Heat speed and compression

[Harrysmiith]

I just bought a new pc Pentium Duo 2 6300. Wanting to run this a cool and quiet as possible I have installed the quietest fans etc.

Using DVDRebuilder 1.10.4 I have been able to encode in 85 minutes (CCE basic) compared to 137 minutes on my older pentium 3.4 DVD Rebuilder reported a reduction level of 55%.

On the next DVD I again had much increased speed BUT also less heat reported on the CPU. for the first DVD the max figure for the CPU was 52c. with the second dvd it was only 45c. The second dvd had a reduction level of 87%. I'm guessing that the lower reduction requirement means that DVD Rebuilder works less hard ?

Slightly off topic - I have keep the CPU (idle) at 38c with some fan noise and totally quiet at 42c - system zones and drives high 20's c My preference is for 38c and a bit of noise. any thoughts ?

[jdobbs]

I'd guess just coincidence.

[Harrysmiith]

Thanks - yes i could just be seeing things that are not there.
A DVD that I'm encoding now shows 61% reduction and cpu reads
47%. Could just be that cpu levels are falling as the CPU burns in ?

Being greedy - all I want is fast, quiet and cool.

Thanks for all the work you have put and continue to put into DVD Rebuilder - its a must have program.

[jdobbs]

Is there any fluctuation in the ambient room temperature? If the air used for cooling is warmer, the CPU temperatures rise.

[writersblock29]

[Qouted from Jdobb's post] "Is there any fluctuation in the ambient room temperature?"

Exactly what I was going to ask. Also, keep in mind that background programs will influence the CPU's temperature. Antivirus programs, multi-tasking (which is why many people get a dual-core processor), programs like Disk Keeper (an automatic defragmentor program), Spyware (not to mention Spyware removal programs) or even Windows Update kicking on to check for updates can influence the CPU's temp. The more your computer is being asked to do at once, the greater the burden... the greater the burden, the more heat is generated. Windows is good at running stuff in the background without necessarilly letting you know about it, whether you're multi-tasking or not. Many other programs periodically check for updates "quietly," without notification -- which will slightly raise the demand on the CPU. You can view this using Ctrl/Alt/Del and getting into Windows task manager, which will let you see what's running at any given time.

[JFerguson]

I'm wondering why your encode doesn't cause your CPU to go to 100%?

[feedback]

I just bought a new pc Pentium Duo 2 6300.
I'm jealous!:D

[rayvt]

Guys, encoding is a cpu-intensive activity. The CPU will run at 100% as long as the encode takes. CCE may not get 100% due to the above mentioned background activity, but it will absolutely take every remaining CPU cycle. A cpu isn't like a car engine running at part throttle----it's either executing instructions or (temporarily) halted.

[Harrysmiith]

Thanks for the replies. I guess that there are a number of factors at play here. Ambient room temp does change on a daily basis and every day. Other background programs. So far there is nothing on this machine but Xp and DVD rebuilder programs.

Something I hadn't allowed for was burning in. All rebuilding now gives CPU temp reading of 45c - 47c. I have, however, improved the fan solution and probably have some gains here.

why doesn't the cpu go to 100% ? I don't know. Right now it is showing about 80%. Using CCE Basic the speed reading is approximately 4.5. Although I'm quite happy with this set up - is there anyway to get the cpu up to 100% ? perhaps if I try HC or another encoder ?


Just started HC -- it seems to be running cooler ( 45c) and only using 45 to 50% cpu.

[rayvt]

Um, <b>what</b> is reporting 80%? How do you know that it is reporting accurately? It is notably difficult to write a benchmarking program that will accurately report the CPU utilization. I can authoritatively say this because I myself have a patent on a method for doing this.

For a decent benchmark program I'd suggest prime95 -- http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm. Run this by itself and see what the effects are on your system---temperture, whatever your other measurement program shows, etc.

[Harrysmiith]

rayvt - thanks for the link. Have just tried the stress test on a couple of machines. an old pentium 4 2.4 goes to 100% cpu according to windows task manager and cpu heat rises quite a lot from 33c idle to 48c

On the machine that I was concerned about Windows Task mamager only shows 51% 52% cpu utilization. with temp going to 47c from an idle of 39c.

Perhaps windows is not yet able to handle duo2 ? Even Intel who make the chip have not yet allowed for duo2 chips in their
desktop utility program.

[shoarthing]

. . . Have just tried the stress test on a couple of machines. an old pentium 4 2.4 goes to 100% cpu according to windows task manager and cpu heat rises quite a lot from 33c idle to 48c

On the machine that I was concerned about Windows Task mamager only shows 51% 52% cpu utilization. with temp going to 47c from an idle of 39c.

Perhaps windows is not yet able to handle duo2 ? Even Intel who make the chip have not yet allowed for duo2 chips in their
desktop utility program. - Hi - P95 [like the HC encoder] is not multiprocessor-aware . . . ie it runs at 100% on your single-core [non-HT] PIV, & [at approx 100%] on one of the 2x cores of the 6300, hence the approx 50% you see in Task Manager.

. . . you can, should you wish, run 2x instances of Prime95 [one to each core, & 100% CPU usage shown in Task Manager]; more to the point, you can run 2x instances of HC encoder from DVDRB, seeing 100% CPU & considerably speeding your encode times.

CCE is multiprocessor-aware; but AVISynth isn't - it is 'normal' to see around 80% CPU usage from CCE on a dual-core/dual-socket PC.

[Harrysmiith]

- more to the point, you can run 2x instances of HC encoder from DVDRB, seeing 100% CPU & considerably speeding your encode times.

CCE is multiprocessor-aware; but AVISynth isn't - it is 'normal' to see around 80% CPU usage from CCE on a dual-core/dual-socket PC.

Thanks

I'm now running HC encoder Quality settings - with windows task manager showing 100% for both. will be interesting to see how times compare with CE Basic 2 pass. CPU temp seems to have fairly quickly settled at 47c

[rayvt]

"Windows Task manager only shows 51% 52% cpu utilization..." Yup, I think this is the key. After reading this I read what shoarthing said, and I think he nailed it.

One CPU running at 100% and one running at 0% would be reported at......50%. TA-DA!

[shoarthing]

Thanks

I'm now running HC encoder Quality settings - with windows task manager showing 100% for both. will be interesting to see how times compare with CE Basic 2 pass. CPU temp seems to have fairly quickly settled at 47c - Hi - interested in your comments on encoding speed on your 6300 using 2x instances of HC . . . I see 37.5 fps/1.5x realtime [average for the entire encode: interlaced PAL source to approx 65%] with HC quality settings max'd out on a dual-CPU 2.6GHz Opteron box. Quality of HC re-encode of fair-quality source [to my eye, with no faffing about with filters & using standard matrices] equal to CCE but inferior to Procoder 2 in blockiness of dark scenes.

[Harrysmiith]

Hi Shoathing

Using HC Quality on a pal source at 67.9% CPU reading 100% for each core on Intel duo2 6300 ( the cheapest) I'm getting average frames of between 37 and 42. still CCE is still much faster at 104 fps or speed 4 to 4.5