# Quad-core/High end Dual Core Video Authoring Machine



## suraswami (Mar 24, 2008)

I am supposed to build a inter-mediate stop gap high-end dual core system before finally going on to Quad.

But there is a sale today where I can get a AMD 9500 + ECS for less than high end Dual.  So I am thinking I should buy it.

These are the tasks I am going to use it for.  Let me know if Dual or Quad
Total ram installed will be 4GB.  2 sources of video capture cards will be present (one analog and one Firewire card). 40G IDE for Ubuntu and VMWare + 400G SATA for rest of the system.

1.  Base OS - Ubuntu 64 bit server edition latest version
2.  VMware on top of Ubuntu.
3.  Install 2 instances of WXP pro.
4.  Let VM decide how much ram and cpu power each instance will have and will be allocated dynamically.  Minimum 2 Ghz and 1GB ram will be guaranteed.
5.  Each instance will be having access to one Video capture device, its own OS space and storage space.
6.  One IDE DVDRW and one USB DVDRW will be available.
7.  Install Video capture software like Pinnacle on each instance.
8.  Connect to one instance my VCR to transfer all the old tapes
9.  Connect my camcorder to transfer all the tapes that are still pending to be transferred.
10.  Burn baby Burn - 2 recordings and authoring at the same time.

Will the above be possible with a High end Dual core like X2 6000 or 6400?

I might even try gaming BF2 on one instance if needed he he.

I need all your suggestions.


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## lemonadesoda (Mar 24, 2008)

You are going to do a lot of encoding (transfer video tapes to MPEG or DivX).  First you pull off the video. Then you encode to get the size to a sensible level.

I see you are an AMD man. But there are no two ways about it. You should get a quad core. Q6600 or higher. These babies are made for encoding/rendering. This would be considered a mid-level system today. Check any encoding benchmarks. Look at this link for an example of encoding times: http://www.techarp.com/x264_Benchmark/hd/HD_benchmark_results_pub.xls

If you wanted a high end system, you would go dual Xeons (quads) for 8 core. That way you could probably encode "live" to MPEG/DivX without a problem.


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## suraswami (Mar 25, 2008)

lemonadesoda said:


> You are going to do a lot of encoding (transfer video tapes to MPEG or DivX).  First you pull off the video. Then you encode to get the size to a sensible level.
> 
> I see you are an AMD man. But there are no two ways about it. You should get a quad core. Q6600 or higher. These babies are made for encoding/rendering. This would be considered a mid-level system today. Check any encoding benchmarks. Look at this link for an example of encoding times: http://www.techarp.com/x264_Benchmark/hd/HD_benchmark_results_pub.xls
> 
> If you wanted a high end system, you would go dual Xeons (quads) for 8 core. That way you could probably encode "live" to MPEG/DivX without a problem.



Hey thanks for the inputs.  Yes I am an AMD fan.  But price is also a key factor.  I went from $150 for 5600 + cheap Jetway board to here.

Price - AMD 9600 + ECS board combo + Patriot 4GB DDR2 800 (2 x 2GB) + CoolerMaster 752 cooler + Damn Tax = $297
Intel Q6600 + ECS board combo + Patriot 4GB DDR2 800 (2 x 2GB) + CoolerMaster 752 cooler + Damn Tax = $404

And ofcourse if I need to overclock I need to go with a better board and say put extra $100 either AMD or Intel one.

Difference in the base combo is $107.

According to the sheet that you sent at default speed no adjustments they are only minutes apart say 8 minutes.  Its not a whole lot of difference.

Its still a good performance for less money rather we call it as "best bang for the buck"


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## overclocker (Mar 25, 2008)

that AMD 9600 will be fine i think mine is awsome even thoe i overclock it . and blows my old 4400+ out of the water!


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## suraswami (Mar 25, 2008)

How is it for gaming when compared to 6000+


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## suraswami (Mar 28, 2008)

Thinking of dropping this project because of the new phenom release.


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## MKmods (Mar 28, 2008)

PM me, I have some AMD X2 stuff


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## KBD (Mar 28, 2008)

suraswami said:


> Thinking of dropping this project because of the new phenom release.



Yea, if going with the Phenom get the the one with the B3 stepping or their new tri-cores.


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