Upgrade to E6550 for Encoding?

[Phoen1x]

I am currently ripping and encoding all my DVDs, and I believe that the processor is the most important component for this type of work?

If I was to just replace the processor (currently a E6550 @2.33) for something more modern/powerful, would this have a significant effect on the time it takes to encode my DVDs to Xvid?

If so, say my budget is somewhere around £100 (not including cooling) what would be my best option for the biggest improvement?

 

[Phoen1x]

Number of options.

1st I'd overclock the nuts off that CPU and see if that makes you happy.

Never OCd so that could be interesting have been reading the guides on here though and doesn't look too taxing. I will need a new cooler though as I am running on the reference hsf atm!

Sell the old cpu, put £100 + proceeds from sale towards either a fast Core2duo (8400-8500) or a slow Core2quad (Q6700)

This was the sort of thing I was considering

Also depends on your motherboard and whether it will support the 1333Mhz fsb cpus

No idea, at work so can't quote the mobo name etc, its an Asus from about a year ago, P5k something I believe

 

[Phoen1x]

OK so say I get a 6600/6700, what HSF are people currently recommending? Again, a sensible price/effectiveness balance would be good

 

[Phoen1x]

It really does depend on the software that the OP is using.

Win XP, with Handbrake encoding to MKV H264.

It's a P5KC mobo (cant seem to OC the chip manually for some reason, am relying on N.O.S. atm which seams to be doing an OK job) and 2gb of ram (the speed escapes me atm, sorry.

 

[Phoen1x]

Doh! you are of course correct!

Ive been trying out both to see what the quality vs. size turns out to be.

The PC is use for light gaming, Office type stuff, and encoding, that's it really...