Best CPU for the dollar for MPEG2 compression

[pharries]

So what do you guys think?
Pentium 4
Athalon MP
Athalon XP
What gives the best bang per buck for TPMG and other encoders?
(using the prices from eg pricewath.com)

[tonyp12]

The AMD XP 2100+ at $85 is the budget sweet spot right now.

http://www.pricewatch.com/1/3/4657-1.htm


A motherboard XP2100+ combo for $130+
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/306/4659-1.htm

Don't forget to set the right settings in BIOS.

[chaseru]

For around $500 you can get a motherboard and dual AMD MP 2000+ processors.

My dual AMD MP 1900+ system generally encodes 740x480 MPEG2's with higher quality settings in TMPGEnc in real time.

[tonyp12]

I do not think a dual CPU motherboard gives you most bang for your buck.

A AMD XP 2600+ MB combo with 333mhz frontbus for $360 (and up)
http://www.pricewatch.com/1/306/4979-1.htm