Thoughts on Hardware differences

[SharkBait]

Hi,

After I successfully did my first Episodial DVD using ConvertXtoDVD I thought I would try it on another machine that I have here.

What hardware determines faster encoding?

On my computer the specs are:
Athlon 1600+ (1.4GHz)
768MB SDRAM
300GB of HHDs
GeForce 4 Ti4200 128
SoundBlaster XGamer

Processing 5 episodes (roughly 35-40mins in length) in XviD format took roughly 3hrs.

Machine #2 (laptop)
Pentium IV 3.0 GHz
1GB DDR
100GB of storage
ATI Radeon 7500 Mobile 64MB
onboard Sound

Processing 5 other episodes (same format as the above) and it says it's going to take roughly 9hrs.

Am I to assume the Video Card does alot of the processing (encoding) of these files when authoring DVDs? Since my main computer has the GeForce 4 card but slower CPU. Where as the laptop has the faster CPU (3.0 GHZ) with faster memory, but the video card is at the lower end Radeon 7500 mobile and it will take almost 3 times the amount of time to author the DVD?

I'm trying to learn more about this so that when I go to upgrade my computer I know I'll get better performance.

Pretty much going to a 3.0GHz + processor with a GeForce 6600GT PCIE and system memory of DDR3 at the 1-2GB level.

Looking for some more enlightenment.

Thanks

[jkleslie]

Does the laptop implement some type of SpeedStep technology? Sounds to me as though the 9 hours is an estimate taken while the CPU is in its lower stepping.

Make sure that CPU is actually running at 3GHz when encoding using something like CPU-Z or GCPUID to monitor, because that does not sound right at all.

The video card won't do any encoding. Encoding is primarily CPU-intensive. High clock rates and efficient use of L2 cache are among the most beneficial.

[redwudz]

Encoding speed is almost always dependent on the CPU speed. Memory quantity, memory speed, has little influence; Hard drive speed even less. The video card normally does none of the processing while encoding and is not a factor.

What you want is a faster CPU, faster memory, faster front side bus, faster hard drives. That will help with other parts of video processing, mostly editing. But to speed up your encoding a faster CPU is the answer.

[SharkBait]

So if the laptops cpu is stepping. How do I go about using its full potential?

[otpw1]

I used to park mine in a mini refrigerator. 8) That caused it to not slow down from heat. Laugh all you want; but it made a big difference in encoding time and never rebooted in the middle of it.
YMMV

[jkleslie]

So if the laptops cpu is stepping. How do I go about using its full potential?

Changing the Power Scheme to "Always On" should do the trick. Otherwise, you may want to look up SpeedSwitchXP on Google and see if it will work out for you.