Best Computer for Encoding DivX4

[Psycho]

I have a PIII 450MHz with 128MB Ram, 16x DVD and an IDE 30GB HDD.
I'm thinking of upgrading to a P4 1.7GHz, 256MB Ram.. Is this choice wise or should I upgrade to an Athlon. Also which HDD is better an IDE or a SCSI?

[techno]

Hi there. Yep, you SHOULD go for Intel P4!!! This is because not only is it bloody fast, the multimedia capibilities on a P4 is really really high, even if you a the wrost graphics card in the world. It's true!

SCSI is faster than IDE (but expensive) 30GB is reasonable but if you do video editing (you would have to in DIVX encoding) then you should get a 40GB (and a second HDD as well, just in case to backup your vids in case when encoding the system crashes).

NVIDIA creative GFORCD 2 Mx 200 32MB is a good graphics card + Intel chipset motherboard is recommened and all the RAM you can get.

Cheers!

Techno

[Psycho]

Thanks techno... Hopefully by the end of december I will have my new pc and start encoding movies again.

[techno]

Any time buddy, anytime!



(ps. My ICQ no is : - 139363222)

[Trancemaster]

I'm sorry, but P4????
You NEED an Athlon, not only does it out perform the P4 in every respect but is also cheaper and suffers from no floating point problems like some CPU's I could mention. My Athlon 1Ghz with 384MB RAM flies, and with XP, I can encode a DivX in 5-7 hours.

Just remember, P4 ------> Pants
Athlon ------> Wik!

[UncasMS]

agreed!

i wouldnt want to do without my two athlons.

this one's an old 700 for surfing and every day work.
the encoding machine is a tb 1200@1333/1400 and does a splendid job.

no p4 is worth the damn money you have to spend on it.

you better go for an ahtlon xp 1600-1800 and spend the rest of the money you save compared to a p4 on plenty of hdd space and a little more ram than 256!

[khp]

the multimedia capibilities on a P4 is really really high, even if you a the wrost graphics card in the world. It's true!

I do hope you are kidding. A graphics card is esscential to good multimedia performance. Newer cards like geforce2, 3, and the ati radeon take over a lot of the calculations that the cpu used to do.
ofcouse this is not really relevant to divx encoding.

SCSI is faster than IDE (but expensive) 30GB is reasonable but if you do video editing (you would have to in DIVX encoding) then you should get a 40GB

Ohh, now i know you are kidding. SCSI used to be faster than IDE, but with todays large capacity 7200rmp IDE drives the difference is marginal, (I get 20-22 MB/sec copying 1 GB files from one IDE drive to another) .
The price difference on the other hand has stayed between SCSI and IDE. I can get a 60GB IDE for 100-150$ a SCSI drive cost 5-8 times as much. And a scsi controller will add another 100-200$.
For divx encoding SCSI wold be a waste of money.

This kind of advice could at best be called misleading.

[CrazyLegsMC]

RE:

P4????
You are joking right?
Not only is it weak compared to a good Athlon 1.4ghz, but also if your gonna upgrade your ram, which you should, the ram (rambus) is damn expensive.

You'll be sorry if you go with a P4, hell if you got the cash, grab urself a Dual Athlon 1800 series and you'll encode your divx at like 35-40FPS.

(That last paragraph is based on info from other forums in case you think its wrong)



FINAL OPINION: P4 is horrible. If you wanna stay with Intel, go for the highest P3 you can find, but please STAY AWAY FORM P4!!!

[techno]

The only reason athlons are cheap is because it busts out after 1 month AMD SUCK. They overclock the CPU's without you realising this. It's true, contact Intel and AMD if you wish.

P4 is the best you can get!

Sorry

Techno

P.S It's upto Psycho what he wants, we are all giving our own opinion

Thanks

[Psycho]

Do you guys think that DVD decoding and encoding back to DivX can damage a HDD in any way because eversince I started encoding DivX I destroyed my HDD twice .
Also I haven't worked with the newest Athlons or P4 yet so I don't really know their speeds and their Benchmarks but I'm curious as to what do most of you use...
Personaly I've always been an Intel buyer but I'm always open to new suggestions.

[techno]

psycho, your the man being an Intel fan!!!!!!!!

No, encoding and re-encoding and decrypting etc... deos not damage a hdd, I do encoding and re-encoding and decrypting all the time.

Thanks m8



Techno

[Trancemaster]

Psycho,

I used an original Pentium for 4 years, a P166 and had no problems with it, but when it came to upgrading to a new machine, I instantly thought of AMD, they've come a long way since the days of the old K series and to be honest they're pulling away from Intel all the time. The Pentium 3 is a good processor, don't get me wrong but the P4 is pants and has been plagued with problems. Plus, as CrazyLegsMC so wisely pointed out, RAM on P4 computers is in RIMM form. Not only are they damn expensive, they can run at up to 100 degrees centigrade!
All in all I think the Athlon is the wise choice, If the new XP's are anything like the original, they'll be wicked!!!

[techno]

AMD still suck. I don't thing that any company would release something if it didn't pass any tests, don't you? I am always with INTEL.

It's upto psycho.



Techno

[benderman]

techno ... isn't that the guy who says he can encode DVD-quality in DivX with only 350kbps or lower? Better don't belive him too much.

SCSI: It's not faster than IDE. In fact the fastest actual HDD are IDE. The only thing about SCSI ist that they may be faster if you use a lot of HDD/CD/DVD at the same time. IDI with or without a RAID-controller should be faster.

Intel vs. AMD: AMD is much cheaper so why pay more? More important ist that the mainboard does a good job. Bad mainboards can cause lower CPU-power.

[UncasMS]

CLOSED!

STICK TO ARGUING BUT NOT FLAMING!!

i dont want any flame wars in here!