general CPU requirements question

[vredstein]

Many authoring and other video related programs will provide what they call "minimum requirements", ie-Windows XP, XXX amount of RAM, XXX amount of free space, and XXX speed. Many say the minimum CPU required for their programs is a Pentium4 2GHz.
How accurate is this? Would a 1.6GHz Celeron processor be unable to run these programs?

[ROF]

In most cases yes, albeit much slower and in some cases you may not get the same results. If you have a 1.6ghz machine it might be past time to consider an upgrade if you are performing video related work.

[RabidDog]

quote "Would a 1.6GHz Celeron processor be unable to run these programs?"
answer "In most cases yes"

or do you mean nothey will be able to run the progs..

There is not really any technical reason why your celly wont run them, albeit very slowly.
Get out the arctic silver the vcore manuals and start overclocking that chip.. a nice 25% overclock will get you up to 2.0ghz

[lordsmurf]

And it's not like it'll be THAT MUCH slower. Typically it's not recommended to use Celerons for "rich" work (video, games, audio, etc). They were intended for office work only (typing, e-mail, etc).

I just ended my relationship with a Celeron, replaced it with a normal P4. The Celeron was actually faster than the P4, it's several years more modern, but it would crash more often on "rich" video applications. The P4 is only slightly slower and is stable.

[INFRATOM]

Min requirement is a term to make the consumer buy the product and make him feel it works on his/her existing system. Well many companies wouldn't buy a product if they knew they had to replace 500 computers or even 50 computers. But for individual computer one should think the max I can afford. CPU, RAM and hard drive makes a program run fast. Most computers can run most program and the difference is time .. depends how much time is worth!

[SingSing]

A good time to update PC is you find killer app/s, that you like and need more CPU horsepower. This is the time.

[Bjs]

There should be no reason why they will not run , albiet some do require a 2 gigahertz cpu , such as full d1 dvd capture from usb2 device's , and even those pci unit's .

There should be absolutely no difference in output ... your pc will be simply slower to perform the task .

Never overclock ... idiot's do this .

Upgrade component's , only if you wish to do so , and when you can afford it .

Celeron's can do it all , but where considered more for server's as they run cooler than other cpu's .

------------------------------------------

Low end upgade's would be best built around amd or celeron cpu's with final clock speed of around 2.6 to 2.8 gigahertz
Mother board - avoid via chipset if linux will ever be used (lack of via audio support) , sis recommended .
Ram - 528mb's is fine for almost anything ... 1 gig if you are aiming at the heavy ended app's from adobe .

Video - go with onboard (this way you dont play the "gotcha" problem with upgrading graphic's for latest game's)

The better part using sis chipset + onboard graphic's is later , in a couple of year's , you can sell the upgrade (motherboard + cpu + mem) to anyone looking for a cheap , working upgrade ... and use this toward's you next upgrade .

High end upgrade's - head toward's amd ... intel has lost the plot with all the rubbish they will include .
Any of the amd 64bit's would be the way to go when it come's to some sort of future proofing your pc .

Remember "plug and play"

I refer too it as "plug and pray , pray it work's" , esspecially now when it come's to xp , and with hardware rushed out before it could be extensively tested .

[edDV]

FWIW: Most encoder benchmarks show no difference between a P4 (non-hyperthreaded) and a Celeron of the same CPU and front side bus speed.

[RabidDog]

oohh yes def overclock.. even if you get only 10% more speed it reall helps in video encoding .. where cpu speed is critical (eg a fast celeron might outrun a slower p4). the OS you use and the amount of diskspace are also major factors. Videos will eat up Gigabytes of hd space. Search ebay(den of thieves) for a used processor they are very easy to fit
something faster than yours should be easily found and quite cheaply too

[ROF]

oohh yes def overclock.. even if you get only 10% more speed it reall helps in video encoding .. where cpu speed is critical (eg a fast celeron might outrun a slower p4). the OS you use and the amount of diskspace are also major factors. Videos will eat up Gigabytes of hd space. Search ebay(den of thieves) for a used processor they are very easy to fit
something faster than yours should be easily found and quite cheaply too

Definitely agree on the overclocking. If you are not at least overlocking your CPU you are not using your PC to half it's potential. Smart people overclock. Of course, smart people also watch temperature spikes after making overclock modifications to see if they've gone too far. The Celeron is one of the best processors to overclock unless you want to include the Socket A Sempron too. Both processors can be overclocked to achieve better results with negligible effect on overall system performance.

If you have not overclocked your Cely yet, what are you waiting for? The one nice thing about an overclocked 1.6Ghz celeron is that even if you burn the thing out what have you really lost? a $30 part? So instead of buying a new movie this week you'll have to buy a new processor. At least it was fun while it lasted.

[TBoneit]

ROF, OTOH would you really overclock a 400 processor? If you burn that out, ouch! I tend to be conservative on OC'ing Do I really want to overclock a expensive processor that will be running at 100% usage encoding for hours on end.

For those thinking of overclocking keep environement in mind. That room that runs cool in the winter and spring, is it Air conditioned for summer? Watch your CPU temperature vs room temp.

[ROF]

ROF, OTOH would you really overclock a 400 processor? If you burn that out, ouch! I tend to be conservative on OC'ing Do I really want to overclock a expensive processor that will be running at 100% usage encoding for hours on end.

That is why I wrote, "Of course, smart people also watch temperature spikes after making overclock modifications to see if they've gone too far."

You can not simply pick a random increased modifier and not watch to see what potential it has Vs. what damage it is doing. That being said Socket 478 Celys are perfect overclockers even with stock cooling systems.

[BobK]

Definitely agree on the overclocking. If you are not at least overlocking your CPU you are not using your PC to half it's potential. Smart people overclock. Of course, smart people also watch temperature spikes after making overclock modifications to see if they've gone too far.

So, are you saying all smart people overclock? Or that anyone who doesn't overclock is stupid?

[FulciLives]

Using a P3 650Mhz with 256MB RAM and running WinXP Pro I was able to do the following:

1.) Capture using a PCI TV tuner type card as long as I did AVI capture using PICVideo MJPEG on the 19 quality setting. I did capture at Full D1 resolution with no problems or dropped frames. It did take a while to find a suitable capture program to keep A/V sync but I found one and I was able to capture 16-bit 48k Stereo PCM audio. Such a slow computer would be able to do MPEG-2 captures if using a hardware MPEG-2 encoder such as one of the Hauppauge WinTV PVR units.

2.) I was able to use VirtualDubMod along with AviSynth and encode with CCE SP. I was also able to use TMPGEnc Plus. I used a variety of audio editing programs including CoolWave and then SoundForge 6 and even GoldWave. I used SoftEncode for AC-3 encoding. I also used programs like DVD2ONE and DVDShrink although they would take sometimes as long as 3 hours to do their "magic".

3.) I used some "heavy hitters" like Photoshop but never used a "heavy hitter" editor like Vegas. I did use MPEG-VCR though without issues.

4.) I used mostly TMPGEnc DVD Author but I also used DVD Maestro without issues.

5.) I had no problems burning or ripping DVD discs.

6.) I did have a 2nd HDD for captures and extra room for converting and what not.

In short there was nothing I couldn't do BUT everything was SLOW.

It would take TMPGEnc Plus about 48 hours to do a 2 pass VBR encode on a full length movie. When I started using CCE SP and AviSynth the encoding time dropped a bit but I also started doing mostly 3-pass VBR encodes so it was still taking a long time (maybe 36 hours at the tops) for a regular length movie.

I'd probably still be using that machine as a back-up if it didn't get fried in late 2004 ... I got my current machine in December of 2004.

So ... I see no reason why a 1.6Ghz can't work as well ... it just will be SLOW.

My suggestion ... use some form of WinXP (home or pro makes no difference really) ... try to have 512MB RAM ... try to have a 2nd HDD for capture and video work. Also don't expect MPEG-2 capture in software but only with a hardware capture device.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[vredstein]

Using a P3 650Mhz with 256MB RAM and running WinXP Pro I was able to do the following:

1.) Capture using a PCI TV tuner type card as long as I did AVI capture using PICVideo MJPEG on the 19 quality setting. I did capture at Full D1 resolution with no problems or dropped frames. It did take a while to find a suitable capture program to keep A/V sync but I found one and I was able to capture 16-bit 48k Stereo PCM audio. Such a slow computer would be able to do MPEG-2 captures if using a hardware MPEG-2 encoder such as one of the Hauppauge WinTV PVR units.

2.) I was able to use VirtualDubMod along with AviSynth and encode with CCE SP. I was also able to use TMPGEnc Plus. I used a variety of audio editing programs including CoolWave and then SoundForge 6 and even GoldWave. I used SoftEncode for AC-3 encoding. I also used programs like DVD2ONE and DVDShrink although they would take sometimes as long as 3 hours to do their "magic".

3.) I used some "heavy hitters" like Photoshop but never used a "heavy hitter" editor like Vegas. I did use MPEG-VCR though without issues.

4.) I used mostly TMPGEnc DVD Author but I also used DVD Maestro without issues.

5.) I had no problems burning or ripping DVD discs.

6.) I did have a 2nd HDD for captures and extra room for converting and what not.

In short there was nothing I couldn't do BUT everything was SLOW.

It would take TMPGEnc Plus about 48 hours to do a 2 pass VBR encode on a full length movie. When I started using CCE SP and AviSynth the encoding time dropped a bit but I also started doing mostly 3-pass VBR encodes so it was still taking a long time (maybe 36 hours at the tops) for a regular length movie.

I'd probably still be using that machine as a back-up if it didn't get fried in late 2004 ... I got my current machine in December of 2004.

So ... I see no reason why a 1.6Ghz can't work as well ... it just will be SLOW.

My suggestion ... use some form of WinXP (home or pro makes no difference really) ... try to have 512MB RAM ... try to have a 2nd HDD for capture and video work. Also don't expect MPEG-2 capture in software but only with a hardware capture device.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

Well the computer I'm using now is a Compaq Presario 5410. The processor is said to be a x86 Family 6 Model 11 Stepping 1 GenuineIntel ~1295 Mhz. This is not my computer. I'm going to have to get my own machine if I want to do all the work I want to. I don't know a lot about them and I've browsed for used machines from the Dell, HP, and IBM websites. It seems there's a significant price jump to get to a P4, and an equal jump to get one with a DVD writer. I'm thinking an external writer is a better solution.
If I could find a fast machine that's cheap because it has a small hard drive and no dvd writer/reader, I'd be happy to just add an external hd and burner.
I hope my thoughts aren't straying into areas best left for another forum.

[ROF]

Definitely agree on the overclocking. If you are not at least overlocking your CPU you are not using your PC to half it's potential. Smart people overclock. Of course, smart people also watch temperature spikes after making overclock modifications to see if they've gone too far.

So, are you saying all smart people overclock? Or that anyone who doesn't overclock is stupid?

Neither.

[classfour]

The 1.6 should work - slower.

Check the motherboard: If it can handle a faster CPU, in the long run; that is a more stable alternative to overclocking. remember, when overclocking, you are typically speeding up other components = i.e. video card, memory, etc. ; and it may not accept the bus speed as well as the processor will. On a newer mobo, the CPU may be the only component affected. Just make certain before you dive into it.

IMHO: I would rather increase rendering time before cooking my processor.