your best bet would be to go with a Q6600.

Whether you end up with a Q6600 or a Q9550, I definitely suggest overclocking it as it can make a real difference for any type of encoding. I have done a lot of encoding (using x264 and Handbrake) using my Q6600s and every little bit helps. For encoding purposes, don't even think about a dual core. Most video encoding is almost linear in performance increases with each additional core. A 4Ghz dual core would be required to equal the performance of a 2Ghz quad core.

If you have your E6400 overclocked to 2.4Ghz (as the stock speed is 2.13), a Q6600 at the stock 2.4Ghz should get close to halving the encode time.

 
Motherboard is an ASUS P5K Deluxe and it can support the Q9550. The Microcenter option may be the best route to go. I don't live near one but my father is about 30 minutes from one, so maybe I'll have him pick one up for me and ship it.

I'm not too well versed on OC'ing. Not adverse to it but I'm not looking to go out and buy a new CPU/Heatsink just to OC, so whatever I could easily do with the Intel retail heatsink/fan is all I'd be interested in doing.
 
HDClown said:
Motherboard is an ASUS P5K Deluxe and it can support the Q9550. The Microcenter option may be the best route to go. I don't live near one but my father is about 30 minutes from one, so maybe I'll have him pick one up for me and ship it.

I'm not too well versed on OC'ing. Not adverse to it but I'm not looking to go out and buy a new CPU/Heatsink just to OC, so whatever I could easily do with the Intel retail heatsink/fan is all I'd be interested in doing.
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You could probably get a better deal on a possible "golden" used Q9550 E0.
 
I got your PM, just have to see what your looking to get for it. Either way, I'm not in a particular rush to make a decision.
 
Something to consider for example;

.....................cores......clock......output......boost.......minutes to encode x video
current..............2..........2.4..........4.8..........0%..........120
q9550 stock.......4..........2.83.......11.32.......236%........51
q9550 33% oc....4..........3.76.......15.04.......313%........38

For the minor addition of a $30 heatsink :cool:

*and a quieter running machine
 
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Except just because you are running a stock HSF doesn't mean you have to run at stock speed.
 
Any decent skt 775 chip will perform better than your E6400 including the Celeron E3300 so just take your pick of pretty much anything from the current lineup, you cant go wrong.
 
Doesn't matter much at this point, but I double-checked, and I have the E6600, which is 2.4ghz. I'm not doing OC on an E6400
 
HDClown said:
Doesn't matter much at this point, but I double-checked, and I have the E6600, which is 2.4ghz. I'm not doing OC on an E6400
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How much RAM do you have? How big are your source and target files per job and day? Do you game at all? Ecoding only or editing?

For most 775 upgraders I normally recommend saving for a i7/X58. For gaming and if you already have a 3GHz CPU the upgrade is a bit less compelling especially if your on a budget. The one big exception which makes i7 really compelling is video encoding, due to its architecture and HT (8 cores - need to pick the right apps).

1) If your not in a rush, on not a super tight budget ($200 is a lot) get an i7 930/x58 (especially since you have Microcenter access). This will give you the most of bang for the buck. The i7-930 OC's well. Save money by getting a cheaper board $150-200 and 4GB of DDR3 (yes X58 runs 2 DIMMs ). Then slowly upgrade as needed (e.g. better cooling to get you to 4-4.2GHz). Also consider on stock cooling I hit 3.58GHz which is faster than the i7-965 (YMMV, but the newer chips are better than the one I have). Caveats are I don't know how much you have invested in RAM, how RAM dependent your apps are (but few progs use more than 4GB).

I was in a similar boat but coming from a 3GHz Q6600. I paid $350 for a 930/x58 combo from Fry's and $80 for 4GB DDR3 from TD after MIR and 12% BCB. PM me if you need help finding good prices. That is $430 or $230 extra that you invest in a non dead-end Socket. $200 is a lot of money to spend on a Socket 775 CPU also you get some money back if you sell your MB/CPU/RAM on Craigslist/eBay (another $100?).

Check this out for some encoding benchmark numbers: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2658/18.

2) If you don't have enough money or just not sure start with trying to OC your E6400. With good cooling I got my e6300 up to 3GHz. Anything you can OC is free performance because your planning to upgrade anyway and don't need to make the computer last 30 years.

3) Don't buy a i5/i7 socket 1156. Dead-end path too. You pay roughly the same for the i7 like processors (quad core + HT). P55 is only worth it is you go cheap and don't do any gaming.

4) I was thinking a <$150 60GB SSD (e.g. OCZ Agility from TD) might help with video encoding (e.g. source and target files on the SSD then move them off after the render). I'm struggling to find benchmarks that show it is worth it (most benches focus either on synthetics or are general blended ones). SSDs should be great for encoding and editing because your looking at 250/160 MB/s read/writes. That only helps if your not CPU bound so it look for benchmarks for your specific app.
 
With a $200 budget, get an SSD

Otherwise get a used Q6600 which can be had for around $100 if you look around.

Most of these will overclock very well to 3.2 to 3.6GHz average.

And overclocked quad 775 processor is night and day over a stock one.
 
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