CPU/GPU/RAM/etc.

[SacredCultivator]

Hello everyone,

I hope I'm not wrong in asking this question in this forum.

Was curious what some of you though as most of the other forums I frequent don't deal with encoding.

If I were to get a new system, I guess my question is pretty vague but hmm if I'm wrong do delete this thread and I apologize.

Anyway, in building a new system (budget isn't super high, but shouldn't be a factor with respect to whatever may work "best"), in regard to buying each component. . .

CPU -> Intel / AMD {I suppose which is best bang for buck}
GPU -> ATI / Nvidia {As as above}
Any other possible hardware I may need to get

Friend's told me that either mid/end of this year there'll be a new line-up for both CPU/GPU's, but whenever those are released I'm sure the prices will be outrageous {for me} so planning on buying a new system within the next month (within/after Chinese New Years) so wanted to get some opinions of which components I should aim for. This new system will be used primarily for fansubbing/encoding {DVD/Blurays} and not for gaming {Heck I only play LoL and that doesn't require much}.

YOu can either side with whichever OR you may provide specific components.

Again if this doesn't belong, please delete this. Thank you.

Ah right, if there's any questions hopefully I can answer them, as I'm not necessarily a PC Guru, so I'll do my best.

[Asmodian]

I voted Intel + Nvidia but I wanted to add some followup:

If going for a higher end system it is Intel all the way. If you are trying to spend as little as possible and still get a system that is "fast enough" I would go AMD.

For video cards I have been happier with Nvidia for a while now. CUDA is great and seems to have more and better (more robust) support than DXVA. If you do not want to use DGDecodeNV or other CUDA decoding I think the choice of video cards is not as significant. nevcairiel recently mentioned (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1613652#post1613652), in the context of video playback, AMD having some intermittent issues with drivers but I am not sure what they are. While I have had my share of issues with AMD's CCC I cannot say I love Nvidia's drivers either.

Intel's new chips (Haswell) do look very nice but they are most exciting for tablets/ultrabooks imo. Good for everything else too but the biggest change is on the low power end.

Edit: As an aside I really do want a 2560x1600 10" Tablet with a nice Haswell chip in it running Win8. :D

[SacredCultivator]

^Thanks for your incite, and yeah growing up I believe a majority of my PC's were all AMD/ATI combo's. Think only once did I go Nvidia. And yes friend's told me for CUDA is much better in regards to encoding.

Although quick question for CUDA it's preferred to use its Deinterlacer/Resizer? over let's say Yadif / Spline36Resize

[burfadel]

For encoding with x264 etc, the AMD FX-8350 is actually faster than the Intel i5-3570K. It is also faster in other aspects as well, the only thing it is really slower in is gaming. For what you will be using it for, the FX-8350 makes much more sense!

In terms of GPU, it really depends on what program and encoder you will be using. Although CUDA is available with Nvidia I wouldn't consider it as a major bonus over AMD. For encoding neither AMD or Nvidia really have quality encoders as the speed obtained through GPU encoding isn't too impressive when considering the speed of encoding on the CPU where the settings allow for 'the same' quality output. The only real advantage with Nvidia is CUDA for decoding, but even then it is limited to what you want to do, a paid license is required, and it doesn't necessarily equate to a better quality output.

I would say quality wise YADIF (a recent compile of it) and using Spline36resize would result in better quality. All things considered, an AMD FX-8350 and an AMD HD7770 would be a good combination. An update will supposedly be available next year without replacing the motherboard (AMD expected to release an AM3+ compatible Steamroller CPU), just a consideration. There is a lot of misinformation about the AMD FX processors, they're not as bad as what people make them out to be. As I was saying, what lets them down is gaming and single threaded performance. When you use multithreaded applications like x264 for encoding, and numerous other applications, the FX-8350 begins to shine.

[SacredCultivator]

Hmm good point, as definitely I'm no hardcore gamer or anything. As mentioned, League of Legends is all I need honestly (More or less, just don't got much time to play games). So I think ATI will fit me for a video card as they are generally cheaper too I believe. Currently have a HD4870 I believe {Sucks it's Legacy now for Drivers}.

For CPU using, AMD Phenom II X6 1090T, so it works for me due to the 6 cores. And price wasn't bad at the time that i bought this rig which was well over... 4-5 years? Maybe even more.

So only just now thought to upgrade with Chinese New Years coming up and with quite a lot of Bluray's coming out, need a machine that can actually handle it.

[burfadel]

Yeah for encoding the FX-8350, although apparently the FX-8320 can be overclocked to a similar level as the FX-8350 so you could save a few dollars. You could go for a HD7850/HD7870, the HD7770 was a budget choice considering you don't do much gaming.

[zazon]

The 1090t was released less than three years ago. At the time the Phenoms were a good choice and I got the 95w 1055t, but unfortunately right now, AMD can't compare to Intel at the top end. The FX run at a high wattage and aren't that much less than the i7-3770. If I were building a new box for encoding, that's the way I'd go.

[burfadel]

Really? There's at least a $100 difference between the i7-3770K and AMD FX-8320/8350 here.

[SuLyMaN]

I'm highly interested in this thread as my next rig will be a primarily encoding machine. Right now the watt consumption of the amd is pretty bad. I think it is better to wait at least q2 and then decide

Sent from my GT-S5660 using Tapatalk 2

[SacredCultivator]

In regards to the Watt Consumption would getting a better Power Supply work alongside that or wouldn't matter?

And for me I have patience, but ehhh, I think for me next month is decent to get a new rig because if I wait, the new incoming stuff are going to be pricey and would most likely be out of my budget compared to what I can currently get {As I don't think the prices will drop that much} (But meh, what do I know >< not a techy/guru at all)

But currently seems I'm leaning towards the AMD side and I believe ATI as well, despite how it's reflected in the poll.

[Guest]

But currently seems I'm leaning towards the AMD side and I believe ATI as well, despite how it's reflected in the poll. So why are you leaning that way? Given you went to the trouble of creating this poll and thread, inquiring minds would like to know why you dismiss the clear result. :p

[SacredCultivator]

Ah nah, I'm easily swayed.. Currently it's primarily due to those commenting and on the side of AMD/ATI (+Me just growing up using them).

I don't mind going the Intel/Nvidia route either, just wanted to get more opinions on these is all. So it's not all a failure (the poll)

[Asmodian]

I do not agree that yadif is better quality than CUDA deinterlacing, at least not when I tested it a while ago. Has it improved a lot recently? Yadif wasn't a lot worse but I did notice fewer artifacts with CUDA. CUDA is also free from an encoding time perspective. The only deinterlacing that was better than CUDA in my tests was QTGMC and that needs a lot of CPU time. Anyway CUDA isn't just for deinterlacing, you get free decoding even if you want to run yadif.

What does the resize choice have to do with CUDA? You can use whatever you want with either deinterlacing method.

Single threaded performance comes out to bite you all the time as well, even when just encoding. The FX-8350 is a small amount faster (vs i7-3770K) in very multi-threaded applications like x264 but it can be much slower in more single-threaded ones.

I do think more people should buy AMD chips (monopolies are bad). For a pure x264 encoding box, not running 24x7 (then power bills start to matter), the FX-8350 does sound like a good deal.