I7-2600k or Dual Opteron 4180 for Video Encoding?

[blackphoenix]

A buddy of mine is asking for some help building a machine, honestly I'm not sure what way to direct him.

He primarily uses his machine for 80% video editing/encoding and about 20% gaming.
The gaming he does do is largely older games, Battlefield 2, Enemy Territory Quake Wars, Quake 3, GRAW 1/2, etc.

For this reason he's considering a dual opteron 4180 (each hex core at 2.6ghz), I've suggested the i7-2600k as it is cheaper and powerful, but honestly I'm not sure how the opterons would hold up against the i7-2600k.

His current machine is a AMD dual core 2.5ghz (older socket 939 if I recall correctly) and has a GT440 that he is planning to reuse.

Overclocking is really not an option, I know it's fairly easy to do, but again not everyone likes to do that sort of thing.

Anyone have experience with dual opteron 4180 versus the i7-2600k?

Thanks guys.

 

[GammaLaser]

If not overclocking then it would certainly be a tad cheaper to go with the non-K version of the 2600. Not sure about how it would stack up to the Opterons though.

 

[blackphoenix]

Noted, the 2600 would be a better option than the 2600k, but still hoping someone can chime in about the dual opterons...

 

[SithSolo1]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/305588-28-2600-2600k-number-crunching


the long post near the end lightly touches on a comparison between the two. It Isn't much but its all I could find and more than I could tell you.

 

[paperwastage]

if not overclocking, the a Xeon E3-1230 (sandy-bridge architect, equivalent to a 2600) at $250 would work too...

can most likely drop into a 1155 mobo w/o any problems(but no ECC mem support), or get a server mobo for ECC support

 

[tweakboy]

A buddy of mine is asking for some help building a machine, honestly I'm not sure what way to direct him.

He primarily uses his machine for 80% video editing/encoding and about 20% gaming.
The gaming he does do is largely older games, Battlefield 2, Enemy Territory Quake Wars, Quake 3, GRAW 1/2, etc.

For this reason he's considering a dual opteron 4180 (each hex core at 2.6ghz), I've suggested the i7-2600k as it is cheaper and powerful, but honestly I'm not sure how the opterons would hold up against the i7-2600k.

His current machine is a AMD dual core 2.5ghz (older socket 939 if I recall correctly) and has a GT440 that he is planning to reuse.

Overclocking is really not an option, I know it's fairly easy to do, but again not everyone likes to do that sort of thing.

Anyone have experience with dual opteron 4180 versus the i7-2600k?

Thanks guys.

The fastest video render will be with a 2600k OCed to 4Ghz or not and left at 3.4Ghz. But also you need a powerful video card as well. You can put a 5xx series card in that.

Also a SSD will make things even quicker... make sure to have 8GB ram at least... if not more.. gl:hmm:

gl

 

[BD231]

12 Phenom II cores would rape a single i7 enconding, so if its enconding performance he wants the Opteron system would indeed give him much better results.

 

[wahdangun]

yeah 12 core opteron would destroy single core i7, in video encoding, and no 4Ghz 2600K would even touch it

 

[blackphoenix]

When we say rape and destroy are we taking in account the 2.6ghz clock speed of the 12 cores versus the 3.4ghz clock speed of the 4 physical/4 virtual cores?

The closet I can find for numbers is the I7-2600k versus the 1055T which is only 6 cores, but 2.8ghz versus 2.6ghz.

The 1055t obviously lags behind, but considering another 200mhz drop but double the cores it's hard to quantify the gains. Anyone have better benchmarks to review?

 

[wahdangun]

yeah, core i7 2600k will never touch that 12 core opteron even tough, it have lower clock than i7 2600k, because usually encoding video is heavily multi-threaded.

look at these linky even 8 core Bulldozer is faster than core i7, so with 50% more core it sure will left core i7 in the dust.

 

[blackphoenix]

Maybe we're looking at two different charts here.

-MediaShow Expresso:
FX-8150 is largely tied with the I7-2600k
It's not until the 8150 is overclocked to 4.6ghz that the AMD pulls away.

-Handbrake:
FX-8150 is still largely tied with the I7-2600k
And again, only pulls ahead when overclocked to 4.6ghz.

The 1100T falls behind by about 2 frames, but still runs at 3.2ghz. Now the Opteron 4180 is basically the same, as far as I know, as a 1100T but runs at 2.6ghz.

So I suppose, even if the 4180 comes out to 15fps in handbrake, two of them should still be faster than the I7-2600k.

 

[tweakboy]

Yes, wow I forgot about the Opteron 12 core. But also how about a Xeon 8 core + HT 16 cores.

I think that OCed would rape anything AMD choke, ATI has to offer.

 

[exar333]

I would take 12 Opteron cores over a i7 2600 for encoding, any day. Unless you are using mostly single-threaded encoding applications, the Opteron is the clear winner here if the price is similar.

 

[blackphoenix]

for our options, the 2x Hex core Opteron 4180s are very close price wise compared to the i7-2600k. However an Intel pair of 8 core (16 with HT) Xeons would be nice, but obviously jack the price up so much.

Still though, based on the link above, I'm having a hard time seeing where the Opteron's 12 cores at 2.6ghz would compete with the i7-2600k where a single 1100T at 3.2ghz falls very much behind, these cores are still 600mhz slower (at least based on the link presented previously).

I appreciate the suggestions and we're leaning towards the opterons, just would like too see some more numbers if possible.

 

[tweakboy]

Nice cars ExarKun... the Z has too much fishtail I bet the WRX pownz it in handling.

I think the Z is quicker tho its a 370. Very cool. enjoy them.

 

[Denithor]

Perhaps this will help?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4486/server-rendering-hpc-benchmark-session/3

 

[Vesku]

If you're using multi-threaded applications that can use 12 threads I don't see how a 2600K would best 12 Phenom II cores at 2.6+GHz. However if you also have time consuming low threaded applications then the 2600K becomes a reasonable choice. Assuming similar price.

 

[blackphoenix]

Thanks guys! One last question, it sounds like Intel's new socket is coming soon. Any clue how soon and how much procs will be initially?

Wondering if it might be best to have him wait for that option...

 

[BD231]

Get rid of the idea a single CPU is going to compete with 12 physical cores that currently sit between i5/i7 performance levels anytime soon, that's just rediculous bro. We're talking five or ten years before that happens. Youve been brainwashed by the single threaded performance Intel zealots.

There are faster opterons to come so he'll have options down the line, as Bulldozer is sure to flop in the server market.

 

[dac7nco]

Nice cars ExarKun... the Z has too much fishtail I bet the WRX pownz it in handling.

I think the Z is quicker tho its a 370. Very cool. enjoy them.

Jesus Christ, you're actually going nuts before my eyes.

 

[blackphoenix]

thanks guys, greatly appreciated!

 

[atl]

For encoding you will get 36 FPS for 2600 vs 50FPS for 2x4180 in x264 HD Benchmark 3.03.
~$470 for 2600 vs ~$600 for 2x4180 for CPU + Mobo.

Note that Video Editing will sux hard in opterons, about twice slower and less responsive.
The video editing software scales to 12 cores only when renders, not when you are doing your interactive NLE job.

 

[Ferzerp]

As others have said, if this is a dedicated build, and you can make it for the same price, the dual opteron setup is likely the best for performance.

 

[blackphoenix]

For encoding you will get 36 FPS for 2600 vs 50FPS for 2x4180 in x264 HD Benchmark 3.03.
~$470 for 2600 vs ~$600 for 2x4180 for CPU + Mobo.

Note that Video Editing will sux hard in opterons, about twice slower and less responsive.
The video editing software scales to 12 cores only when renders, not when you are doing your interactive NLE job.

I have to ask, where did those numbers come from?
Not to mention the "twice slower and less responsive"

I get that in tasks that don't use the 12 cores they'll be slower, but "twice slower"?

 

[atl]

Actually will be around 2.2 times slower.
4180 is Thuban architecture, which is at 2.6 GHz is ~2.2 times slower core per core than 2600 at 3.4 GHz. Assuming editing job is AVID/Final cut or something similar, the actual interactive task don't scales more than 4 threads, if at all scales, so will not take advantage of the 12 cores