Capturing, encoding and Hardware question

[oaddington]

I hope I'm posting in the right area for this question. I did a few search's and came up with a few ideas, but wanted some more suggestions. I have a lot of encoding and backing up of some videos I own. I wanted to improve the speed at which I can rip, and encode. From what I've discovered in my searchs, is that CPU is better then RAM for encoding, however none of my equip was relevent to any of the topics lol.... It's not that old though

ASUS A7V133 Board
AMD Athlon 1.2
2x256 PC 133 RAM
RADEON 7200
30 GIG maxtor HD
80 GIG maxtor HD
Audigy SB
LG 48x32x48 16xDVD

(I burn on a different pc laptop that I send files to through firewire)

Basically with my board I can put in a Athlon XP 2100+ (I upgraded the BIOS) and this is what it said I can max out at. However I'm still running PC133 ram, and don't know if it is even worth it to upgrade the CPU.

I can get a whole bunch more RAM to help, but if the machine is going to be restricted by the limits of the memory and board is it going to be worth it to go from a few year old AMD athlon 1.2ghz to a AMD 2100xp???

OR should I just wait a few months and buy a new MB processor and RAM??

Thanks, and just wanted to add this site has been an incredible source of info for me, thanks to all you posters, as well as a wonderful distraction from the things I need to get on with (school, work.. etc )

[Baldrick]

Use the newbie/general forum for "general" questions. The dvd authoring forum is only for authoring. I'm moving this one.

[oaddington]

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Use the newbie/general forum for "general" questions. The dvd authoring forum is only for authoring. I'm moving this one.

Thanks, sorry about that, I thought since the end product of what I was doing was DVD authuring that I put it in the right forum.... I'll get it right next time.

[oaddington]

Nothing? None of you techies have any suggestions? Or just quiet on the weekends?

[Solarjetman]

Well, what you need to do is find your bottleneck on your computer and upgrade that part. It may not be your RAM. One VERY common misconception is that adding RAM will always improve preformance. That is not true. It will only make your computer go faster if you are already using all the available RAM.

In order to tell what is causeing the slowdown, start encoding a file and look at your CPU usage. If its hovering in the very high 90s your CPU is the bottleneck.

If it is not being utilized to its full potential, something else is slowing it down. Then look at your available RAM. If you have no free RAM left, then you need more. If there is some available, then it is not the amount of RAM. If you have a diagnostic tool that reads the bandwidth used its even better because you can determine if RAM speed is the issue here as well.

Then look to your hard drive. This is much less of a science and more of an art. Watch the little LED light and see how often and how long it remains lit. If you notice that there is a lot of hard drive activity, it may be the speed of the drive that is slowing you down. If there is only average activity (remember, you are creating a file so there will be some activity, and that's why this is more of a judgement call than anything), then it could be several things such as:
* the speed of your RAM
* other devices using the bus
* goblins living inside the case

Well, OK, maybe not that last one but you get the picture . However, if I were to take a guess (and remember it is only a guess because I have not looked at the above factors on your computer) I think that a CPU upgrade would help with the encoding time, but a RAM upgrade is not needed. That is because encoding take a HUGE amount of CPU power.

[txpharoah]

Quality/speed depends on the combination of CPU, RAM, capture software and codecs, capture card, and sound card. Everything else just has to be nice and not conflict (OS, mobo, etc).

If you want power, save up for a better system altogether. Keep your old one for backup or personal use. Read on...

The ATI (AIW?) 7200 card you have is fine. Look at getting Intel (faster and cooler than AMD) and 256-512 RDRAM (DDR if you cannot afford RD). Your soundcard is fine too. Use Win2K. Use whatever capture software you want, but the ATI MMC is best with an ATI card. While you're at it, buy a new case for $25-50. If you need more hard drives, they're pretty cheap these days. Now you've got 2 systems. Add a cheap $20 PCI video card and cheap $10 sound card to the old AMD setup and use it for games or work or something non-video. That's what I would do.

[oaddington]

Wow, I never actually thought of using the Windows Task Manager to check, "brain cramp"

Just thought Id share my finding in case anyone with a similer system has problems..

Again
512 PC133 RAM
1.2 ATHLON

W.T.M Stats;
CPU Usage 100%
RAM 266 of 528 approx 50%

Norton System doctor
CPU Usage 100%
PM Free 220 MB approx half is free
CM Free 386MB

Now I'm not sure in norton what CM means, this is what it said This

COMMIT MEMEORY This sensor monitors the NT Page File.


Looks like for now, since my RAM seems to be fine, (amazingly it barely changes when I start or stop encoding).

I'm going to return my panasonic F65 DVD player which I bought yeterday after returning my RCA bumped up $100 for a better looking and quality wise DVD player, but in the end it didn't even play my DVD-R's (discussed in another thread) and go buy an Athlon XP 2100, I'll then check my stats and share

Thanks for the info guys.

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=567927#567927

[Solarjetman]

Now I'm not sure in norton what CM means, this is what it said This

COMMIT MEMEORY This sensor monitors the NT Page File.

Commited Memory is also known as "Virtual Memory". It is hard drive space used like RAM. It is basically overflow for when your RAM (or "physical memory" which is what PM stand for if you did not know) fills up. If you run out of both physical and virtual memory, your computer will crash. But it looks as I guessed, you have plenty of RAM and there is no need to upgrade that part.

And tell us how it all works out!!

[andkiich]

It might just be me, but the CPU usage of 100% seems to be an issue.

[oaddington]

It might just be me, but the CPU usage of 100% seems to be an issue

Yeah, that's the issue. Those stats were during an encode using TMPG. With 100% CPU usage the whole time, and 50% RAM usage, and 386 of CM memory free (thanks for the explanation Solarjetman), obviously I need a new processor. I didn't make it to the store today, Tomorrow is a holiday (Canada Day) so I'll get to it wednesday, and pass on my testing results/findings.

[feeras]

Hi,

FWIW. I've verified that faster RAM makes a significant difference with encoding times. I had some DDR333 ram which were set at 266 on an AMD 2000+. Of course, I didn't realise this until I began tinkering with the bios. Before corectly setting the RAM to DDR333, my encoding time was approximately 15 hours on Procoder (high quality). After correctly setting the ram to DDR333, my encoding time was cut to 12 odd hours. So there is a saving of at least 2 hours off the time it takes to encode. Anyhow, the difference from PC133 and DDR333 or even 400 might be more significant. Also, I found that moving from 256Mb to 512Mb made no significant difference whatsoever.

Cheers,
feeras

[oaddington]

Yeah, the change from PC 133 512 to DDR 333 would be huge, but my MB can't handle it, and so the only real concern was the processor and wondering if it would make much of a difference with my limited RAM speed and FSB.

we'll see soon I guess, I was only using 50% of my RAM, and 100% CPU, sso I'd imagine the CPU increase will then let the RAM get used more.