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Shrink Hardware Q
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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24. October 2007 @ 01:56 |
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Hey guys and gals.
Really stupid Q from someone who builds his own rigs. I was a cheapskate when I built my current platform about two years ago, and I bought a bottom-of-the-barrel ATI x300 SE video card (yes, that is the stench that you now smell from your monitor).
The other components of the system are (without getting technical):
AMD 939 4000+ 2.20 GHz CPU
4 Gigs PC3200 RAM
SATA v.2 HD's
MSI MB
I'm thinking about sinking a PCI express 16x ATI X1950 Pro in the mix.
Am I going to see noticeably faster "shrink" times if I drop in a card that's about 5x as fast as the piece of junk that I now have? I.e. is the GPU on the video card the limiting factor in "shrink" time, or is CPU processor speed the bottleneck in a reasonably-powerful system?
I can overclock both my processor and my video card, but I can't tell where the bottleneck is in the process. I think that it's because my GPU is such a piece of garbage...
Thanks for the feedback, in advance.
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AfterDawn Addict
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24. October 2007 @ 04:38 |
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Quote:
I'm thinking about sinking a PCI express 16x ATI X1950 Pro in the mix.
good choice lots better than what you have now!!
Quote:
Am I going to see noticeably faster "shrink" times if I drop in a card that's about 5x as fast as the piece of junk that I now have? I.e. is the GPU on the video card the limiting factor in "shrink" time, or is CPU processor speed the bottleneck in a reasonably-powerful system?
the new video card will make NO difference on you're transcoding times using dvd shrink, thats all about the CPU in which case you're more than fine
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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24. October 2007 @ 05:56 |
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Originally posted by AMKLZ:
Hey guys and gals.
Really stupid Q from someone who builds his own rigs. I was a cheapskate when I built my current platform about two years ago, and I bought a bottom-of-the-barrel ATI x300 SE video card (yes, that is the stench that you now smell from your monitor).
The other components of the system are (without getting technical):
AMD 939 4000+ 2.20 GHz CPU
4 Gigs PC3200 RAM
SATA v.2 HD's
MSI MB
I'm thinking about sinking a PCI express 16x ATI X1950 Pro in the mix.
Am I going to see noticeably faster "shrink" times if I drop in a card that's about 5x as fast as the piece of junk that I now have? I.e. is the GPU on the video card the limiting factor in "shrink" time, or is CPU processor speed the bottleneck in a reasonably-powerful system?
I can overclock both my processor and my video card, but I can't tell where the bottleneck is in the process. I think that it's because my GPU is such a piece of garbage...
Thanks for the feedback, in advance.
Get a better GPU, but not for Shrink. You'll thank yourself. LOL
Transcoding and encoding times are heavily dependant on processing power, the CPU. Of course you need enough quality RAM to handle the memory needs. I've got a dual core socket 939 AMD @ 3GHz with 2GB of Corsair PC35OO RAM, TWINX2048-3500LLPRO - Cas Latency: 2
I've been running the OC for over a year and the system is stable and dependable with no problems. The cost wasn't outrageous, but I didn't cut corners too deep on components. It's not a high end C2D system, but it's probably the next best thing. LOL
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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24. October 2007 @ 13:24 |
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Thanks a bunch for the insight, fellas! Looks like it's back to the overclocking grindstone. I can get the CPU to OC at about 2.8 GHz with decent memory latencies with not even a hint of a problem. However, I got tired of playing around with my OC and just returned everything to motherboard defaults a few months ago...good thing I wrote down all of the settings before I reset everything.
I think that I'll also take the advice of getting that new video card. There is a well-known vendor selling them for $135 with free shipping right now.
Thanks again!
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AfterDawn Addict
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24. October 2007 @ 13:31 |
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yes you defiantly need to update that card
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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24. October 2007 @ 15:58 |
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Originally posted by AMKLZ:
Thanks a bunch for the insight, fellas! Looks like it's back to the overclocking grindstone. I can get the CPU to OC at about 2.8 GHz with decent memory latencies with not even a hint of a problem. However, I got tired of playing around with my OC and just returned everything to motherboard defaults a few months ago...good thing I wrote down all of the settings before I reset everything.
I think that I'll also take the advice of getting that new video card. There is a well-known vendor selling them for $135 with free shipping right now.
Thanks again!
You're welcome.
From my experience, that OC sounds a bit high, though some binnings may allow better numbers. Usually 20% is good for a stable working system. You're running about 27%. How long can you run OCCP or one of the other test programs? Does the system test stable and what is the average running temp after encoding for about 30 minutes? What temp does your CPU reach when running the torture test? Just curious, are you using the factory HSF or an aftermarket one? Usually an OC that high requires more power and with that comes more heat. What's your vCore setting?
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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25. October 2007 @ 01:02 |
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Pac,
I'm running a vCore of 1.65 volts. My memory voltage also had to be increased substantially (this plays a huge role) with aggressive timing. Unfortunately it will be quite some time until I can access other detailed info because I'm using a wireless keyboard that isn't recognized by BIOS.
The system is indefinitely stable, although I've taken all of the benchmarking software off of this computer. My GPU scores were so ridiculously bad, it was bloody murder with 3D rendering....and I ran into problems with some of the software installs causing system instability (not while benchmarking); something with the registry, I couldn't figure out what. My CPU scores were near the top of the heap in the few benchmark tests that I ran.
I have aftermarket CPU and Northbridge chipset fans. My system swells up to about 150 degrees F at full load for ~1 hour, which is relatively cool, as you know. I don't have an exact model for the CPU heatsink/fan, but it's similar to the Thermaltake CL-P0310, 120mm fan. However, I've also got 10 qty 90mm case fans, a hard drive cooler and other fans...it's enough heat to bring a 10'x20' room up to about 80 degrees F on a cold winter night in Wisconsin. I want to say that the replacement Northbridge chipset fan was also a big factor (I wouldn't have predicted this).
Keeping all of the fans quiet was more difficult than keeping the system cool, to be honest. Everything was rewired at 7 volts DC to keep the noise down. 150 F is the CPU temp at full load for about an hour after cranking up all of the system fans to full speed @ 12 Volts; a far, far cry from idle fan speeds (and noise).
Hope this gives some insight. Cheers.
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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25. October 2007 @ 02:10 |
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One more thing...anyone familiar with DVD Rebuilder? I've been putting off trying out this software for about a year. Any opinions?
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. October 2007 @ 03:37 |
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Originally posted by AMKLZ:
One more thing...anyone familiar with DVD Rebuilder? I've been putting off trying out this software for about a year. Any opinions?
yeah its very good and gives you top notch quality. takes a little more time than the transcoders but is worth it checkout the forums here
http://forums.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/157
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 05:05
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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25. October 2007 @ 04:05 |
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I'm running my first patch of DVD Rebuilder titles right now. Afterdawn rocks!
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AfterDawn Addict
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25. October 2007 @ 05:06 |
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you can use the batch mode and do several titles over night also!
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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25. October 2007 @ 07:15 |
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Originally posted by AMKLZ:
One more thing...anyone familiar with DVD Rebuilder? I've been putting off trying out this software for about a year. Any opinions?
You'll be surprised at the quality at high compression. Blockbuster sized DVDs are no problem at Full DVD. As mentioned, it's a lot slower, you pay for quality with time. Many users only use RB when compression drops below 75-80%. I use CCE SP but the free Hanks encoder does a good job with RB. As mentioned, the batch mode is a handy feature. Use Save the project under File and save some projects. Also under File open Batch Processing. The rest is pretty straight foward. Hopefully while doing the setup you made your auto language and audio selections. It's a good program and makes encoding easy enough for anyone without the learning curve on how to use complicated encoders. Hope it works out for you. I liked it so well I got the Pro version. I don't know about the free version, but the Pro supports burning with ImgBurn, like Shrink with Nero or Decrypter.
On the PC, I don't have quite as many fans as you do. I'm using one of the big Zalman CPU coolers. My vCore is only about 1.5v. I set the voltage for the RAM at max suggested settings, but don't exceed them. I don't get much heat that way. I burned it in overnight with OCCP maxing out both cores of the CPU. It took that and kept going. As I mentioned, I left it there for long term stability. My native speed was a few hundred MHz faster than yours from the start though. My OC isn't as radical as yours, but the room stays cool in the summer. ;) It zips right along doing transcoding and encoding jobs.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 25. October 2007 @ 07:30
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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27. October 2007 @ 16:16 |
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Thanks for the input and feedback, everyone. Much appreciated. Off to do my DVDRB homework!
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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27. October 2007 @ 20:33 |
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Originally posted by AMKLZ:
Thanks for the input and feedback, everyone. Much appreciated. Off to do my DVDRB homework!
You're welcome.
Take time to look at Alkohol's RB setup guide. It has some handy pointers.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 27. October 2007 @ 20:34
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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10. November 2007 @ 21:33 |
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Woah! Hey guys. Thought that you might want to know something that I have found. I had nearly every component besides my video card max'd out, but I tried something new and Shrink's speed has now gotten outrageously fast.
I was using RAID 1 but I've since switched to RAID 0 and then made sure that my image was on a different hard drive than the one that the shrinked version is being saved on. My analyzing speed roughly halved and the encoding speed is also a few minutes quicker. Ripping speeds are also outrageously fast (using the RAID 0 drive) as well.
Hope this helps someone.
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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11. November 2007 @ 09:07 |
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That's sort of a lesson on RAID. RAID 1 mirrors the content from 1 drive to another. You were writing the files twice in RAID 1. A hard drive setup without RAID is faster than RAID 1. RAID 0 uses striping and is faster than a regular hard drive setup. So, if you go from the slowest drive setup, RAID 1, to the fastest, RAID 0, you're natually going to see some improvement in speed.
Did the PC come with RAID 1 installed or did you do that yourself?
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AMKLZ
Newbie
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12. November 2007 @ 00:49 |
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I had a hard drive fail on me on my previous HP desktop, so I set up RAID 1 on my build. I didn't realize the "strain" it was placing on the system until now.
I think that the good 'ol regularly-scheduled complete data backup is the way to go instead of RAID 1. Off to shop for another hard drive that will be up to the task!
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PacMan777
AfterDawn Addict
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12. November 2007 @ 15:25 |
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RAID 1 shouldn't really load your system much more, it just takes a little longer writing everything twice.
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