Dinosaur looking to see what's current

[megalomando]

Hi,

 

I'm doing a fair amount of video processing using ConvertXtoDVD and ripping CD's to FLAC with EAC. I'd like to speed things up and would appreciate suggestions. I'm not a gamer though I like games, I just need a computer that is better at number crunching than what I have. I haven't been following the most current OC options for a few years now but figure this is probably a good time to look for a new system and use this current one with another project. 

 

My current board is an ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3 using a. i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz with 16 Gigs of Gskill ram.

 

The I7-4790K looks to be an awesome processor but if I were to spot for that and a mobo to fit it, I'm wondering how much faster it would be than what I have in cutting down the time required to process video files and the processing times with EAC? I have other uses which require a fast processor and not so much video as in a gaming computer but I mention these programs as they pretty well describe what I want to do. Maybe I should be looking at AMD? They used to be the best for my needs but later the i5-2500 was a better choice then than AMD was offering so I went with Intel for the first time since the early 2000's.

 

i've been overclocking for a long time now but haven't looked at what's new since putting this board together.

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks!. 

[jasonlylevene]

Not all that much is new, really. The core design of the 2500K has only been incrementally upgraded in several years. A number of 2500K's have been able to exceed 4 Ghz, matching the average compute power of recent i5 offerings.

 

Intel is only competing with itself, so they're releasing paltry increases in performance over time. I'm not familiar with your board, but if you think it's future reliability is in question then certainly that's up for change. However, you may do nearly as well as a current Z97 board, give or take 10%, by updating to a compatible i7 processor, likely still on the shelf.

 

Another member, like you, is considering an upgrade after some time out of the loop, to which I penned this treatise: http://forums.overclockersclub.com/index.php?showtopic=199864&do=findComment&comment=2137277

 

Among the highlights is this point: The drop from 32nm to 22nm has not returned performance dividends. Factually, more 32nm chips reached 5 Ghz than the 22nm chips. The reason is simple physics, illustrated in that link. The next drop to 14nm is likely to be similarly disappointing, focused more on dropping the cost per transistor than increasing performance.

 

One question for anyone is Z97 or X99 at present, or the second issue is waiting for Skylake and the Z170 chipset. That could be 2016.

 

X99 offers more PCIe lanes, which may be of limited real benefit with current GPU offerings. Z170 is reported to offer similarly expanded PCIe lanes.

 

By 2016 Z97 (1150 board) owners will be in the same position with respect to the Skylake platform (and z170) as you, an 1155 owner, are in with respect to 1150 & Z97.

 

If you can run an i7 on your board, and assuming it's up to overclocking, your performance will be within 10% or closer to a 4790K. The older i7's reach slightly higher clock maximums, on average, but have a slightly lower IPC, making performance nearly a wash.

 

The x99 platform offers 6 and 8 core options at a price premium. There is little to no benefit to DDR4 in real world usage, but X99 uses it adding to the cost. That, however, is the only significant performance option open to you outside of Z97 at present. Depending on the budget, you should consider the X99, if a $1000 8 core (16 thread) CPU is in your price range.

 

Do check, though, for price/performance value over an i7 on Z97. For the cost difference, you may have software more advantaged by GPU acceleration, which could return larger dividends for the investment.

 

While I don't use the same software you listed, I have transcoded DVD's of late, where "high quality" compression settings for a standard DVD takes about 5 minutes for a two hour movie on a 4790K pushed to 4.6 Ghz, assuming the video content was already on the HD. It processed at an average rate of about 20 to 25 Mbytes per second, faster than most DVD reading.

 

Using software to encode AVI DIVX into mpeg2 DVD format, I run two at a time (it's written for 4 threads). Average time to convert 2 a hour recording into mpeg2 was 15 minutes (that is, 30 minutes to complete the transcode, doing two films at once).

Edited February 24, 2015 by jasonlylevene

[megalomando]

Jason,

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried to get higher overclocks but wasn't able to do so and remain reliable. I forget which cooler I have on the processor but it's one of the larger heat pipe variety, I never came close to 4K with any kind of reliability.

 

Used to be AMD was serious competition for Intel but that seemed to slow down some time ago and they didn't catch up. 

 

Your thought process in your reply is appreciated, you covered a lot that caught me up to date. I have some good reading ahead but now with an outline to direct me.

 

Thank you!

[GabrielT]

Jason,

 

Thanks for the reply. I tried to get higher overclocks but wasn't able to do so and remain reliable. I forget which cooler I have on the processor but it's one of the larger heat pipe variety, I never came close to 4K with any kind of reliability.

 

Used to be AMD was serious competition for Intel but that seemed to slow down some time ago and they didn't catch up. 

 

Your thought process in your reply is appreciated, you covered a lot that caught me up to date. I have some good reading ahead but now with an outline to direct me.

 

Thank you!

I'd give it another try on the overclocking honestly, 3.3 is pretty low with one of those chips.

 

Download RealTemp for your temperatures, Intel Burn Test for your load temperatures and CPUZ to keep an eye on your frequency and voltage levels.

 

Run burn test on high to get an idea of your temperatures at 3.3Ghz and see if you can go further. This will also give you an idea of your stability. I honestly use high or maximum or both to test stability and for the most part intel burn for an hour or two will give you your absolute max temperatures and is more than enough for stability purposes.

 

If your cooler is good you should be able to hit 4ghz without too much trouble. Your motherboard should be good enough to do this as well, the ASUS boards I've had always seem to overclock pretty well.

Read this. http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/07/how-to-overclock-the-intel-core-i5-2500k/3

It should be pretty close to your motherboard. The rest of the review should help as well.

 

Good luck, hope to hear back from you.