Amd Vs. Intel and Nvidia Vs. Ati for h.264

[goribigon]

I intend buy a new cpu and i'm new to this all 264 thing, if someone can clarify this to me and give me some tips that would be great :thanks:

[Inventive Software]

Intel by far are the most overclockable and deliver more bang-for-buck than AMD. x264 in particular loves Core 2 Duo CPUs. ;) As for NVIDIA vs ATI, I don't know! :D

Might I suggest to a mod this be moved to the "Hardware" forum?

[goribigon]

thanks mate.

[*.mp4 guy]

Thats not completely accurate, If you are going to overclock intel is by far the best choice, but at stock speeds X264 performs similarly on C2D and A64 X2. An A64 X2 4800+ is about equivelent to a C2D E6600-6700 at stock speeds, but when overclocking is considered any C2D will outperform very high end A64 systems, the E4300 performs about the same OCed as the A64 X2 4600 Oced, and nothing can match an overclocked E6700.

[arfster]

....the E4300 performs about the same OCed as the A64 X2 4600 Oced.

Really? Most e4300s seem to be getting 3.0 to 3.2ghz with aircooling and <1.5V. Past that seems tricky cos of strap issues, and very few can do the 400*9 needed for the 1333mhz strap - at least without 1.8V :-) On top of that, aren't C2Ds about 20% faster than X2s at the same clock rate to start with?

Personally not bothered either way, just curious to know how they compare these days.

[cbarroso]

Take a look on this (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122318) thread

[Theliel]

in this time, intel Core 2 duo or Quad are the best solutions for H264 encode.

About Nvidia Vs ati for h264 encoder/decoder:

For the moment, Nvidia neither ati support any type hardware support for h264 encoder. Avivo (ati) DONT have hardware support, this is a LIE. If you want know more about this, you can read a past post about this. maybe with Nvidia CUDA (serie 8) will be posible.

For H264 decoder, are clear that Nvidia are superior with purevideo tech (the most of serie 6 and all serie 7 and 8).

for me, are very clear. Nvidia is the best choose for h264 and Intel Core 2 duo/quad

[goribigon]

i dont understand this thing about the Intel Core 2 Duo, the weakest one i found is Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz 2Mb, is that enough ?

[BigDid]

Thats not completely accurate, If you are going to overclock intel is by far the best choice,
Hi, I agree

but at stock speeds X264 performs similarly on C2D and A64 X2. I would even say at same speed but is verified only between the A64 X2 4600 o/c@2640 from Selmer79 and my E4300 o/c@2630 see thread already linked with Megui and x264 test: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=955135#post955135
and the nice graph from ditche: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=963869#post963869

An A64 X2 4800+ is about equivalent to a C2D E6600-6700 at stock speeds, but when overclocking is considered any C2D will outperform very high end A64 systems,Correct actually, we will have to wait for the new K8 architecture (and prices) to see if still true next year.

the E4300 performs about the same OCed as the A64 X2 4600 Oced... For my config only - and because the motherboard is the limiting factor, but it costs less than 50$ and have enabled me to re-use my DDR1 Ram and my AGP card; more in dedicated thread:http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=120509
See Steve77 results with a E6300 and a fine tuned motherboard overclocking up to 3206Mhz .

Last but not least, the financial argument. On price grabber the A64 X2 4600 is available between
$189.00 - $329.39, the E4300 is between
$168.99 - $228.64
and prices for the E4300 should drop below 120$ on April 22 :)

Did

[Atak_Snajpera]

DON'T BUY AMD!!! If you want to buy new cpu I suggest to buy Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86Ghz (~€190). On default voltage you can overclock this cpu without any problems to 2.8Ghz! (FSB 400) . Cpu is stable like a rock! I made many very long torture tests using Go-Orthosa and I have never seen any errors in calculations!!! Don't forget to buy proper memory (PC-800).

[Inventive Software]

Actually, the E4300 is looking a more value-for-money proposition than the E6300. High multiplier, low FSB. Therefore, there's room for the FSB to be overclocked. Crank the FSB up to 350 from it's stock 200, add a little voltage, put some decent cooling, and you have a 2.7 GHz processor that cost around £100 (about €150 if my mental currency converter's right!) The E6300 has a low multiplier (7, compared to the E4300's 9), which hurts the overclocking somewhat.

[*.mp4 guy]

I know C2D's overclock insanely, I was only saying that If you aren't going to OC it isn as simple as C2D>A64, If he already has a S939 board it could be a better choice to get an A64 X2, if he isn't going to OC.

[Atak_Snajpera]

If I had faster memory I would go even higher 3Ghz (FSB 428 mhz) . In my opinion E6300 is still better choice. Of course You pay more but you don't have to buy new cooling system and you have faster fsb (400 mhz instead of 300mhz).

[dragongodz]

goribigon - first work out what your budget is. once you have that you can look at possible easy upgrades like cpu only.

if thats not possible then you will have to factor in to the cost the other upgrades aswell(ie. motherboard, ram etc).

and finally a very important piece of advice, watch out for obvious fanboy posts. something like
DON'T BUY AMD!!!

fact is it all depends on what you can afford and what you prefer to buy. dont let anyone tell you that you must definatly get brand x.

since BigDid gave some prices
On price grabber the A64 X2 4600 is available between
$189.00 - $329.39, the E4300 is between
$168.99 - $228.64
here e4300 starts around $240+
here 4600+ x2 starts around $250+

of course then add in a motherboard that has the features you want(not all are created equally or priced the same) etc to get to a real total for a non cpu only upgrade.

and prices for the E4300 should drop below 120$ on April 22
and here amd cpus prices have just started dropping already. 3800+ has dropped from around $190 to around $150+ for example. sorry i dont know what the 4600+ price was before now.

my prices are in Aus dollars of course. :)

you have choices so dont let anyone tell you that you dont. do some research on what you can afford with the fetures you want and make your decision based on that.

[Atak_Snajpera]

I'm not a fanboy. I had always had amd cpus (k5,k6-2,xp,turion64 in laptop) but this time intel's cpus are more powerfull at the same clock. Another example Athlon X2 needs clock 2,2 ghz to have similar performance to Core 2 duo at 1,86Ghz (games). If your E6300 is overclocked to 2,8 Ghz you would need X2 running at about 3,2 Ghz! Tests do not lie. Peace!

[dragongodz]

Atak_Snajpera - the piece i quoted was a typical fanboy type response and a fair warning of what to watch out for. it totally ignores any possability that it may be cheaper or easier etc etc etc for a person to upgrade to a particular choice.
i am not saying you are a fanboy but you do seem to like making fanboy statements. :)

intel's cpus are more powerfull at the same clock.
clock speed is irrelevant. cpus are not priced evenly on their clock speed. so that statement is another pointless arguement and one i have seen fanboys make many times.
i could also say go back an Intel generation and AMD were more powerful per clock speed aswell but of course thats still irrelevant. ;)

Tests do not lie.
of course they can. of course they shouldnt but they can be not always telling the whole story.
does that mean i think if someone has money falling out of their pockets they shouldnt buy something like a c2 6700 ? of course not. if they can afford that then sure they should buy it. not everyone is in that situation though and when giving advice about what to buy it is better to give a bit more general advice. such as working out what a person can actually afford and what other costs may be included.

(games)
is this suddenly a games forum ? i think you will find most people who ask questions here are interested in things like decoding and encoding. arguements using games as an example for such a crowd holds little importance, if any.

[goribigon]

well, from what you guys wrote and from what I read on the net I think I'll go with intel c2d. any suggestions for a good motherboard that will suite Intel c2d cpu ? maybe asus ?

[Inventive Software]

Asus P5B Deluxe. No contest, it's the best in overclocking according to PC Format (450 MHz FSB, from the stock 266 MHz, with the E6300). I'm not sure on the vanilla P5B, as in how it differs from the Deluxe...

[goribigon]

I see that the Asus P5B Deluxe supports ATI CrossFire graphics cards, what does it mean ? and if i want Nvidia card do I need a different motherboard that supports Nvidia cards ?

[lucassp]

Asus P5B Deluxe. No contest, it's the best in overclocking according to PC Format (450 MHz FSB, from the stock 266 MHz, with the E6300).

I tested an ASUS P5B board (non Deluxe, non -E, just the cheapest one) and it wouldn't overclock 1 MHz:D some good value boards are ASUS P5N-E SLI and ABIT AB9 (of course with the latest BIOS running)

@goribigon ASUS P5N-E SLI is a very good value SLI board with overclocking potential

[jeffy]

with their quirks as well :p

Okay, I will point you to the website:
Some people here ... many ... have found their systems pretty well overclockable, but hey, the name says it all: XtremeSystems :)

Asus P5B-Deluxe; Problems & Fixes (143 pages)
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=112648

Asus P5W DH - Problems + Fixes Thread (167 pages)
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110193

Well, don't forget about Asus Commando and Striker and... you name it. But don't foolishly think that other manufacturers' boards are great... Intel own's boards, Abit's, ASRock's, even those with nVidia 680i chipsets do have their problems, sorry :rolleyes:

Just read the reviews and ask where you can.

EDIT: being more objective and not a fan boy :)
And as Dragongodz posted above, you can as well consider AMD CPUs as well, take again a short look at this table:
http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122318
and consider that as of now (http://www.tgdaily.com/2007/03/05/price_performance_analysis_03_04_2007/)
US prices for AMD are at record lows: $229/334 for Athlon 64 X2 5000+/5600+. Intel prices are covered in the linked article as well, expecting further price cuts this April, E6600 $224... Q6600 $530... E6700 $316

[Atak_Snajpera]

I have Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mainboard. It costs only 130 euro (http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=323508). You can overclock FSB by 1 mhz.

[jeffy]

I have Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 mainboard. It costs only 130 euro (http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=323508. You can overclock FSB by 1 mhz.

Really? By 1 MHz only?
Well, it really depends on the board revision and BIOS revision, memory used, COOLING etc.... What about E6300 / 3507 MHz
(http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=110451) and E6400 / 3496 MHz with the same board (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=111079)?

[Sagittaire]

Well I read that:

http://users.skynet.be/bk314761/megui02.png

Actually the best choice for fps / price is not C2D or X2 but ... PIV D.

Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA at 50/60 $
Pentuim IV D915 at 80/90 $

You have a 140/160 $ solution with your old AGP card and your old DDR (or PCIE and DDRII if you want). You have a good O/C potential too ...