[PC] Going Duo or Quad ?

[Earlack]

Hi all,

I'm planning to upgrade my old Pentium D810 (meh) cause it's painful just to playback HMC files... And the E7300 I've got at work is way better.

I'll need to change my motherboard too, of course ; I'm considering the E8400, but I'm tempted to go Quad core (for Premiere and AE), but haven't found any RECENT comparative test between Dual E8xxx and Quad core.

Would it be worth it ? I don't want to spend too much, 200-300 € max.

I mean, is CS4 optimized for Quad core ?

Thanks by advance for your input.

[HCPROD]

Video editing is one of the few places where you will actually take advantage of a four core processor. Both Premiere and AE would utilize the four cores. I would suggest the four core system if you can afford it.

[Earlack]

Thanks for your answer.
What Quad Core would represent the best price/perf ratio for approx. 300 e (incl. a good motherboard) ?

[HCPROD]

The Q9550 is a good bet along with an Asus P5E series motherboard. This will allow you to use the much more affordable DDR2 RAM. The MB and Chip will cost ~350 Euro depending on what kind of deals you can find.

[OSV]

i'm sticking with core2quad myself, but if you are starting from scratch, look at some of the latest amd quad cores, a whole lotta bang for the buck there... intel has kept the core2quad pricing way too high, considering how long the i7 has been out... $260+ for a q9550 that's been on the market for over a year is too much money.

i have seen some i7 pc's for sale on fatwallet for $700, with 6 gigs of ram... the deals are out there, but you have to shop it hard.

the classic core2quad is the q6600, because it can be overclocked, but it still costs upwards of $200.

[OSV]

here are some cpu benchmarks for comparison purposes, look at the encoding tests:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-q3-2008/benchmarks,31.html

[Strobe Media]

If it's any consolation, I'm running on and AMD Athlon 5600+ dual core and it handles premiere and ae pretty well since I updated my video card

[green thumb]

I'd just go for the quad.

[Earlack]

Thanks everyone. The Q6600 is good but still outdated, for the same price I can have a Q9400 for example... I may just wait one more month and buy an i7. Not sure yet.

[HCPROD]

I wouldn't recommend an AMD processor. I have had some bad experiences with their product and question their reliability over time. I would definately recommend sticking to the Intel Quads.

[jamesc]

Thanks everyone. The Q6600 is good but still outdated, for the same price I can have a Q9400 for example... I may just wait one more month and buy an i7. Not sure yet.

With CPU's, the more you can wait, the better. I would recommend the i7 over Quad, but Intel is reported to drop prices on several Quad's in April:

http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-8301-view-Intel-price-drop-Q2-2009.html

[ryanweiss89]

I'm still running a Core 2 Duo 3.0ghz and it handles HDV and AVCHD files fine, but like some others said I'd probably look into a quad if starting from scratch.

If it's not in the cards money wise, a Core 2 Duo or other dual core would work.

[Earlack]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Earlack http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?p=1592537#post1592537)
Thanks everyone. The Q6600 is good but still outdated, for the same price I can have a Q9400 for example... I may just wait one more month and buy an i7. Not sure yet.

With CPU's, the more you can wait, the better. I would recommend the i7 over Quad, but Intel is reported to drop prices on several Quad's in April:

http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-83...p-Q2-2009.html (http://xtreview.com/addcomment-id-8301-view-Intel-price-drop-Q2-2009.html)

Problem is, it's not just the CPU, if I buy an i7, I'll need to buy DDR3, which makes the total price a little too big for just a little "power-up". A quad seems enough for me right now. The Q9550 should do the job, I guess.