Need an AMD CPU for transcoding

[boomhower]

I built a Windows Home Server last year with an LE-1150 and it has performed flawlessly streaming to my 360. Well I have added a PS3 and it can't pull off the server and everything has to be transcoded. So I need something with a bit more horsepower but at the same time I want to keep it low power as this is a 24/7 server. Will a 4850e be enough?

 

[richierich1212]

How about the 5050e? 100mhz more =)

 

[boomhower]

Looked at that as well. Small difference in speed and price. Going with it wouldn't be a problem. I guess the question is do I need more power/core than these offer. I will be using PS3 Media Server for the software side. Eill I need to go with something like the X3 710?

 

[Rifter]

I would go with the 5050e, i transcode to my PS3 with my sig rig and it can handle it n/p but its not useful for much else while its doing it. depending on the formats CPU usage is around 40-60% so i would go with the most powerful 45w chip you can find.

 

[Hacp]

Question is what format are you transcoding to.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Question is what format are you transcoding to.

In some ways, OP could get away with just lowering the transcoding quality. When I was using TVersity to transcode stuff for my xbox, things like compression could be cranked way down to save CPU power and use more bandwidth instead. If I'm not mistaken, the Xbox has a 100mb connection, so you can get away with using horrendously bad compression. I was doing this with a stock E6600 and it only took about 10% CPU power.
Another important setting was to set TVersity to not run as fast as possible; only transcode as it is needed. This way you can get away with maybe 20% demand from Xbox transcoding and maybe 20% from PS3 transcoding rather than having the Xbox and PS3 fight each other for CPU time.


Just make sure the home server has a solid gigabit connection, otherwise the Xbox and PS3 transcoding would hog all the bandwidth and basically cut off anyone else from accessing the server.

Another question for the OP. Have you tried overclocking? If the stars are in alignment, you could probably get an extra 40% out of that CPU. If the idiots on newegg are to be trusted, you should be able to get this thing near 3ghz on stock cooling. (why is it so hard to find any info on Sparta or Lima Semprons?)

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Question is what format are you transcoding to.

The stock PS3 Media Server settings for now.

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: Hacp
Question is what format are you transcoding to.

In some ways, OP could get away with just lowering the transcoding quality. When I was using TVersity to transcode stuff for my xbox, things like compression could be cranked way down to save CPU power and use more bandwidth instead. If I'm not mistaken, the Xbox has a 100mb connection, so you can get away with using horrendously bad compression. I was doing this with a stock E6600 and it only took about 10% CPU power.
Another important setting was to set TVersity to not run as fast as possible; only transcode as it is needed. This way you can get away with maybe 20% demand from Xbox transcoding and maybe 20% from PS3 transcoding rather than having the Xbox and PS3 fight each other for CPU time.


Just make sure the home server has a solid gigabit connection, otherwise the Xbox and PS3 transcoding would hog all the bandwidth and basically cut off anyone else from accessing the server.

Another question for the OP. Have you tried overclocking? If the stars are in alignment, you could probably get an extra 40% out of that CPU. If the idiots on newegg are to be trusted, you should be able to get this thing near 3ghz on stock cooling. (why is it so hard to find any info on Sparta or Lima Semprons?)

It's on wireless. It is simply to far to allow for wired. But I do have a dual band router so the PS3/360 can eat up that band and the notebooks can use the N band. I am not OCing on my server, its just not going to happen. Reliability is more important than spending anoother $50-$100 on a new CPU.

 

[ShawnD1]

Originally posted by: boomhower
It's on wireless. It is simply to far to allow for wired. But I do have a dual band router so the PS3/360 can eat up that band and the notebooks can use the N band. I am not OCing on my server, its just not going to happen. Reliability is more important than spending anoother $50-$100 on a new CPU.

Damn wireless. I was really excited about using wireless until I actually tried it and couldn't get anywhere near rated speed (54g gave about 750kb/s transfer speed).

If you're looking for a good all around processor that doesn't overclock very well, try the Phenom X4 9600. For $90 that's pretty much the best value you could hope for. One of the more recent Anandtech articles shows that it's in the same performance ballpark as the Phenom II X3 when it comes to video transcoding: link.

 

[richierich1212]

PS3 built-in wifi card sux

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: richierich1212
PS3 built-in wifi card sux

That may be but running an ethernet cord through my living room, dining room, and bed room isn't a very elegant solution either.

 

[Rifter]

I had problems with 1080p untill i wired my PS3. If you are doing 720p you should be fine with wireless as long as the Xbox and PS3 arnt pulling bandwidth at the same time. I also used Ps3 media server. Also if only going for 720p you should be ok with that 45w 5050e chip mentioned earlier in this post.

 

[boomhower]

I know 1080P would choke out under wireless. Yeah, only one of the two would be pulling at the same time. I do want to allow for 1080P as I will likely do powerline network for the PS3 at some point.