Second Hand CPU Advice for Encoding

[Snotuk]

I have an old PC that I want to use to do some HD video encode (x264 codec) at the minute it's got an Intel E6600 Duo Core 2.4 OC to 3.2 CPU, it's taking ruffly 24/48 hrs per encode running at 1 to 1.25 FPS
I'm not gonna spend a lot of money on a new chip I'm gonna go down the second hand route, so what I'd like to know what the best chip I can get to fit the listed below motherboard.

Thanks for any advice.

ASUS P5N-E SLI

CPU
Intel Socket 775 Core™2 Quad/Pentium® Extreme/Pentium® D/Pentium® 4/Celeron Processors
Compatible with Intel® 05B/05A/06 processors
Support Intel® 45nm CPU
Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology ready
BIOS needs updating to support Intel 45nm CPU

 

[joeyjojo]

From the CPU support list the answer is the Q6600. It'll be about twice as fast as your current CPU as it should overclock about the same but has 4 cores.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5NE_SLI/#support

It also supports the Q6700, QX6700, QX6800, and QX6850, but the Q6600 will be cheapest and easiest to find as they sold loads of them.

 

[bad_ass_neil]

i jumped from the e6600 to the q6600 made a massive jump for me in games. i dont encode but the extra 2 cores should help massive amounts

 

[cmndr_andi]

For encoding the Q6600 is a very good option, as it well tend to scale well with the extra cores.

However, that Nvidia chipset motherboard doesn't overclock the Quad core CPUs as well as the dual core CPUs - so you may need to settle for the Q6600 running at stock clockspeeds (or slightly above) compared to the 3.2GHz of your current dual core. Though on balance the Q6600 will be a lot faster for your uses.

A second-hand Q6600 should cost you around £35-40 these days.

 

[PCZ]

That MB was somewhat popular back in the day.
Not because it was an epic performer which it wasn't, but because it was cheap.

It only has 3 phase VRM's and struggles to overclock quads.
You may get 3Ghz out of a q6600, but as you intend to do heavy encoding the life expectancy of your ancient board will in all probability be measured in hours if not minutes.

see below for info
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17668494

 

[Snotuk]

Thank for all your advice but was wondering any thing faster than the Q6600 that this MB can run.Not bothered about OCing will just run at stock speeds.

 

[cmndr_andi]

The ones Joeyjoe mentioned are the only quad core CPUs that the motherboard supports.

So the fastest of these is the 3.0GHz QX6850, followed by the 2.93GHz QX6800.

However, you are likely to have great difficulty finding one of these since they are so old and rare.

You are more likely to find a Q6700 which runs at 2.66GHz, as they were pretty popular.

 

[Snotuk]

Thanks cmndr_andi & every one else I'll try & track down a QX6850,
And if not I'll go for the Q6700.

Thanks for all help

 

[joeyjojo]

Thanks cmndr_andi & every one else I'll try & track down a QX6850,

They seem to go for £50-100 on the bay but you'll be waiting a long time for the next one to come along. Q6600 go for £20-40 much more often. That's the route I'd go down. Best of luck.

 

[cmndr_andi]

That is very true, Q6700 was more popular than the QX series CPUs, but the Q6600 was FAR more popular than any of these. Hence you pay a big premium for these CPUs and they will take longer to find.

If you are willing to spend £50+ on a CPU that is better than a Q6600 then you may want to consider picking up a second hand i7 920 and X58 board. You can often find a CPU+mobo combo of these for £100 or less (the i7 920 usually sells for ~£50). Though will also need to pick up some DDR3 RAM.

This will cost a bit more than getting a Q6700 or QX6800, but will offer a lot more performance (see here). Plus they can overclock very well - with most able to hit 4GHz (from a stock of 2.66GHz) with a decent cooler.