will a separate video card speed up video encoding?

[edong]

I'm interested in buying a refurbished HP with quad-core CPU but with integrated video. I am wondering if by installing a PCI-E video card, there will be improvement in encoding or the speed will be the same because the CPU does the work by itself. I read that separate video card helps in gaming but I'm not a gamer. I do not want to spend money if not necessary. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Some few h264 encoders can use the nvidia video card CUDA feature to improve the encoding speed,
CUDA tools: https://www.videohelp.com/tools?toolsearch=cuda&Submit=Search&convert=&s=&orderby=Name&hits=50
and what is cuda: http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_what_is.html

[nic2k4]

The short answer is no, the video card's only purpose is to display the image produced by the computer. But in recent years Nvidia and ATI put out new technology that uses the video card GPU to encode video. You don't hear much about it anymore. As far as I know the results weren't that great quality wise, but it was much faster than CPU encoding. I forget what the Nvidia tech was called, but do a search on ATI AVIVO to know more.

[jagabo]

In short, no, a separate graphics card will not improve your encoding times over integrated video solutions -- unless you are using an encoder that supports GPU encoding. There are very few of these and none of them is from the big vendors of video editing software. Yet, anyway.

ATI's AVIVO encoder is terrible. BadaBoom's is OK but the software encoding is better and not much slower if you have a fast CPU.

If you get a computer with integrated graphics be sure it has a free PCIe 16 slot. That way you can easily upgrade to a graphics card should GPU based encoding take off.

Also, there may be other reasons for an separate graphics card. You can use two displays for example. One calibrated for desktop work the other for video.

[cyclometric]

How can you say AVIVO is terrible? I use it all the time. It encodes a 90 minute XVID AVI to WMV3 in 5-6 minutes. There are a few issues with it, sure, but it is the fastest encoder I have ever used, that creates fully compliant video. I have 2 HD3870's in CF, not the fastest cards around, but not the worst, either, and the AVIVO converter totally rocks, for my purposes anyway (which is often to convert video from MPG/AVI/DIVX/VOB/FLV, whatever --> WMV to be best viewable and zoom-able on my Vista Media Center Extender)

My 2 issues:
1. I don't see it using any of my GPU, though, when I watch the GPU load with GPU-Z, so I don't quite get that at all, for a converter that is supposedly supposed to use the GPU not the CPU... it uses about 50% CPU load & 0% GPU... weird
2. The source files are locked until either reboot or manually kill CCC process, which is kind of a drag, that has been around since the first release of the converter inside the CCC Basic Wizard, about 6 months ago. Hello, ATI?

But to say that it is terrible? Have you used it?

[jagabo]

But to say that it is terrible? Have you used it?

I've only tried the original version which was very limited and produced poor output. I've read about the newer version and seen sample clips. All of them have used its h.264 encoding. Reviews have said its output doesn't compare to output from CPU based encoders. In fact, if you disable the time consuming h.264 features (those that give it good compression), the CPU encoders are just as fast (and ugly) as the GPU encoder.

[rallynavvie]

Isn't AVIVO supposed to include video input like a TV tuner or analog input? Are those ATi cards still including inputs like the old AIWs? I know way back when the AIWs were still around a friend put together an HTPC with one and he dropped it for a dedicated tuner after only a few months due to encoder and picture issues. The Hauppauge he replaced it with was a far better choice. I would think they've since resolved these issues or discontinued the line?

[jagabo]

AVIVO has become ATI's catchall marketing phrase for everything video related. It doesn't really mean anything anymore.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/ati-avivo-hd/Pages/ati-avivo-hd.aspx

[jman98]

Isn't AVIVO supposed to include video input like a TV tuner or analog input? Are those ATi cards still including inputs like the old AIWs? I know way back when the AIWs were still around a friend put together an HTPC with one and he dropped it for a dedicated tuner after only a few months due to encoder and picture issues. The Hauppauge he replaced it with was a far better choice. I would think they've since resolved these issues or discontinued the line?

I gave up on ATI's cards years ago. It was too easy to find better alternatives from other companies. The problem with ATI is that gaming is their #1 consideration. That may be a good business decision as I could certainly believe that gamers are a far better source of income than video recording enthusiasts. But what that means is that ATI's video recording capabilities are always going to take a back seat to gaming considerations. Back when I had an AIW ATI card, ATI was pretty infamous for its useless technical support for any video recording issues. It's going back to the start of the decade, but I can remember a software DVD player that they released that was incapable of playing DVDs on some AMD CPU PCs and although ATI knew about the problem, they didn't care about fixing it. All that stuff made me pretty negative about using ATI capture cards and even today I still have trouble believing anything they have that can do video capturing or encoding would be any good. Based on their past, I wouldn't assume that they have resolved any outstanding issues with their cards.

[rallynavvie]

what that means is that ATI's video recording capabilities are always going to take a back seat to gaming considerations.

I would say the same for nVidia to be fair. I don't trust any consumer VIVO cards because of that added complexity. Dedicated capture devices/cards are almost always going to be a better option. You can still use CUDA or other GPU-accelerated encoders to enhance your CPU processing power, but I've yet to see such an encoder that I would really trust.

[ocgw]

Isn't AVIVO supposed to include video input like a TV tuner or analog input? Are those ATi cards still including inputs like the old AIWs? I know way back when the AIWs were still around a friend put together an HTPC with one and he dropped it for a dedicated tuner after only a few months due to encoder and picture issues. The Hauppauge he replaced it with was a far better choice. I would think they've since resolved these issues or discontinued the line?

Even the dedicated ATI Tv Tuner cards had very buggy drivers and installation problems, I have been very happy since I switched to Hauppauge Tv Tuner cards, easy installs, and bug free performance

ocgw

peace

[edong]

Thank you guys for the responses. Perhaps I'll take a look at those CUDA cards if the price is right for me. Or I will just add a second hard drive which some members here say will help the encoding process. I just hope that the free softwares I have will fully utilize the quad-core feature of the CPU. Maybe there is really big improvement in encoding speed between quad-core (1.8Ghz) and duo-core (1.8Ghz).

[ocgw]

Thank you guys for the responses. Perhaps I'll take a look at those CUDA cards if the price is right for me. Or I will just add a second hard drive which some members here say will help the encoding process. I just hope that the free softwares I have will fully utilize the quad-core feature of the CPU. Maybe there is really big improvement in encoding speed between quad-core (1.8Ghz) and duo-core (1.8Ghz).

Overclocking that quad w/ a aftermarket hsf is the best thing you can do to speed up the encoding the most on that PC bro'

ocgw

peace