Best cheap CPU for video encoding

[soop]

Hello!

I currently have a 64 bit Athlon in an Asus a8n deluxe. The PCs main use is recording from 3 tuners, and then just web browsing. However, I was thinking of using MCEBuddy to re-encode and to remove adverts.

When I was running Windows 7 candidate, I used the built in sync to encode for my smartphone, and I noticed significant performance decrease. So I'd imagine that I'd probably need multiple cores in order to make this work optimally.

The computer never switches off, but has nothing installed apart from Firefox and Adobe Acrobat.

Is there a cheap multicore slot 939 CPU? Or if not, what motherboard/CPU combos are recommended for around £50?

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

For that price, none. You need at least $150 for CPU/Mobo., and if you change both, you also need change the RAM.

 

[soop]

Ah, ok, I probably won't bother then. What's the best CPU available for that motherboard?

Thanks for the quick reply too

 

[saint19]

Hi again.

You can see here the supported processors by your mobo.

 

[mindless728]

for the price, you probably are better getting a new mobo/cpu/ram than trying to get a better cpu

 

[hundredislandsboy]

My answer would be - none. Unless you want to wait 20 times as long for your video encoding, then stay with that old mobo.

For $70
AMD Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition Toliman 2.4GHz 3

Then get a mobo to unlock the fourth core - you get a quad core for $70 or about
44 quid. Not bad, eh?

 

[joefriday]

My answer would be - none. Unless you want to wait 20 times as long for your video encoding, then stay with that old mobo.

For $70
AMD Phenom X3 8750 Black Edition Toliman 2.4GHz 3

Then get a mobo to unlock the fourth core - you get a quad core for $70 or about
44 quid. Not bad, eh?

Old phenoms don't unlock. Well, there was some talk about the old X2 7750/7850 unlocking, but that has never been backed up.

To the OP: unfortunately, you're stuck. 939 Athlon X2 CPUs are not cheap. They were cheap at one time, back in July 2006, but soon thereafter they were discontinued, and well, the Athlon X2 is as good as it gets for socket 939, making them the "go to" upgrade for folks with 939 mobos, especially since the 939 Athlon X2 is clock for clock actually faster than the AM2 Athlon X2, meaning basically no performance hit from using old DDR ram. It made for a great upgrade product back in the day, and before super cheap AM2 Athlon X2 CPUs (and finally the quad core launch), socket AM2 was a laughable platform compared to the older socket 939. Come to think of it, AM2 is still a laughable platform for the most part, as unfortunately most mobo manufacturers did not update the BIOS to support Phenom for the AM2 mobo line, and instead launched AM2+ mobos, in what could only be described as money grab to the highest degree. Ya, still a little ticked about that...

 

[Hellboy]

Old phenoms don't unlock. Well, there was some talk about the old X2 7750/7850 unlocking, but that has never been backed up.

To the OP: unfortunately, you're stuck. 939 Athlon X2 CPUs are not cheap. They were cheap at one time, back in July 2006, but soon thereafter they were discontinued, and well, the Athlon X2 is as good as it gets for socket 939, making them the "go to" upgrade for folks with 939 mobos, especially since the 939 Athlon X2 is clock for clock actually faster than the AM2 Athlon X2, meaning basically no performance hit from using old DDR ram. It made for a great upgrade product back in the day, and before super cheap AM2 Athlon X2 CPUs (and finally the quad core launch), socket AM2 was a laughable platform compared to the older socket 939. Come to think of it, AM2 is still a laughable platform for the most part, as unfortunately most mobo manufacturers did not update the BIOS to support Phenom for the AM2 mobo line, and instead launched AM2+ mobos, in what could only be described as money grab to the highest degree. Ya, still a little ticked about that...

what is this obsession with unlocking x3 to x4 processors... this really should be discouraged now. If you want to stuff up your system .. fine but dont encourage others as your not paying the bill when it goes wrong Hundred ....

 

[soop]

Well System says athlon 3200+ 2 ghz.

It's my old flatmates PC, but I think I remember it being a 64 bit x2 (based on the colour of the badge) So I think this is as good as it gets without more money than I want to spend. On the other hand, there's only 1gb of RAM, so maybe that would help. Thanks for your responses guys

 

[Mousemonkey]

Old phenoms don't unlock. Well, there was some talk about the old X2 7750/7850 unlocking, but that has never been backed up.

To the OP: unfortunately, you're stuck. 939 Athlon X2 CPUs are not cheap. They were cheap at one time, back in July 2006, but soon thereafter they were discontinued, and well, the Athlon X2 is as good as it gets for socket 939, making them the "go to" upgrade for folks with 939 mobos, especially since the 939 Athlon X2 is clock for clock actually faster than the AM2 Athlon X2, meaning basically no performance hit from using old DDR ram. It made for a great upgrade product back in the day, and before super cheap AM2 Athlon X2 CPUs (and finally the quad core launch), socket AM2 was a laughable platform compared to the older socket 939. Come to think of it, AM2 is still a laughable platform for the most part, as unfortunately most mobo manufacturers did not update the BIOS to support Phenom for the AM2 mobo line, and instead launched AM2+ mobos, in what could only be described as money grab to the highest degree. Ya, still a little ticked about that...

I too was kicked in the chocolate starfish dude, it was a cold and heartless wrong that was done to us. [:mousemonkey:2]

 

[joefriday]

what is this obsession with unlocking x3 to x4 processors... this really should be discouraged now. If you want to stuff up your system .. fine but dont encourage others as your not paying the bill when it goes wrong Hundred ....

WTF are you talking about? I fixed a misrepresentation of the facts. I neither encouraged nor discouraged the idea of unlocking any cores.

EDIT: Oh, I see, you are talking to Hundred, yet you quote me? Bonkers.

 

[Hellboy]

WTF are you talking about? I fixed a misrepresentation of the facts. I neither encouraged nor discouraged the idea of unlocking any cores.

EDIT: Oh, I see, you are talking to Hundred, yet you quote me? Bonkers.

it was a follow on conversation,, jeez Joe, your owed more than that

 

[welshmousepk]

ive yet to hear of someone damaging a system by unlocking. yet i, and many others, have successfully unlocked cores.

i know thats off topic, but i see too much of people treating unlocking similarly to how overclocking was treated back when. its not dangerous if you know what you are doing. if you don't, then you shouldn't be attempting it.

 

[Mousemonkey]

ive yet to hear of someone damaging a system by unlocking. yet i, and many others, have successfully unlocked cores.

i know thats off topic, but i see too much of people treating unlocking similarly to how overclocking was treated back when. its not dangerous if you know what you are doing. if you don't, then you shouldn't be attempting it.

I don't think it's about damaging anything, it's about the guarantee or lack thereof that it will be possible but some people are promoting the unlocking of core as though it is a definite and will always be possible even though common sense should tell you that it depends entirely on the individual chip and there is no way of knowing which ones will yield extra cores and which ones won't. It's a gamble and should be promoted as such.

 

[BadTrip]

I don't think it's about damaging anything, it's about the guarantee or lack thereof that it will be possible but some people are promoting the unlocking of core as though it is a definite and will always be possible even though common sense should tell you that it depends entirely on the individual chip and there is no way of knowing which ones will yield extra cores and which ones won't. It's a gamble and should be promoted as such.

Thats a BIG +1.

I have been saying that all along.

 

[warmon6]

Thats a BIG +1.

I have been saying that all along.

+2

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Old phenoms don't unlock. Well, there was some talk about the old X2 7750/7850 unlocking, but that has never been backed up.

To the OP: unfortunately, you're stuck. 939 Athlon X2 CPUs are not cheap. They were cheap at one time, back in July 2006, but soon thereafter they were discontinued, and well, the Athlon X2 is as good as it gets for socket 939, making them the "go to" upgrade for folks with 939 mobos, especially since the 939 Athlon X2 is clock for clock actually faster than the AM2 Athlon X2, meaning basically no performance hit from using old DDR ram. It made for a great upgrade product back in the day, and before super cheap AM2 Athlon X2 CPUs (and finally the quad core launch), socket AM2 was a laughable platform compared to the older socket 939. Come to think of it, AM2 is still a laughable platform for the most part, as unfortunately most mobo manufacturers did not update the BIOS to support Phenom for the AM2 mobo line, and instead launched AM2+ mobos, in what could only be described as money grab to the highest degree. Ya, still a little ticked about that...

You're right. I cut and paste the wrong CPU. I meant this one.
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz $90

 

[hundredislandsboy]

what is this obsession with unlocking x3 to x4 processors... this really should be discouraged now. If you want to stuff up your system .. fine but dont encourage others as your not paying the bill when it goes wrong Hundred ....

Well I'm not saying there's a guarantee it'll be stable. I'm saying you can unlock the cores and see if you're one of the lucky ones who get and it's stable. I don't and won't recommend overclocking with "bonus" cores.

What do you mean when about a bill when it goes wrong? Don't you simply stop trying to use the extra core and go back to dual cores or three cores. back to the factory specs?

 

[Hellboy]

Well I'm not saying there's a guarantee it'll be stable. I'm saying you can unlock the cores and see if you're one of the lucky ones who get and it's stable. I don't and won't recommend overclocking with "bonus" cores.

What do you mean when about a bill when it goes wrong? Don't you simply stop trying to use the extra core and go back to dual cores or three cores. back to the factory specs?

Cant anyone get this...


not many people are a obviously as clever as you Hundred...

and not many people will be able to unclock a core on a processor that really is not meant to be unlocked.

if this is done wrong then damage can be caused.. you do not know what some people have done by a whim of information on the internet.

this is why, i strongly feel that this should be discouraged and only be done by experienced users..

this goes for overclocking too.

encouraging someone over the internet and something goes wrong, are you going to pick up the tab because you made a suggestion to do something they are not capable of... no I didnt think so..


people, and in this case generally teenagers will be performing these home brew speedups with very little knowledge and adjust numbers in the bios just because they can.

only other day i had an email from a mature amateur who overclocked his i core 7 processor and in his words - all hell broke loose... he needed a new processor because he didnt know what he was doing and upped the voltage..

all because of a internet forum.


I would suggest that toms make posters put a waver on their profile and state that if they recommend overclocking or bumping up a 3 core to a 4 core that it is done at their own risk...

and what could happen if something goes wrong..

the reason i discourage this is that things can and will go wrong

 

[welshmousepk]

Cant anyone get this...


not many people are a obviously as clever as you Hundred...

and not many people will be able to unclock a core on a processor that really is not meant to be unlocked.

if this is done wrong then damage can be caused.. you do not know what some people have done by a whim of information on the internet.

this is why, i strongly feel that this should be discouraged and only be done by experienced users..

this goes for overclocking too.

encouraging someone over the internet and something goes wrong, are you going to pick up the tab because you made a suggestion to do something they are not capable of... no I didnt think so..


people, and in this case generally teenagers will be performing these home brew speedups with very little knowledge and adjust numbers in the bios just because they can.

only other day i had an email from a mature amateur who overclocked his i core 7 processor and in his words - all hell broke loose... he needed a new processor because he didnt know what he was doing and upped the voltage..

all because of a internet forum.


I would suggest that toms make posters put a waver on their profile and state that if they recommend overclocking or bumping up a 3 core to a 4 core that it is done at their own risk...

and what could happen if something goes wrong..

the reason i discourage this is that things can and will go wrong

again though, i have not heard of anyone damaging ANYTHING by unlocking. if it fails, you simply revert back to the default spec and run it as normal.

i agree that it should not be called a guarantee, as its not always going to work. but myself, and more than 50 pages of people on overclock.net know just how well core unlocking works.

and you can say all you want that its dangerous if you don't know what your doing, but thats true of almost everything. if people start randomly changing settings in their BIOS without doing any research, they deserve to break something. they learn a lesson that way. given how quickly people suggest and promote overclocking, i dont think its unfair to do the same for unlocking. which has less chance of going wrong, but a much greater benefit when done right.

 

[Hellboy]

again though, i have not heard of anyone damaging ANYTHING by unlocking. if it fails, you simply revert back to the default spec and run it as normal.

i agree that it should not be called a guarantee, as its not always going to work. but myself, and more than 50 pages of people on overclock.net know just how well core unlocking works.

and you can say all you want that its dangerous if you don't know what your doing, but thats true of almost everything. if people start randomly changing settings in their BIOS without doing any research, they deserve to break something. they learn a lesson that way. given how quickly people suggest and promote overclocking, i dont think its unfair to do the same for unlocking. which has less chance of going wrong, but a much greater benefit when done right.

All I am saying is there are some people who click on numbers and change things with out knowing the consequences.

Im not against any guides - infact I encourage guides if they are writen with all the correct information that is needed.

But to say as a passing comment with out knowing what technical knowledge some one has is not to be taken lightly..

Just over clock it... is not something someone should take likely. Its like saying -- its 30mph speed limit - just do 50 because you can then if someone cant handle it, they crash.

If someone has no technical logic and over clocks their machine - then damage can be done.

Remember some people dont even know overclock.net existed.