New build for video/audio encoding

[sprtfan]

I need help deceiding if I should build a new conroe system or save some money and go with an AMD skt 939 system. I have a ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe mobo I was able to get very cheap. I have 1 GB of DDR ram I can use.
For the CPU I was thinking of going with the X2 3800 or the X2 4400 for the extra cache. I'm under the impression that the extra cache size would be helpful for encoding video but correct me if I'm wrong.
If the extra cache is worth the extra $75 I would get the X2 4400 but then my question is, would I be better off getting a conroe system at that point? I do not have any DDR2 but can trade a friend a 300 GB IDE drive that I do not need for 1 GB of DDR2 533. I could get a mobo for between $125-$160 depending on which one and the e6300 for $193. So I guess what I'm asking is what option would give me the best bang for the buck

$195 for ASUS A8N + X2 3800
$275 for ASUS A8N + X2 4400
$350 for Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 + E6300 and trade for the DDR2

Thanks for any input or other suggestions

 

[Pabster]

Bang for the buck? Option 1.

But I'd go with Option 3. 😀 😛

 

[sprtfan]

I guess what I'm really wanting to know is will the time it takes to encode be a lot shorter with the Conroe? How would the E6300 compare to the X2 4400 for encoding. I saw the review on Anandtech that showed that the Conroes were very fast for encoding but I wondered if the X2 4400 would not have done better than some of the other AMD procs due to its larger cache? I would normally just go with the conroe but I'm wanting to get several HDD for storage as well.

 

[eelw]

I can encode in h.264 in real time with my E6400. Could only manage like 0.2x with my 3.4 Northwood. So yeah, go with the Conroe.

 

[Howard]

No realistic amount of cache could help the X2 processors encode faster than the C2D processors.