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CPU for x264 encoding

Neo130

Neo130

Neo130

Associate
Joined
30 Dec 2011
Posts
30
Right now i have a PII 1090T. I need something faster for x264 encoding.
As i have a tight budget, i am thinking of replacing my cpu and mobo and keeping the rest of my stuff. I also use a lot of VM's. More FPS in games is something i am not after, right now.

x79 is out of the question for budget reasons. So spec me a fast proccesor please!(ivy?sandy?)Or wait for the next Intel's tock and upgrade then?
 
Will you be overclocking?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/....328.92.40.110.91.41.42.72.43.44.73.74.115.79

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/...8.92.110.91.39.40.41.42.72.43.44.73.74.115.79

For ~£250 you can get a 3570K and cheap Z77 motherboard. However hyperthreading helps x264 encoding a bit, so you could argue that a 2600K (£50 more) or 3770K (£70 more) would be beneficial here.

Depends on your budget really as to whether this is viable, and up to you if it is worth it. Remember that all these chips overclock to 4.4-4.5ghz easily.
 
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I won't OC at all. 3770k seems nice, will give me a 30% boost on encoding, based on benchmarks. So i will go with that. Can you recommend a nice mobo as well?
 
Grab the 2600K/3770K and overclock it, these chips are really easy to overclock. I have my 2600K clocked to 4.4ghz and it encodes like mad.
 
My cooler is artic freezer 13 pro. Will it be enough for 4++ghz oc on a sandy/ivy chip?
If these chips are so easy and safe to oc, i can give it a shot.
So what you are saying is that buying a 3770k is worth it? Budget is about 300 pounds, for cpu and mobo that is.
 
If thats a very strict £300 grab a 2600k, if not get the 3770k.

Freezer 13 should be able to hit 4Ghz+ on both at a minimum.
 
If you use software that makes use of Intel's Quick sync technology (I think that's what it's called), such as Cyberlink MediaEspresso then the IvyBridge processors can massively accelerate the encoding faster than the X79 chips and even most graphics cards.

This is based on reviews I've read and not my actual experience I should point out.
 
Thank you all for your advises.
About the quick sync, it produces inferior results when compared to x264 encoded material so its a no-no for my case.
 
Krono5 said:
If thats a very strict £300 grab a 2600k, if not get the 3770k.

Freezer 13 should be able to hit 4Ghz+ on both at a minimum.
Click to expand...

Shopping around would help get the 2600k for more than £30 less than the 3770k as well.
 
I have my [email protected] under an Arctic Cooling 13 Pro and it gets to the low 60's maximum when encoding x264 1080p vids in Vegas. A 2600K will be a bit hotter due to hyperthreading, but it's a capable cooler and should do fine.
 
IB is warmer than SB when overclocked, so it may be best to go for the cheaper 2600K and overclock that to at least 4ghz. 4ghz is pretty much near garanteed on stock volts, and your artic cooler should be capable to handle that. And forget about QuickSync, it's fast, but the quality is not as good as software encoding.
 
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For pure encoding a 2600 or 2700 "K" is hard to beat. Both will overclock further than Ivy Bridge, more than making up for the 3-5% clock for clock performance gap. They are cheaper to buy, cheaper to cool, and have proven very very reliable.
 
I finally ordered a 2600k and a gigabyte z68xp ud3 for a sweet price.However with better chips from the amd side, price could be even better.
 
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