[MEncoder-users] Dualcore and Quadcore performance?

[larrystotler at netscape.net]

-----Original Message-----
From: Al Bogner <mencoder at ml082.pinguin.uni.cc>



>I want to build a PC with Opensuse 11.1 especially for video-encoding.


I have on on 11.0

>How much will the performance increase with a dualcore and a quadcore cpu?
>Which one should encode faster:
>AMD Phenom II X4 920 4x 2.80GHz AM2+ 125W Stepping C2 Box or
>INTEL Core 2 Duo E8400 2x 3,00GHz 6MB 333MHz boxed

Clock for clock, the Intel will probably edge out the AMD.  Are you planning on doing any overclocking?  I have a Celeron E1200 running
stable @ 3.2Ghz.  First pass XviD gets around 120fps, and 2nd pass(with audio encode) gets around 60.  

Keep in mind that more cores doesn't equate 100% better performance per core.  XviD's smp encoding sucks, so I run 2 encodes at the same
time.  Same with my friend's quad core rig.  He runs 4 encodes and gets almost 400% performance.  With x264 on smp, he only got about 250%.

>How much does the mainboard influence encoding performance?

Very little from what I have seen.  Same with memory speed.  I see no real difference on XviD running my RAM at 800 or 1000 or 1200. 
Settled for 1000 to keep votages reasonable.  A good quality board.  I went with a more expensive Gigabite board with solid caps and a $50
chip that runs like a $100-150 chip and a good hear sink.

>Thanks a lot for any suggestions!

No problem