Spec me a pc for encoding.

Grimley · 15 Oct 2011 at 20:10

OK folks
Another request for PC bits & bobs.

My sister has asked for an upgrade so she's getting my PC hand me downs

I want to have the most suitable CPU for encoding a DVD/blu ray rip down to a mpg4 file to watch on my mobile. I was thinking 2500K or 2600K. No idea if the 2600K would be better for this. Thoughts?

I would prefer a m-atx Z68 board. The case (silverstone LC17) will take a full atx board but I think it will get a bit toasty in there when the CPU is encoding. So I want a smaller board better airflow.
Makes - not fussed but prefer gigabyte & avoid MSI.

Ram - corsair preferred.

HD - going to re-use my old intel SSD X25, so I want a normal HD for storage. I prefer western digital.

Graphics - not gaming on this rig as I have another rig for this. re-using my old HD5450.

Also re-using my old PSU (Seasonic S12 430) Case (said already) & cooler (Scythe mini ninja rev b which I think will fit) & reinstall W7.

Budget - for arguments sake say £4-500 to give you an idea.

thanks.

Grimley · 15 Oct 2011 at 22:17

Don't need the gelid as I think the cooler I have will fit even though it doesn't have the 1155 in its spec. thanks anyway.

Anyone else think the 2600K will be better than the 2500K at encoding.

BTW not that fussed about overclocking.

I don't like seagate hard drives as I've found them to be pretty noisy.

Grimley · 15 Oct 2011 at 23:46

Isn't there some sort of feature on Z68 boards that helps video encoding though?

I'll have a look at the samsung thanks.

Grimley · 16 Oct 2011 at 00:11

Ah, OK. looks like handbrake is not supported by this feature.

Grimley · 16 Oct 2011 at 09:15

I'm a bit new to all this encoding/transcoding. I've got about 60 blu-rays in my collection & I don't have time to watch them at home. I thought converting them to watch on my mobile would be better so I can watch them during my drivers break when I'm out on my round. I would be converting them down to 720p as that is the max resolution of the phone (Sony Ericsson Arc?)

I would be a case of ripping the blu-rays onto the PC 1st & then encoding/transcoding afterwards. I don't want to buy a DVD for the sake of encoding if I have the same film on blu-ray.

Thoughts please?

Grimley · 16 Oct 2011 at 10:58

As long as the file isn't more than 32GB I wont be that fussed.

Grimley · 25 Nov 2011 at 17:38

This is what I went with in the finish.

Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £179.99
(£149.99) £179.99
(£149.99)
Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive £147.98
(£123.32) £147.98
(£123.32)
Asus P8Z68-M PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard Asus P8Z68-M PRO Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £109.99
(£91.66) £109.99
(£91.66)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £104.99
(£87.49) £104.99
(£87.49)
Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply Antec TruePower New Modular 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
(£58.32) £69.98
(£58.32)
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMX8GX3M2A1600C9) £41.99
(£34.99) £41.99
(£34.99)
Sub Total : £545.77
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.00
VAT is being charged at 20.00% VAT : £111.15
Total : £666.92

Bearing in mind I bought the F3 just before the price rocketed & the Crucial when it was on a weekend offer 3 weeks ago.

Thoughts please?

Grimley · 25 Nov 2011 at 19:05

bit late now - its ordered & should be here Monday.

Went with the 2500K as I'll probably be popping an Ivybridge chip in it next year anyway.

Coolers too big for the case - AFAIK the existing cooler is compatible, its a mini ninja rev b. which should fit 1156 & 1155 sockets.

The board - I wanted a board with UEFI graphical interface & M-atx & I HATE those sata plugs that stick out on the side of the board. I'm only overclocking when I'm encoding, stock settings for other uses.

RAM - I know where I stand with Corsair.

The PSU - I wanted a Modular PSU that was quiet & capable of taking the HD6870 that I have in case the gaming rig has to go.

Grimley · 25 Nov 2011 at 19:20

Buchanan0204 said:
I think he's bought it now. So probably not what he wants to hear. Although I did advise against the 2500K for encoding purposes. Owel

The thing is, encoding is only going to be about 1% of this new PC's use. I couldn't justify the extra 50 notes or so seeing as the other 99% use is for web/office/DTP. That & the epeen

Grimley · 29 Nov 2011 at 14:57

Well, Heres all the bits in traditional OCUK fashion of new builds!

Posting on here using it now.

I also had to take the Corsair out of my Gaming rig & put the Antec in that because the Antec had more cables than I thought It would've been fiddly to put them in the Silverstone, so they were 'swapped'

Funny thing is, it doesn't seem that much quicker than my last PC, probably due to the fact that I had an SSD in the last one.

Haven't done any overclocking or encoding in it yet, I'll have a go when I'm arsed 'cos I've just had my top set of Wisdom teeth out.