looking to speed up my encode times

[anarchyjams32]

im looking to upgrade my 4 year old computer so that it doesn't take me 12-14 hours to encode from a dvd rip. truth is, i have a limited budget, and i really don't know where to start. i've been getting mixed info on what to get get from a faster processor, to a faster dvd-rom drive to more memory.

what would be the cheapest way to upgrade my computer so that it won't take so long to encode movies? btw... the processor i'm running is ancient, i've already got 127 megs of ram, and my dvd-rom drive reads at 24x...where should i start?

thanks in advance.

[D_Knife]

For encoding - CPU and then memory
DVD ROM speed will not improve things much

[captainjp]

If you are on a limited budget I would focus on going 1 of 2 ways.
1) I'd say double your ram. for video applications like this I feel much better with at least 256MB. Don't forget that your comp is probably running 12 other programs in the background)
2) Faster processor. You probably won't need a whole new computer but realize that a faster chip will probably require a different motherboard AND a different motherboard my require different RAM.
Try www.pricewatch.com as of today I have seen 1GHz chip with motherboard and a case assembled with shipping come to $113.00. Just take out your parts from the old maching, plug them into the new one and New PC for $113.

[D_Knife]

Adding memory first is only useful if you are running CCE - this can use over 200Mb of memory in an encode - I know I have watched my memory counter drop as it loads the AVI file
but TMPGenc only uses 8Mb RAM and 10MB when it's loaded a video file

Since you said you are DVD ripping, I don't think you are going near NLE work that needs Adobe Premiere or Ulead MediaStudio so...

Go with the processor first

[Helpy Fairy]

oh dear,

should start selling your blood. sell 1 pint or 2 pints per week.

don't worry. selling blood is not harmful. it actually helps your body because the iron in blood is bad. that is why women with their monthly bloodings live longer than men.

remember, sell your blood to the highest bidder.

then buy 3-4 pentium 4s to help your encoding.


la la la

oh, you're welcome!

[Mirror_Image]

CPU

[vcdfreak]

P4s should be good at encoding as it is specially designed to. Especially when SSE2 becomes popular someday, the processor should give what you've paid for.

Athlon processors are good for Office Works and Gaming. Good value. Above average encoding performance but lose out a bit when it comes to content creation such as Photoshop, Premiere, Director, Flash, ... And especially Photoshop 7.0 which built-in special codes/patch to boost performance running on P4s.

It depends on your need. But definitely processor is the biggest bottleneck when it comes to media encoding... Hope this helps.

If you can afford, get a dual CPU system. But you just get ~20-30% boost in performace for almost double the price...

[vhelp]

.
.
upgrade your MB, CPU & RAM, and posibly Case/PwrSply. We're
talking about $400 or less. If you shop on-line, then maybe even
cheaper, or way cheaper. I don't like shoping on-line, so I go
to my nearest PC store, and if I have a problem, I take it back
for an exchange or whatever, though I never had any problems to date.

If you start trying to upgrade, little by little, ie, your MB, then
your/or cpu, powersuply, ram, case, etc. you'll have WAYY SOOO many
headackes.

Keep the system you have now, and use it for Interneting only. Trust
me. It will be a flexible alternative, while you capture/encoding
on your NEW faster PC, while you surf, etc. ie, if you run into
trouble, you don't have to stop, log on, surf to say, this FORUM,
in hopes for help/advice/tips'n screams, etc.

So, my advice is to:
* keep you current system as it it, cause it's working fine!
* get an whole new:
== MB/CPU/RAM/Case/pwrsply/60gig min./HD/cdburner/grphCrd/capCrd

ah, hooo, I just over spent your budget! Geesh!
Well, that's my recommend.

Good luck!

-vhelp

[vitualis]

don't worry. selling blood is not harmful. it actually helps your body because the iron in blood is bad. that is why women with their monthly bloodings live longer than men.

iron in blood is bad??

Well, since all the iron does is carry oxygen, oxygen in blood must be bad...

Thus, you will live even longer if you stop breathing altogether.



Blood donation probably won't harm you if you are a healthy person and is good for the community.

Regards.

[kinneera]

Well, since all the iron does is carry oxygen

So if you pump a bunch of extra iron into your blood you will be able to breathe better?

[vitualis]

An oversimplification to be sure, but that's the whole point of initially blood doping and now EPO (erythropoietin) isn't it?

That is until the hyperviscosity gets you...

Regards.