Best spec for MPEG2 compression?

[OzQuant]

I've started doing a lot of MPEG2 compression after getting my miniDV cam so that I can burn SVCDs to be watched on my TV thru the DVD player. But the problem is that my current PC is waaay too slow and its becoming too much of a hassle...

So what is the best/optimal spec to do home MPEG2 compressions? Do I pay attention to the DivX benchmarks in the Anandtech articles? Are they similar?

What's more important - more RAM or faster CPU (given cost)? Intel vs AMD? Would getting a RAID drive help or is that minimal performance gain? I don't think the programs I use handles to multi-processors so I'm not sure if getting two CPUs would help...

Any input/suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[yellowperil]

I think the biggest factors (from most important to less) are

CPU
RAM
HDD speed/space
cooling also a factor for longevity of your components

For CPU speed there seems to be a proportional increase in clock speed/encoding speed. So buy the fastest CPU you can afford, b/c that is usually the bottleneck. For RAM, it seems 256MB is enough but 512MB is optimal. DDR makes somewhat of a difference. For HDDs, 7200RPMs and having a lot of empty space is sufficient.

 

[IamDavid]

1.) CPU \ AMD rates better at video editing and creation in every benchmark have seen
2.) RAM \ Lots and Lots of it...
3.)HDD's \ Lots and lots of space. And 7200 RPM or better..
4.)Time \ There is only so far you can go to improve encoding times..

 

[gplracer]

You might want to go to VCD Help to get the information you are looking for. Good Luck!