Best AM2+ processor

[cougs_83]

I am working on setting up a home network to stream video from one PC on my network to another. My wireless N network seems to be plenty fast to stream the 6-10 Mbps .ts files across the network. I have an old Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor and it seems to just not quite be capable of decoding and streaming the video. I have looked and found a few processors on ebay and I am wondering what would be best for my application. Note the PC is only for streaming video from netflix or across my home network.

Here are the cores I Am looking at

Athlon 6000+ x2 dual core 3GHZ

Sempron 8650 x3 triple core 2.3 GHZ

Phenom X4 quad core 1.8 Ghz



So obviously I am wondering if it is better to go with more cores or fewer that run faster or somewhere in the middle. All of them are priced about the same on ebay around $50-$60 also if you know if none of these will work please let me know that as well.

 

[machvelocy]

what is your motherboard socket?

if its am2+ it should be compatible with amd's current AM3 processor
athlon II x2 250 runs at 3 ghz with lower power reqs and higher performance than an old athlon 6000+ and they were priced at humble 60$, for netflix it should be more than enough

i recommend to avoid the first gen phenom as it runs hot and relatively slow even when compared to a dual core

 

[cougs_83]

Board is a K9N6PGM2-v2 MSI

I never even thought to look if AM3 was compatible. It looks like it is. The issue is not netflix though. I can easily stream netflix now. The issue is streaming .ts files H.264 files that have to be decoded and streamed on the receiving PC.

Thanks for the feedback

 

[cougs_83]

i would reccommend a Celeron G530/540 (sandy bridge based) for £34 or so, it beats the Athlon II 250 too:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/celeron-g540-g440_6.html#sect0

it uses less power and gives off less heat too!

and would be perfect for your needs!

Would this be able to handle decoding and steaming the 6-10 Mbps .ts files across my network?

Thanks for the response!!!

 

[BlacKHawK3]

An OCed x6 is way overkill for streaming, you think?

An Athlon triple core will fill you needs fine for $65 with a promo code:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872

That will run cool with the stock heatsink if your case had reasonable ventilation.

 

[cougs_83]

Awesome thanks for all the feedback. Encoding/decoding is definately my issue. So I have narrowed it down to 2 CPU's.

Athlon II x3 450 Rana 3.2 GHZ

or the

Phenom II x2 555 3.2 GHZ


After reading reviews it looks like the Phenom is much better than the athlon when comparing the same number of cores and and speed.

Would definately go with the Phenom if my board could unlock to x4 but I doubt that would be the case.

Passmark score for the Phenom was just under 2000 and the Athlon was about 2700.

Athlon core is $10 cheaper. but again. just not sure how these would compete with my application. The Phenom does have the L3 cache.

What would you go with?

Promise this is my last question.

 

[machvelocy]

the x3 will be the better choice, phenom's L3 cache only adds about 10-15% performance gains compared to the athlons, while another core will boost 50% performance. unlocking chances are small, and even if succeed there's a possibility that extra core will cause system instability due to defective core

but wait... do you want to use it to encode video (converting videos) or just to decode video (watching and streaming)?? encoding video is a very cpu intensive tasks and it needs a lot of horsepower otherwise it'll took a long time to complete a conversion. streaming hd video (netflix) is light task and can be handled even by an amd e-350 apu. if you encode then an x6 will be the choice, else stick with athlon

 

[cougs_83]

Best answer selected by cougs_83.