Upgrading choices; Graphic Card or RAM?

[pat79]

Hello Guys, this is my first msg to this forum.
I do a lot of video editing using Pinnacle Studio 8 with this PC,

AMD athlon XP 1700+
PC Partner m/b (doesn't support DDR)
256 PC 133 SDRAM
32 MB Riva TNT
80 GB western digital SE
40 GB seagate 5400rpm
Win XP installed on 80 GB WDSE
budget for upgrading, RM 500.00 (USD$132.00)

When I converting the video(.avi) to MPEG1 or MPEG2 format, it just takes too long. For a 20 minutes video it will took more than a hour to finish using MPEG2 compression. How can I improved this?
I'm considering to buy GeForce 4MX or Titanium but I'm not sure if this will improve the rendering perfomance. Even if these cards can do so, I don't know which one will give me BEST Perfomance/VALUE.
If they don't, then I will spend my money with these options;
1. Add another 768 MB SDRAM,
2. Buy a new motherboard that support DDR and get 512MB DDR RAM
So, 1GB SDRAM vs 512MB DDR

Please help me to choose, any suggestion will be appreciated.

 

[DaveSimmons]

A new video card will help with gaming but makes no difference for video encoding.

Memory might help but only if that is really the slow part -- during encoding look at system info (in accessories) to see how much physical and virtual memory you're using. If you are using a lot of virtual memory then even adding 128 or 256 MB will really help. Adding more than that might help very little (waste of money).

Something else to try that costs 0 is close all other programs and system-tray programs that you can.

But your best bet may be to save up until you can afford a new mobo and faster CPU because switching to DDR will only help a little.

 

[magomago]

A videocard won't do much.


If you want to stay within a budget area then overclock that 1700+ (assuming it is a Tbred A...if its a Tbred B shame on you for not pushing it up!) and go for a bigger FSB...try 166.

And YES that memory is a HUGE limitation on yourself....I don't know what the guy below says but I've noticed speed increases from pc133 to ddr400 with tight timings

When it comes to encoding CPU power and RAM play a huge part.

Ideally the Pentium4 kicks ass in this area.

But if you decide to go for a new rig I highly reccomend a 2500+ (should be able to push it to 200Mhz FSB and the added cache is a blessing for encoding) and 512 megs of ram.

I do a LOT of Mpeg2 to Mpeg4 (Divx) encoding and even when i'm encoding monster movies ram usage doesn't peak above 390-400 megs at the most so 512 would fit the bill perfectly.



/me sees he has 132 dollars for upgrade....

/me glances more carefully at the specs

Hrm...by looking at the age of the parts that 1700+ seems to be a Palomino = IE: Bad Overclocker


If you really do a LOT of video editing perhaps you should get a new rig...but reuse a LOT of your parts if you can IE: Videocard (wait...the TNT could support 32 megabytes? I thought it was limited at 16), HD, Case, etc. etc.

If not...I vote Option B. Get a new Mobo + 512ddr now and toss in a new cpu later....

 

[moonshinemadness]

Yeah the TNT2 did support 32mb, i had one up until fairly recently... Anyway i suggest saving up a bit more money and getting a pretty much full new rig, as already stated encoding relies heavily on CPU and Ram, go for a mobo with dual channel DDR support then 2 x 256mb DDR 2700 a XP 2500+ and a new vid card, get that set up it should fly.

 

[Loop2kill]

With the budget you have put foward, and assuming ur not interested in saving up for a new rig and want to buy something now...i would go with option #2 and then maybe get a new cpu down the road.

If you primarily do alot of encoding on ur pc, for ur next upgrade you might wanna think about a P4, as its the king of encoding.

 

[ozone13]

Yep, another vote for upgrading your cpu. Memory will help some, video really not at all.

 

[boran]

I vote for upgrading ... your motherboard and memory. really PC133 ... your XP1700 must be starving for data.
and maybe then get a cheap CPU upgrade, but definetly upgrade mobo and memory it's totally outdated.

now video card has nothing to do at all with encoding, so dont bother with that .

 

[chin311]

mobo/ram for sure!!1 step up to DDR, should be the best improvement for video encoding

 

[pat79]

Thank you guys, thats really help me!

Now I don't think that I need a new video card, since I only play Warcraft3 and i feel satisfied with my current video card perfomance. Maybe I will upgrade my mobo and DDR ram first and then in the next few months I'll change my cpu. Oh! before that, does Hyper Threading in P4 help me in vidoe encoding? Is it make a BIG increase in speed when doing video encoding? If it only help me a little, then I will stick with AMD (since it cheaper than P4)