more encoding speed -> more cpu or more ram?

[bond]

hi!

i have a question about how i can increase the encoding speed of my system
i have a p3 866mhz with 128mb ram
but i dont have the money to buy a totally new system (new motherboard, etc.) ;)

now my question is:
can i reach a better encoding speed by upgrading to 512mb ram or by buying a new cpu (~ athlon @1500mhz or so) with the same small amount of money ;)

thanks for all your experiences!

[NeoNSX]

This can vary depending on what you're encoding too and what program you're using to encode. (eg. Adobe Premiere 6.x can suck up memory quickly, causing your system to thrash; hence reducing encoding speed.) You should check your system's memory usage before buying.

But in general, a faster CPU == faster encoding.


If you just want to encode, the CPU upgrade is your best option (IMO).
But if you use your system for other tasks as well (and your running Win2K/XP) you'll get better system performance from having more RAM.


Just a small note: upgrading from a P3-866 to an AMD-1500+ will not result in a 50% encoding increase... a more realistically estimate would be about 30-40%.

[sarahjh69]

there are only about 3 programs that use memory over 256 meg
(photoshop being one of them)
Usually winDoze starts paging to HD, whatever you do.

video encoding speed is not dependent on ram AT ALL.
faster CPU = FASTER ENCODING

[Ramirez]

Originally posted by sarahjh69

video encoding speed is not dependent on ram AT ALL.

Really? That’s great news! :rolleyes: Well,you're wrong; Quality RAM has a crucial effect on encoding speed..

@bond
If you're planning to upgrade your processor also you'd have to replace your motherboard too,your motherboard simply can't work with AMD processors.()

You'll gain some additional encoding speed just by replacing your memory modules with some good low latency SD-RAM modules; you can expect around 5/10% of encoding speed boost w/t changing anything in your current setup,and your system will get a second breath (get at least 256/512 Megs, 128 is definitely too low)

[ppera2]

128 MB is little low for newer software, but can be enough with work under Win 98. Faster CPU will increase speed more, but you must first check what will support your motherboard. Athlon is out of question, it works on total different motherboards.

So, go on manufacturer's site, and see whicn fastest P3 you can put on your board. However, question is that: will you be able to buy such CPU? P3 is out of production, prices where pretty big in last period...

Buying new motherboard for AMD CPU's will offer you: usage of cheap and powerful CPU (Athlon XP 1700 costs about 40-45 $). Usage of fast DDR RAM, what increases siginificantly encoding speed (don't listen to sarahjh69, absolutely has no knowledge, and this is not her (?) only case :D )
And new motherboards aren't really expensive. Plus, DDR RAM is now cheaper than much slower SDR RAM.

[Ramirez]

Well, off course a new motherboard, CPU and RAM would be the best option here, but as bond clearly stated he'd like to keep upgrade costs as low as possible, and 256MB of Crucial Cas-2 SD-RAM (http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D7E&cat=) might be the easiest () solution.

Another even better idea would be just to drop it :), because frankly it's ain't worth it imo, he's better off save up that money for his next and much better encoding machine.

[sarahjh69]

ramirez
getting 256 meg of crucial ram would make no difference
to his encoding speed at all......what ru on?

[ppera2]

Originally posted by Ramirez
Well, off course a new motherboard, CPU and RAM would be the best option here, but as bond clearly stated he'd like to keep upgrade costs as low as possible, and 256MB of Crucial Cas-2 SD-RAM (http://www.crucial.com/store/PartSpecs.asp?imodule=CT32M64S4D7E&cat=) might be the easiest () solution.


I think that buying that expensive module (56$ + shipping) will not increase speed more than 5%. Probably best is to spare money for complete upgrade.

[bond]

hi guys!

thanks for all the info!

of course i thought about a complete upgrade (new rams (ddr), new cpu, new motherboard) but all this three things together will cost much money i dont have :(

i made a few tests with aida (great tool) and analyzed my ram needs during encoding with high xvid settings (virtualdubmod):

and it seems that altogether i need between 255 and 300 mb
-> so one half comes from the fast rams and the other half from the slower hd
-> so i draw the conclusion that buying 256mb (together with the 128 i have) would be ok for my needs as the slow hd isnt in use anymore than -> speed increase

am i right?

[Ramirez]

@ppera2
As I said better RAM might be, or might be not the easiest way to give a little bit more boost to bond's machine (well probably not :D) I've only tried to fit my suggestion within bond's limited upgrade requirements.

@sarahjh69
If you like stubbornly defend your wrong Beliefs that’s your problem, there are many interesting articles available on the net regarding these matters, please read on.

[ppera2]

@bond
If you experience often hard disk swaps, then putting more RAM is good solution.
But I must say that if you put better (faster) RAM together with current it will work on speed of slower module, in bad case even slower.
Check with Sisoft Sandra (motherboard info module) what are capabilities of RAM (CAS etc) and according to that choose new module.

[NeoNSX]

for CAS settings, i find CPUID easier.
d/load it from: www.cpuid.com

[bond]

sandra says: (CL3 up to 133MHz) (CL2 up to 100MHz)
aida says: Maximale CAS Wartezeit 3.0 (7.5 ns @ 133 MHz), 2te Maximale CAS Wartezeit 2.0 (10.0 ns @ 100 MHz)

what if i install additional 256mb cl2 ram (isnt much more expensive than cl3 here), i guess they would run at cl3 (or up to 100mhz at cl2)?

in bios cl3 is set

[Doom9]

what ru on?
there's no need to get offensive. Memory usage depends on what programs you're using.. CCE for instance is a memory hog and can certainly use more than 128MB. On the other hand, an upgrade is most useful if you get a package that is tailored for each other. I suppose your P3 still comes with regular pc-133 sdram, and putting money into such ram is a waste imho because you certainly won't be using it in your next computer.

[bond]

Originally posted by Doom9
I suppose your P3 still comes with regular pc-133 sdramyup

putting money into such ram is a waste imho because you certainly won't be using it in your next computeri have no plans at all for buying a new system as i dont the money so 256 mb isnt that expensive and i hope it should help optimizing the encoding speed

[Ramirez]

Nice that you've cleared that up once and for all:P. IMO go ahead, your system will benefit from a good quality RAM ()
off course you don't have to buy Crucial Ram (but hey, those are Tha Best IMHO ;--) we can also try optimize your BIOS
settings for better performance later on, and maybe even slightly overclock your system, (only if you're filling like bold enough to try it. ;)

[bond]

ok guys i now bought 256mb more ram and so i now have 384mb

i now encoded a small test clip again with the upgraded ram and guess what:

it is

not

faster

but it comes even better, it is slower (0.04fps) :rolleyes:

of course i used the same settings and same conditions (no progs running in the background, etc...)

btw. my ram usage is not on 100% now (some space is still used on my hd)
-> how can i force that less space on the hd is used and therefore more from the ram?

[Ramirez]

Mr. Bond, please read more carefully what people are trying to tell you...:rolleyes:
Originally posted by ppera2

But I must say that if you put better (faster) RAM together with current it will work on speed of slower module, in bad case even slower.

Bingo, remove your old RAM and leave only the new CL-2 RAM module installed.
Also make sure to set CAS LATENCY=2 and FSB/MEM SPEED=133 in your motherboard BIOS
Depending on your motherboard manufacturer there might also additional memory optimization setting
(like possibility to choose more aggressive timings)

[ppera2]

Originally posted by bond
ok guys i now bought 256mb more ram and so i now have 384mb

btw. my ram usage is not on 100% now (some space is still used on my hd)
-> how can i force that less space on the hd is used and therefore more from the ram?

Look for program Cacheman - it can decrease diskcache size, so you will have more free RAM.

Anyway, you investment is probably bad choice (as couple us suggested already).
More RAM will increase encoding speed only in case of often hard disk swapping.

[Doom9]

what operating system do you have by the way? 833mhz comes from a period where W98 (aka Wincrap) and maybe WinME (WinEvenMoreCrap) were the standard OS and only crazy people like me were using W2K (which beat the living daylights of the aforementioned operating systems even then). Now all non NT based Windows versions cannot really handle more than 128mb RAM properly, so things could indeed get slower. Of course, this is just speculation since I dion't know what OS you're using, but W2K and XP (and of course W2k3) can make use of ram above 128MB.

[bond]

i am using winme :D

and yes i will try win2k and removing my old 2x64mb cl3 rams (i thought alltogether the 384 should be faster than 128 even if they run @ cl3 speed)...