dual core cpu,can do multi-task ?

[ancher]

Can the dual core cpu do multi-task ? What i mean is during heavy full cpu power encoding the video,can i still surfing the net or download the bt ?

Will this affected the output picture quality after the encoding time.As all of us know ,encode video almost use 100% power from the cpu and the encoding time is more than 8 hours if convert the file to mpeg 2.

Any intel or amd dual core cpu owner please give some comment.

THanks in advance.

[rallynavvie]

I would assume so. Dual-core processors pretty closely resemble an SMP platform so you should be able to use the one core for a heavy process like encoding while doing something else without interrupting either. If you get the Pentium D I'd disable HT though, it doesn't really have much use in that environment. Also you'd have to make sure the encoder you're using isn't multi-threaded or else it'll use both cores (but for much faster encoding times).

One caveat however is that even though one core is running an intensive process it is still working other parts of your system. For instance your hard drive(s) would be working and using one of those could cause a problem or major slowdown. Ideally you'd want to have three hard drives for this task. One is your encoding read disk where your raw video is waiting to be encoded; one is your encoding write disk where the encoder writes the encoded/final file to; and of course the third is your boot volume with your OS on it. The encoder application itself usually doesn't access the hard drive, they just sit in memory while they do their thing so it would leave you near-unfettered access to your boot drive to run any other application from it. And don't even mention partitioning as a solution

You'll also want at least 1GB of memory. Most software encoders don't use memory much but of course having more than one app open will add up. And be sure to get a fantastic chipset that can drive all those operations. I'm a little wary on the dual-core platforms right now, they don't seem quite as robust as SMP platforms are yet.

[reboot]

Multitasking is what dualcore CPU's do.
I can encode a video, play a game, do email, surf, ftp, and watch TV all at the same time.
Not that I actuallly do it, but I can