CPU for video transcoding

[U_Fig]

Ok I've posted a couple of threads already about creating a media HTPC for watching tv and movies on..

I know I'm prob being annoying but I'm having a little trouble finding recent information this..

I have a Panasonic Viera HD3D tv with a media server built into it...Now it will play some files but alot of files that will not..

Alot of the files I have are bluray rips.. I have a laptop with Intel Core i5 560m and Nvidia Geforce GT 420m this can transcode (on the fly) all but the very top quality files to my TV even half SBS 3D mkv's. Although I'm not using GPU assisted transcoding.

Now i could buy a media player but considering I'm already planning on building a small HTPC I'm interested what kind of specs i would need to allow for FULL bluray rpis on the fly transcoding combined with maybe watching tv or playing a movie on the device with maybe a download manager and web browser running aswell. i might even consider encoding a few blurays

I know this will require a fairly fast processor and I know that quad core will help dramatically with transcoding and possibly 8GB ram also with the edition of a fast processor better cooling and ditching the idea of a mITX build..

What processor would you recommend for doing this type of work...

This will not be a gaming machine..although if i get a machine that will be high spec it will do for any games I'd ever want to play..

 

[geekapproved]

i7-2600 or wait for Ivy Bridge in a couple months. Ivy won't be a lot faster, but the graphics will be MUCH improved over Sandy Bridge if your using built in graphics.

 

[U_Fig]

i7-2600 or wait for Ivy Bridge in a couple months. Ivy won't be a lot faster, but the graphics will be MUCH improved over Sandy Bridge if your using built in graphics.

Would it be worth my while paying the extra €10 or so for the K-model would I need to overclock? or would i get much improvement overclocking...

or would the S-model be as effective with the lower power consumption might be a bonus for a media server that'll be on all day


And also i'm fairly clueless about cooling so would a stock CPU heatskink and Fan be OK or should I go for after market cooling?

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

A "K" model processor is just unlocked so that it allows you to overclock the processor and better performance. With a processor like the Intel® Core™ i7-2600K it is not out of the question to reach 4.5GHz or more. So if you match the processor up with a good 3rd party cooler you should be able to get a good performance boost out of the unlocked "K" processor.


Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[popatim]

Whyt not rip/ convert your rips to a supported format?

 

[U_Fig]

Whyt not rip/ convert your rips to a supported format?

well I have compiled quite alot of rips in various formats like well over 300GB so it'd take too long to re encode... I'd need to encode each 3 times to work with my TV...then the iPad and have a couple of games consoles...i'm planning on using this at home but might be moving into a house with other people that would use it too

in saying that would the 2600k be able to transcode and stream multiple buray rips

 

[geekapproved]

You would have no reason to overclock because the cpu is plenty fast. The low power version (S) is a waste imo cause you can simply downclock the regular version. If you did that, you certainly would not need an aftermarket cooler.

 

[U_Fig]

thanks for the replies so you rekon stock cooling would be ok if i didn't need to overclock!!

 

[geekapproved]

I didn't say that, I said if you underclocked. The stock cooler will work, but in an htpc it'll probably run hot even at stock, I don't know I've never seen a 2600 cooler.

You could wait for Ivy Bridge, they will be 77w max.

 

[U_Fig]

oh i get ya now ya it's not going to be HTPC now more of a media server the case i'll be hoping to use is

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=51850&agid=635

it'll provide plenty of ventilation. what sort of CPU cooler should i be looking at?

 

[popatim]

You idea , while nice, is just not realistic.
1: you will need gigabit network speeds to stream more than 1 HD stream.
An HD streams at 50mbps or about 6Mb/s and a 100 lan is only good to about 8Mb/s.A Gigabit lan is good to about 80Mb/s

2: you will need a serious raid array to stream more than 2-3 HD streams.
hard drives take too long when the heads have to constantly reposition back and forth between the streams. So to stream 4 -6 your talking 6 to 8 hdd's in a raid5 or 6 witht he added expense of a real raid card to offload processing from the cpu.

3. lastly your not going to fit all that into an htpc case.

 

[U_Fig]

You idea , while nice, is just not realistic.
1: you will need gigabit network speeds to stream more than 1 HD stream.
An HD streams at 50mbps or about 6Mb/s and a 100 lan is only good to about 8Mb/s.A Gigabit lan is good to about 80Mb/s

2: you will need a serious raid array to stream more than 2-3 HD streams.
hard drives take too long when the heads have to constantly reposition back and forth between the streams. So to stream 4 -6 your talking 6 to 8 hdd's in a raid5 or 6 witht he added expense of a real raid card to offload processing from the cpu.

3. lastly your not going to fit all that into an htpc case.

I've ditched the idea of the HTPC case now going for a mini tower like i've posted above i think somewhere either i explained wrong or you have picked it up wrong

I have a gigabit Wireless router and a series of 200MB/s Powerline adapters in which all my devices are connected other than that it's wireless N.

I've successfully streamed 2 simultaneous bluray rips without transcoding one to my tv and one to my xbox360 using my routers built in media server so no problem there

I won't be looking to stream more than 2 at any one time I'm just saying that according to the location in the house the files will be streamed to different devices each with different codecs and I'd like to be able to have the one file just transcoded on the fly to either device

The files are not going to be full bluray quality if i want that i'll play the disc i'm just saying that alot of the movies i have complied are rips i've made of my mates movies. i usually encode them to save space the max bit rate I usually have after an encode is about 12mb/s or 1.5MB/s with some alot lower than that in the kb/s size...

what I was talking about is maybe streaming one to my tv one to an xbox360 and playing one on the device..this is absolute worse case scenario so to speak.. most of the time I'd we watching one streaming one.

now does it still seem unrealistic to so in the case i've mentioned above?

 

[U_Fig]

it wouldn't let me edit my last post but here's what i'm thinking so far for my build feel free to mention improvements I could make or or alternate products other than the below bearing in mind i already have perifirals SSD HDD and optical drive and using a Blacktopgold3600
and planning on installing the Sapphire HD6870 1G for to do a bit of gaming also


Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€266.88
IN WIN BR665 Midi-Tower - black, mATX, ohne Netzteil|€59.05
MSI Z68MA-G43 (G3), Intel Z68, mATX, DDR3|€94.24
8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 CL9|€38.01
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, alle Sockel|€26.90
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€56.54
Shipping|€18.99
Total: €560.61

 

[geekapproved]

None of your links work, but I would stay away from a super-flower psu. Surely you can find a good known brand for the same price.

 

[U_Fig]

None of your links work, but I would stay away from a super-flower psu. Surely you can find a good known brand for the same price.

thanks for posting that out...that psu was recommended to me on another forum.. what model would you recommend... I used a PSU wattage calculator and it says I need at least 480w so i'm going for 550w

here's the links agian

Blacktopgold3600


Item Price
Intel Core i7-2600K Box, LGA1155|€266.93
IN WIN BR665 Midi-Tower - black, mATX, ohne Netzteil|€59.04
8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333 CL9|€38.01
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus, alle Sockel|€26.90
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 550W|€52.03
Arctic Cooling Wärmeleitpaste MX-4 Tube|€3.26
ASUS P8Z77-M, Sockel 1155, mATX, DDR3|€94.62
Sapphire HD6870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E DL-DVI-I+SL-DVI-D / HDMI / DP|€148.61
Shipping|€18.99
Total = €708.39

 

[geekapproved]

Well it sounds Chinese to me, I've been building since 1997, never heard of super-flower in my entire life, they must not sell in the USA.

 

[U_Fig]

Well it sounds Chinese to me, I've been building since 1997, never heard of super-flower in my entire life, they must not sell in the USA.

they are a Chinese company but I've seen great reviews the are very efficiently and eligible according to the reviews and they are at the lower range of price 2 forums have recommend them to me I'll go a little extra for that 80+ gold models tho

 

[amuffin]

None of your links work, but I would stay away from a super-flower psu. Surely you can find a good known brand for the same price.

SuperFlower is oem of many companies such as nzxt, kingwin, etc. SO they do make pretty good power supplies.