Motherboard Recomendation

[Chad Solo]

Thank's again all for the help. I really appreciate it. I have another month or so before I start buying the parts so I will keep reading and maybe the higher end Pentuim cpu's will come down in price. Right now the 3.4 up are over 400.00 for just the cpu and I don't want to spend that much money on a cpu. The Motherboard I have been looking at is the

REFURBISHED: GIGABYTE GA-8I915P DUO PRO Socket T (LGA 775) Intel 915P ATX Intel Motherboard - OEM


It's takes both DDR and DDR2 memory and has allot of features. I'm just waiting on and answer about my Graphic card working in it. Thank's again for the help.

Chad

[Christopher Lefchik]

Ouch, that's expensive. Must be because they are so new. Not trying to talk you out of the Pentium 4, but I was looking at the AMD chips, and an Athlon 64 bit 3700+ with 800MHz FSB and 1MB L2 Cache can be had for $323 at NewEgg. http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16819103464

I didn't realize there was such a difference in price between the Intel and AMD processors until I saw that.

[Chad Solo]

You think that AMB chip is faster then this pentuim chip

(Pentium 4 3.0 630 Prescott 800MHz FSB 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor)

I read some reviews on that AMB chip and everyone says it's blazing fast. So maybe I will go that route. There seems to be allot more Motherboard's to choice from. The only reason I was going with pentuim is because everything I read about rendering and adobe premiere says to go with the pentuim Hyper threading technology so thats why I was more looking at that cpu. I'm not to concern about gaming just editing and rendering times. I have the FX1 Sony HDV camera and I want to be able to work with editing HDV in the future. You gave me something to think about I appreciate the help.

Chad

[Christopher Lefchik]

Tom's Hardware did a huge test comparison between many processors. In the MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 encoding test (using Pinnacle Studio 7), the AMD Athlon 64 3700's time was 2:23, while the Pentium 4 630 3.0Ghz was 2:34. So the AMD is faster. And cheaper.
You can see the report at http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/200...charts-18.html. Like I said, there is a large number of processors listed, so it will take a little while to pick out the one your after. They go all the way back to a Pentium 100!

[Glenn Chan]

By that benchmark, it would make sense to get a Pentium 3.4E? (Prescott, 3.4ghz, 200mhz FSB, i875p chipset, DDR400)
$297+$2 ship at newegg

Or you could get the Pentium4 550 Prescott (LGA775, 3.4ghz, uses DDR2 RAM), which is cheaper and slightly faster but uses more expensive DDR2 RAM.

But then again, can you be sure you can trust their benchmark?
Few people on dvinfo.net will transcode from MPEG1 to MPEG2. As well, what encoder does Pinnacle use?

EDIT: xbitlabs.com has a roundup of Pentium processors versus AMD at the Main Concept MPEG2 encoder:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...m4-6xx_15.html
Vegas and Premiere apparently use versions of the Main Concept encoder.

It looks like AMD will lag behind until dual core processors come out with SSE3 support? (SSE3 does seem to make a difference in this benchmark. anandtech and techreport.com have dual core benchmarks.)

2- Intel processors generally consume more electricity, which adds to their cost a little.

[Christopher Lefchik]

Glenn,

I would be the first one to say that the Pinnacle Studio 7 MPEG-1 to MPEG-2 test wasn't ideal, but it was the closest thing I saw on the Tom's Hardware review to a usable video rendering benchmark. The review you found is definitely better, and in light of it one of the Pentium 4 3.4Ghz processors would be a better choice. I can confirm that Premiere Pro and Vegas both use the MainConcept MPEG-2 encoder.

Sorry Chad! Hopefully we’ll get this sorted out sooner or later.

[Chad Solo]

Thank's guys for all the help. It's very confusing looking at the specs of all the CPU's and motherboards. There is so many different ones it's hard to figure out what to get. The one thing I'm staying away from is the PCI express boards. maybe next time I upgrade I will go that route but at this time I want to keep my Graphics card being it's only 6 months old. If I go Pentuim I might go with this board ASUS P4P800-E DELUXE Socket 478 Intel 865PE ATX Intel Motherboard, they have new ones for 111.00 and refurbish ones for 69.00. Would you guys go with a new one our a refurbish one? The only thing about the refurbish one is it comes with the board only no cables or manual. The Manual is no problem I can get that and I have the cables from my last board and thinking that the refirbish one has been looked over so I'm sure to get a working one. What do you guys think? Thank's again for the help.

Chad

[Steve Rogers]

Originally Posted by Glenn Chan

It looks like AMD will lag behind until dual core processors come out with SSE3 support? (SSE3 does seem to make a difference in this benchmark. anandtech and techreport.com have dual core benchmarks.)

AMD cores with SSE3 are available for purchase right now. I got 2 of them this week.

Look for revision "E" Cores, also known as Venice or San Diego. Newegg and Monarch plus a few others all have them in stock.

One CPU mentioned here a few posts back, A64 3700+ with 1mb cache are the new revision E San Diego cores. Sand Diego is noted by having 1mb cache, Venice have 512k cache.

Besides the SSE3 on these chips, they also sport an enhanced memory controller that has proven to improve performance quite nicely.

So far, 3000+, 3200+ 3500+ and 3700+ have been released.

EE Times is reporting that AMD is shipping X2's to vendors already, those are the desktop versions of dual cores for socket 939 boards.

[Christopher Lefchik]

xbitlabs did a review of the AMD Athlon 64 with the new "Venice" core. There was only a little improvement on the MainConcept and other video encoding tests. The Pentium 4's still held a clear lead. Link: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu...venice_10.html

Chad, here is a review that lists what accessories come with that Asus motherboard if you bought it new: http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/asus-p4p800-e. It's a little hard to read, but the third party software looks to be WinDVD 5 Platinum, WinDVD Creator 2 Platinum, and WinRip 2. Note that they reviewed the wireless edition that includes a WiFi module. That version is about $10 more than the normal one.

[Patrick Jenkins]

(goes back to the original post - for anyone else looking)

$.02

If you actually want to do work with a computer instead of spend most of your time tweaking or troubleshooting, etc... Intel CPU = Intel board.

Not a dig on overclockers/tweakers, etc.. I used to be one. It's a lot more fun actually being productive with a tool than maintaining the tool though.

$.02

[Steve Rogers]

Originally Posted by Patrick Jenkins

(goes back to the original post - for anyone else looking)

$.02

If you actually want to do work with a computer instead of spend most of your time tweaking or troubleshooting, etc... Intel CPU = Intel board.

Not a dig on overclockers/tweakers, etc.. I used to be one. It's a lot more fun actually being productive with a tool than maintaining the tool though.

$.02

Sorry dude but in all honesty that is just FUD.

Setting up and running a stable and reliable AMD system isn't any different that doing the same with Intel.

AMD + nVidia motherboard = stable. it just plain works.

[Pat Sherman]

Having personally use the following setup:
Matrox RT.X100 & PPRO 1.5 and just PPRO 1.5.

I have had the following configurations in the last year:
AMD 64 4000 / Asus A8V MOBO (1GB DDR400)
Intel P4 2.8GHZ / ASUS P4P800SE (1GB DDR400)
Intel P4 3.0GHZ / ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe (1GB DDR400)

Now I settled in on:
P4 3.6GHZ / ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe

This has been my most rock solid setup to date. It's also the only setup where I have experienced no problems.. Don't get me wrong I loved my AMD 64.. I game 50% of the time in leagues and events.. So leaving the AMD 64 back to the P4 was hard.. However in my OWN experiences the P4 was much more stable in Premiere Pro and background rendering while working in CS2 or Encore..

So I am on the P4 team when it comes to rock solid editing.. I think my Matrox works better because it was designed around the P4.. I use all SATA drives as you don't need a seperate drive for your export/renders like IDE in alot of cases. I also upped my ram to 2GB on my 3.6.. So it's stable.. As far as performance.. 140-160 frames per second gaming with the AMD 64 now I average 90 with the P4..:(

So in the end at work I have two editing machines now with 3.6's and the matrox cards.. At home I just use PPRO and no matrox with the 3.6 now.. I am an avid overclocker tweaker and have been building computers for 15 years.. Mainly for gaming, so I went through alot of real world experiences building a stable system for editing. We probably all have a different definition of stability, I mainly look for Voltage regulation, temps and finally overall system performance. I used to read benchmarks, but they don't mean squat to me anymore since I don't use half the programs in those benchmarks so I build systems that perform with the stuff I want to use..

Just my 2 cents..

[Steve Rogers]

Originally Posted by Pat Sherman

Having personally use the following setup:
Matrox RT.X100 & PPRO 1.5 and just PPRO 1.5.

I have had the following configurations in the last year:
AMD 64 4000 / Asus A8V MOBO (1GB DDR400)

One thing people who make claims of Intel or AMD stability don't realize is that it the problem might be the chipset.

Follow any Intel forum/fansite/whatever and you will see people complain about the stability and quality of VIA chipsets, SiS chisets etc.

Fact is, any system can be unstable or flaky at specific tasks if it uses a flaky chipset.

Your board used a VIA chipset, and I wouldn't suggest VIA to anyone. Not to mention, Matrox has issues with VIA chipsets. For that matter a LOT of hardware has issues with VIA chipsets.

AMD and nVidia chipsets are every bit as stable if not more so than Intel chipsets. Some tiem back, Tom's Hardware did a stress test where they put workstations under heavy load and AMD actually won the comparison.

I run nVidia based systems 24/7, using AVID HD Pro, Digital Fusion, Maya, Lightwave and Mental. Absolutely ZERO issues. I wouldn't be able to say that if I was using a VIA chipset.

You put a good CPU on a bad quality MB and you will have problems no matter who made it, AMD or Intel.

[Pat Sherman]

Originally Posted by Steve Rogers

You put a good CPU on a bad quality MB and you will have problems no matter who made it, AMD or Intel.

Very true.. I can't even remember how many different chipsets I have tried over the years.. For me at least bottom line with performance for what I do and the board maintaing it's voltage I'm sticking with the P4 now.. Although I am building a new Counter Strike box..:) AMD 64 FX-55..:)

[Jeremy Davidson]

Chad, to hold you over until you get a new machine, I'd go back to your resident software apps (how full is your system tray, etc.). I'm on hardware much older than your existing machine, and I get along just fine (MPEG-2 encodes are usually overnight tasks), but it's because I run a minimum number of background programs. I'd recommend checking out AVG instead of Norton Antivirus as it runs much faster (I only had Norton installed for about a week as it was really slowing down my system). There's a free version available, with updates typically released 1-2 times per week.

Also, I don't recall seeing what OS you're running mentioned anywhere. I'm guessing WinXP Pro?

P.S. I'm using an AMD processor with an nVidia chipset.