Core 2 Quad PC for low budget encoding?

[WorBry]

My 10 year old PC (XP Pro, single core AMD XP 2800+) that I used for video encoding, as well as general/office use, has finally given up the ghost - a blessing in many ways - she was in pain for a while.

I'm thinking to get a more compact desktop (at wife's suggestion) for general use (maybe a Mac Mini), and so am looking for something lower-end, price wise, for the video editing/encoding. Most of my stuff is standard definition, but I do use some fairly CPU-taxing AVISynth routines and it would be nice to encode directly to x264 (MeGUI) in a single pipeline without having to generate a humungous lossless intermediate to get there within this lifetime. That said, I'm not looking for high-powered real-time encoding either.

A decent new PC with an i5 or i7, or even an AMD FX series (8 core) CPU would be beyond budget.

Seen a few refurbished Dell Optiplex GX755 desktop's with 2.4GHz Core 2 Quad (Q6600) processors in the on-line departments of several electronics stores here (in Canada) for $CAN 280 - 300. Come with Windows 7 Pro installed (probably OEM), 160GB SATA drive and 4 GB PC2-6400 (800MHz DDR2) RAM. Upgrade to 8GB is possible, but only with 64 bit Windows. The graphics is integrated (Intel GMA 3100), which is not what I would prefer (takes 250MB RAM) but I am unable to find one that has a dedicated v card option. Same with several Lenovo's that I've seen.

Still, I wouldn't be using it for gaming or HD stuff. Just steady CPU grunt video encoding.

Given the intended use and budget (around $300), would be grateful for an opinion on this choice or whether I could do better - AMD maybe?

Don't really want to get into building one.

Cheers.

[smok3]

what I would probably do with this budget is ;
a. buy 2nd hand classical case machine (I see that for example Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 type of machine is under 300 eur here on a local buy/sell pages)
b. test
c. replace what seems fishy and change the case (new one), reuse older parts, like hard drives.

Still tough to get under 300 eur and you will have some work to do and will not be compact.

-----

for a small factor pc, this guys looks interesting (i3 editions will be "slightly" over your budget);
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/purchasing/order-intense-pc/
(I would definately run linux (most likely crunchbang) on one of this)

p.s. And put your wife on ignore as far as computers are concerned, for them this is the same as kitchen appliance (just saying).

[WorBry]

Hi smok3

....And put your wife on ignore as far as computers are concerned, for them this is the same as kitchen appliance (just saying).

Sore point - the kitchen microwave also konked out this evening :p:o

Since our dialogue the Mac/Linux section, where I was considering the i7 Quad-core Mac Mini as a dual office and video encoding machine, state of domestic play has now changed to:

Trendy, compact desktop for 'shared office use' in comfortable home area, for which an i5 Dual Core Mac mini would be adequate, and use the difference to buy (or in my mind, towards buying) big, ugly tower PC for video encoding consigned to less comfortable basement.

I must say, those Fit-PC's do look like an interesting alternative to a Mac Mini. I'd also have no problem running Linux on one for office use. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be any distributor here in Canada, and I'd prefer not to import. Plus, I'm still left with the issue of a finding an affordable PC for video encoding.

There's no lack of used/recycled P4, and some Core 2 Duo PC's available in my locale, but a Core 2 Quad machine is harder to find. Guess I could live with a Core 2 Duo or look for one that has upgrade capability. Otherwise, back to the refurbished GX755.

[Blue_MiSfit]

What about an i3 or one of the latest generation Pentium / Celeron processors? They would probably be much faster than the C2Q for everyday tasks given the better IPC, and you can get a brand new system for cheap.

Still, I bet the c2q would be faster for encoding :(

Maybe you can find an older Phenom II system - those were pretty good for x264 encoding IIRC :)

[WorBry]

Thanks, yes, a Phenom II x4 or a Athlon II x4 PC would probably be good alternatives but, again, hard to come by here.

[turbojet]

I was in a similar situation about 8 months ago when rebuilding an htpc. Looking at spending $100-120 for a new cpu+mobo+ram combo and came to the conclusion going old just isn't worth saving a few dollars for a lot less performance/lifetime, settled on an IBC celeron. Can you reuse the case and hard drive from the athlon xp?

Currently you can get an FX8320+mobo+ram for $300 on newegg.ca but if you wait until December you might find it for around $200 like last year. I'm guessing the PSU in the XP box doesn't have a 24 and 4 pin or the wattage to run a more current computer. Which adds another $30-40 to the total. If you were near a microcenter store you could save $20 on the CPU. Speaking of that 4770K's are $50 cheaper there then anywhere else.

New celeron's are nice and quick at general usage but slow at encoding. Athlon II x4/C2Q are decent with x264, while the phenom ii, SBC/IBC i7's are a bit faster. FX 8320/8350 are the best price/performance for x264 encoding currently and can be had fairly cheap although not great for single-thread apps/games.

[WorBry]

Thanks turbojet.

I was about to reply that my old box was good for nothing, but wonder of wonders, I've got it up and running again. By some fluke, found a NVidia GeForce FX-5600 (AGP x8) in good nick to replace the original FX-200 (fan had cracked), and got the MB fixed (just one cap had gone). I guess that's just delaying the inevitable, but it gives me more time to look and around for a worthwhile replacement.

If I was to 'up the ante', and buy new (including clearance) what would you think of an Asus CM1855 with 3.1 GHz FX-8120, 8GB RAM and AMD Radeo HD7770 - given my dislike for integrated graphics.

As for refurbished, I cant find much worthwhile here that doesn't have integrated graphics - except maybe a Core 2 Quad Dell Dimension (9000 series) with ATI Radeon X1300; has PCI-E (x16) slot. Max 4GM RAM though. They had a good reputation, but too dated?

[turbojet]

Why would the xp case be worthless? Is it a non-standard case?

The $300 cpu+mobo+ram from newegg.ca relied on amd hd4200 graphics which can't do much more than web videos and HD evr playback. Are you able to build your own computer? If not, things get more expensive.

I have no experience with an FX8120/8150 but they have a bad reputation of really slow single threading but are pretty good multithreaded. The 8320 is worth the extra $20 though. In 6 months you'd probably make up the difference on the energy bill.

If you need to buy a complete case, C2Q are at about the top of your budget. Looking on newegg.ca, I'd suggest in this order from most to least;
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883148142 a little above your budget but the best deal
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883250142 Q6600 is faster than athlon 2 x4 singlethreaded and 1080p+ encoding
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883148134

Is there an online store you plan on purchasing from? I'm only familiar with newegg, amazon and best buy.

[WorBry]

The PC was built for me about 10 years back. I’m pretty sure the case (AOpen) is motherboard specific - MSI MS-6712 (KT4AV-L) v1.0. The MB will only take a Socket A (462) AMD CPU, so there’s no scope for upgrading the XP 2800+ to anything. RAM is DDR. I upgraded from 1GB to the 2GB max, two years back - 2 x Kingston 1GB PC-2700 (DDR333) - no re-use value in a modern PC. NVidia GeForce FX-5600 is AGP (8X). Both of the WD hard drives are IDE’s, so again, no re-use potential unless the ‘upgrade’ PC board has a legacy IDE slot or use with external USB enclosure as a backup. The original ATAPI DVD ROM drive was slung a while back – using an external USB drive. The PSU was changed 3 years back - PSI ATX-400PN:

http://www.sparklepower.com/pdf/ATX-400PN.pdf

Looks like there are a several SATA power connector leads, but I really don't know if it could be used with a modern PC board?

So, if I were to build one, which is not really my preference (despite potential savings), I’d basically be starting from scratch.

Thanks for the product links for the three refurbished PC’s on New Egg. The two ‘Famous Brand’ models were actually out of stock, but that is the type of spec and price range I’m thinking of. Never heard of ‘Famous Brand’ PC’s before though – where are they from (China?), and are they are good make?

I would have to say that my searches so far have focused on Canadian-based (as is supposed) on-line sellers and classifieds (Kijiji etc). Whilst both NewEgg and Tiger Direct have their ‘Canadian’ subsidiaries, I’m pretty sure they are basically import portals, and I am wary about how easy it is to return an item, especially refurbished, should it prove defective.

That said, when it comes to the ‘refurbished' PC's offered (on-line only) by the major Canadian electronics chain stores (Future Shop/Best Buy, Staples/Bureau En Gros etc) the only information provided is that these are items (could be ex-stock, defective/damaged, opened, returned, ex-demo model) that were sent from store to some undisclosed ‘facility’ for testing/repair and re-stocking as ‘refurbished’. Occasionally you will see one that is guaranteed ‘Microsoft re-certified’, which makes you to wonder why others are not. And warranty is usually just 3 months, unless you buy into an extended service plan...of course. I’d probably be more confident purchasing a manufacturer-refurbished PC, but they tend to be higher priced and, again, most offer only 3 months warranty. So, I guess you take your chance.

‘So why not just buy new or build one then’ I can hear you say. Given my PC paranoia, might be the best thing.

[turbojet]

The PSU should work with an FX8320 if you don't use a real powerful gpu. There are amd mobo's that still have pata so the HDD's can be used, otherwise there is PCI PATA controllers. GPU and RAM can't be used in current systems. Case probably can house most motherboards, what is the case model or current mobo model?

I'm only suggesting building, if you can, for a much better encoding box then you'd get by buying a complete pc in your budget.

AMD motherboards don't have a very good selection atm, intel's have much better but a comparable intel system is $150+ above your budget. Something like this $60 motherboard (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-292) is the cheapest on newegg that supports 8 core cpu's, it comes with pata as well. On board graphics aren't great but it's considerably faster than your FX5600. Maybe give it a try to see if a gpu is really needed. Overclocking with this board is a no-no, for that you'd need a $100+ 990FX and probably a different PSU.

Pair that with $170 FX8320 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285) and $70 2x4GB RAM (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104387) and $21 shipping = $321 for the third fastest cpu at x264 encoding under $500 that will still be pretty fast years from now, unlike phenom ii's and c2q, today.

I don't know famous brand, sounds generic but it probably has the same sort of internal's as a branded pc would have, which is bottom dollar stuff.

Newegg.com and amazom.com has been great for rma's to me. While tigerdirect.com has been a real pita and expensive even for faulty product. Buying refurbished psu and mobo is much riskier than buying new. I actually bought my FX8320 used on ebay to save $40 (can't currently) but it had only been out a few months and more than likely the seller was hunting for a good overclocker, which I never really planned on doing. Although I've had it running at 4.4ghz but it wasn't quite stable, bad vrm on my motherboard limits it to around 4.2 ghz but even then it's only about a 3% increase over stock 4ghz in x264 and a lot more heat, decided it wasn't worth it.

[WorBry]

Thanks again for your help.

I'm not at home just now to check the case model (have the product sheet somewhere), but I'm pretty sure it is specific for the MSI MS-6712 (KT4AV-L v1.0) board. Not sure I'd want to re-use it anyway. The front panel catches got bust when shipping personal effects from overseas - now held on with tape :o And I wouldn't really want to be restricted by PSU capacity or IDE legacy.

The prospect of building a PC from scratch is a bit daunting. But say I upped the budget to $400, what might you suggest for a complete system? I could always play the "Look, I've had to build my own PC to get something worthwhile" leverage card.

Not bothered about internal ROM or high capacity HDD drive - 250GB would do; I have plenty of external storage.

Or maybe a kit? Something like:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8569326&Sku=B69-0778
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7906561&csid=_61
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8463765&csid=_61
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1961906&CatId=5294

Edit: But probably only the last of those, with the Phenom II X4, would pack any punch, as these benchmarks would tend to confirm:
http://www.cpu-world.com/benchmarks/AMD/A8-5600K.html

The cheapest FX-8320 kits there are around $450 (minus graphics card)

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?cat=31&keywords=FX%208320&sort=0&recs=10

So, yes, probably the MoBo - FX8320 - Ram combo you suggested would be the best option. Assuming my existing PSU is adequate (how can I be sure?), and I stick with an IDE drive (for now), would just need a new case - should be able to manage that for under $400 total, including shipping. Although integrated graphics is not my preference, I can definitely see the offset benefits of a fast FX8320/50 processor:

http://www.cpu-world.com/benchmarks/AMD/FX-8350.html

[WorBry]

Checked the PSU requirements with several on-line calculators and, you're right (of course), the existing SPI 400W PSU should be adequate for the combo you suggested. That's assuming one existing PATA/IDE drive, with allowance for a standard SATA (at Christmas maybe), existing fan, firewire card and some external usb peripherals. Addition of a decent video card would definitely require a PSU upgrade,so I'd stick with the integrated graphics for now.

With that set-up (from NewEgg), plus a $50 Mid-Tower ATX case, I'd be looking at $410 including tax and shipping.

More than I was originally budgeting for, but it seems the best bet. Completely gone off the idea of refurbished.

Cheers.

[turbojet]

Ya none of those kits aren't much more than half as fast at x264. AMD's quad cores are slow encoders today, decent for gaming though especially the A series having the most powerful IGP's currently. If you want quad cores i5 and i7 are the way to go but it's more $. FX8350 would be more money and a different mobo that doesn't have pata.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/28 and http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/500 might be more appropriate benchmarks if the main thing you'll be doing is encoding x264.

Canada have about 10% internet tax? There's none here, yet, but I'm in a state where they are pushing it.

Case is mostly personal aesthetics but one thing you might want to seek is a high side fan for intake and maybe a top fan, preferably 120mm+. A front fan is nice but more for HDD cooling then anything else.

One thing you might have to do with that particular mobo is put a fan (old cpu fan?) blowing directly on the vrm (between the cpu socket and ports). The stock 8320 fan does a decent job of keeping the msi 970-g46 heatsinked vrm below 100C but tower hsf's do not, I bought a tower hsf (had to remove upper side fan) and mounted the stock fan with a metal clothes hanger. Also undervolting can help keep everything cooler and the cpu's are often at least .5V higher then they need.

[WorBry]

OK thanks.

I just happened across those cpu-world 'across the board' benchmarks whilst doing some web searches for ready-built FX-8350/20 PC's; just to re-assure myself that the cost benefits in putting together a rig myself are going to be worth it.

Thanks for the advice on the fans. I think I understand.

[turbojet]

What resolution are you encoding at and what filters do you plan on using?

Reason I'm asking is at SD resolutions intel's igp decoding is a big speedup, anandtech's benchmarks are unfiltered HD. Another thing is if you use heavy filters that don't thread well intel would probably be better because of the faster cores.

Intel announced yesterday there was going to be discounts on tablets and notebooks during the holidays in USA. No idea if that includes desktop parts or Canada.

Even so, currently there are good deals like http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8572925&CatId=333 which won't be nearly as fast as the 8320 at unfiltered HD but should be a little cheaper than the 8320 mobo/ram/case/hdd after rebates.

Or if you want to overclock (Z series mobo/ K series cpu) packages start around $480 without a HDD: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8572925&CatId=333 and http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8549129&CatId=4910

[WorBry]

In a nutshell...

... Most of my stuff is standard definition, but I do use some fairly CPU-taxing AVISynth routines and it would be nice to encode directly to x264 (MeGUI) in a single pipeline without having to generate a humungous lossless intermediate to get there within this lifetime. That said, I'm not looking for high-powered real-time encoding either.

So, yes, mostly SD camcorder stuff. I do tend to shoot progressive these days, but largely because my old PC just can't handle contemporary cpu-intensive AVISynth deinterlacers like QTGMC; predecessors, like MVBob, MCBob, which I used extensively in the past, would take forever and for additional processing (denoising etc) I'd have to produce gigantic Huff-YV12 intermediates, that were quite impractical to archive. Best I could manage in a single pipeline would be a YadifMod-NNEDI2 bob-deinterlace and MDegrain/countersharpen. And I would like to re-visit a lot of that footage for re-processing and encoding to x264.
Otherwise, some upscaling (NNEDI3, LSFMod etc) for Vimeo and the like. Some color/levels tuning (Hdragc etc). Probably not that taxing for a modern PC, but definitely so for mine.

That said, with a decent PC, I'd be more inclined to move on to AVCHD camcorder video - at present limited to iPAD\iPhone4S videos - not exactly high-end quality wise (despite being High@Level 4.1) and I just edit those on the device with a Pinnacle Studio iPAD app - quite neat actually. There's no way my PC could handle it.

Don't know what Intel's plans are for Canada. Much smaller market than the US, and promos/deals tend to be more conservative. We'll see.

Yes, that i5 kit is tempting, but really my max budget (including shipping/tax) is $400, at least for the initial outlay. The external USB/Firewire drive (Maxtor III OneTouch...nearly as old as the PC ) that I use (or rather used) for storing a lot of my video collection crashed the other night - likely a problem with the on-board controller as the drive (Maxtor 500GB SATA-1) was OK and I managed to salvage the videos with the aid of a cheapo USB enclosure. So I was thinking to maybe put that in the 'new PC', and use the existing IDE drive(s) as secondary(s). But do I really want to run this system on 10 year old HDD's? - 'old wine in new wineskins' so to speak. Would I be better off with a less powerful, but adequate, PC with all new components...and ideally, dedicated video card. Decisions, decisions!!

Even thought about swiping the wife's old P4 Dell Dimension 3100 (XP Home), which the kids now use for 'school work', but it encodes (x264) even slower than mine, has zero upgrade potential (already maxed to 2GB RAM) and you could be sure the kids would want something better for games.

And of course there's also the impending 'XP apocalypse' to think about. I'd be fine with Linux for general use, were it not for the AVISynth complication. Sure, I could use Wine/Crossover, VM etc, but I think I'd prefer it in native windows.

[turbojet]

Intel is probably out unless you can find someone trying to get rid of an Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge quad core for cheap. i3's are slow encoders. Maybe an AMD FX 6 core would fit into your budget. Although didn't the FX8320 fit into your budget without adding a HDD or Windows 7/8?

[WorBry]

Yes, the FX-8320 kit, plus new case (but re-using PSU) would be just within budget, but I think it would be wise to put a new hard drive in from the outset. I've no problem continuing with XP Pro, as long as it's supported - I'm still using older versions of some commercial editing software and am in no hurry to upgrade. Maybe see what upgrade inducements MS offers as the fateful day approaches.

So, yes, I think too an FX (6100 or 6300) or Phenom II x6 combo would be more realistic and, judging from those x264 encoding bench-marks, still a lot faster (maybe 10-15 x) than what I have now.

Edit: Thanks for all of your advice. Much appreciated :)

[WorBry]

@Turbojet,

Thought you might like to know that eventually settled on a FX-6300 machine from a local outfit who specialize in building gaming PC's:

http://sgxtech.com/computer-best-price-mtl.pdf

It was the 'six-core' model at $CAN 369 with Asus M5A78LM-LX motherboard. With 8GB RAM upgrade, the price came to around what I would have paid, shipping included, for an equivalent kit or components, to build myself. Plus there's a one year warranty on it. I think that was a pretty good deal.

For now I'm running good old XP Pro; I'll maybe put linux on the old PC for as long as it lasts.

Going from ancient single-core AMD PC (SSE only) to a 6-core AMD (with a wide range of instruction sets) I'm still coming to grips with the heady world of multi-threaded AVISynth processing, but I'm delighted to find that QTGMC is now do-able, and amazingly so. And for x264 encoding, I'd say I'm seeing an 8 - 10 fold increase in speed.

I must admit, I was tempted to go for the pricier i5 model that was on offer, but I'm happy with my choice. I'll maybe consider upgrading the integrated ATI Radeon HD3000 to a dedicated graphics card at some point, but it's adequate for now.

So, thanks again for all your advice.

Cheers.

[turbojet]

Glad you found something within your budget. I'm surprised you only notice 8-10x speed increase but I'm not that familiar with running qtgmc, used it a few times for comparisons but that's it, too slow for me. When I went from an athlon 2 620 quad core to an fx8320 I saw about a 4x increase in speed. I had an athlon xp 3000+ years ago and it must have been about 20-30x slower than the fx8320 if not more, not sure I ever tried x264 on it.

[WorBry]

Can't be certain, but I suspect the Commodo firewall I'd installed was somehow slowing things up a bit....maybe a conflict. I had it on the old AMD PC (and the wife's old P4 Dell Dimension), alongside Avast AV, and once you'd got it set, it appeared to run unobtrusively. This time, installing XP Pro on the new machine, I decided to install all the programs, windows updates and network/share configurations first - and then, when the dust had settled, install Commodo - putting it first in to 'training/learning mode'. Seemed to avoid most of the 'do I allow or block this alert' issues, except it appeared to question, repeatedly, (even in 'training mode') two programs in particular - MeGUI and GoPro Studio (which I installed largely to access the vfw Cineform codec) - it appears, from the alert flags, that GoPro Studio wants to get it's fingers into some protected registry key and COM port 'pies'. And since installing Commodo I'd found that windows explorer was tending to hang. Anyhow, I've tried uninstalling Commodo and things do seem to be running more smoothly. Don't really want to uninstall GoPro Studio (for said reason), so I'll maybe try another firewall...AVG etc. The 'security suite' provided by my ISP is just too over-bearing.

Just ran a couple of quick x264 encoding tests with some SD sources. Straight encodes from avi source that were maxing at around 3.5 - 4 fps on the old single-core machine are now up to 45 -48 fps on the new 6-core; that's with the (MeGUI) x264 hyper-threading config at set default - Auto. So, that's around a 12-fold speed increase. Not to be sniffed at.

[turbojet]

Comodo and AVG have slowed down things for me in the past, don't know if it's the case with current versions. If you have a hardware firewall enabled, windows firewall is generally considered sufficient. By default it doesn't have the bells and whistles and doesn't block outgoing but there's programs to add the bells and whistles and with vista or newer can be setup to block outgoing. Avast AV has a very small, nearly insignificant, slowdown here.

Does your cpu use 100% while encoding SD?
Also is the cpu at max turbo when encoding? A tool like occz can show if it is or not. I had an issue where it wasn't because HPC in bios was disabled by default, enabling it gave about 10% gain in fps.

[WorBry]

Comodo and AVG have slowed down things for me in the past, don't know if it's the case with current versions. If you have a hardware firewall enabled, windows firewall is generally considered sufficient. By default it doesn't have the bells and whistles and doesn't block outgoing but there's programs to add the bells and whistles and with vista or newer can be setup to block outgoing. Avast AV has a very small, nearly insignificant, slowdown here.

Yes, I really like Avast AV, especially the sultry announcement that my " Avast anti-virus database has just been updated" :p.
I also have Malwarebytes (the freebee, so not real-time) which I run every few days, but frankly, whatever spyware components might have been retained after uninstalling a trial program etc, are usually cleared with a customary sweep of CCleaner.

I am on a home LAN with residential gateway (provided by the ISP) - but no ports forwarded for remote access, gaming,VPN etc. So, the only real risk, while I'm using XP Pro, is outbound to web. What particular ancillary programs are you referring to for blocking outgoing?

Does your cpu use 100% while encoding SD? Also is the cpu at max turbo when encoding? A tool like occz can show if it is or not. I had an issue where it wasn't because HPC in bios was disabled by default, enabling it gave about 10% gain in fps.

According to what I see in Task Manager, cpu usage is hovering at 99-100% when encoding both SD and HD sources. Like I said, that's with the x264 hyper-thread config set to auto, and with no hyper-threading set on the AVISynth feed. For a typical HDV 25p anamorphic (1440 x 1080) source (via DGDecode_mpeg2source, with no resizing), I'm getting around 10 - 11 fps encoding to x264 using my 'standard all-purpose' profile -

Target Playback Device profile: iPhone 4S/5, iPAD 3/4/mini, WDTV ......so that's High@L4.1
Constant Quality: 18
Preset: Slow
Tune: Film

That's with the MeGUI encode priority set to Normal or above. Below-normal or Low priority drops cpu use marginally to 98%

Can't say I've ventured into BIOS and potential tweaks, as yet. I did install (along with the drivers) the 'EPU-4 Engine' power management utility that came with the Asus motherboard. For general use (being the eco-friendly person I am) I have that set to 'Auto', but whilst encoding switch to 'Performance'.

Out of interest, are you aware of any good process monitoring utilities out there that can report more detail on the number of cores/threads that are being used by a given application or process?

Cheers.

[turbojet]

It's been so long since I've used another firewall other than windows, it's really tough to suggest one. I remember ZoneAlarm worked okay without system slowdown and it's a popular choice. Sygate was the one I used to use but it hasn't had an update since 2005.

Task manager should work fine for showing how many cores are being used otherwise process explorer offers more.