Another Athlon X2 Testimonial

Ben1000 wrote on 12/8/2005, 1:06 PM
Howdy...

Just a quick note:

I used to edit on a P4 3.0GHz, 2GB Ram system, and a typical project (1.5 hr multi-cam) would require 2-3 hrs of rendering to export to MPEG 2 format for DVDA.

Also, the system would experience 2-3 crashes during my edit, which I just chalked up to 'cost of doing video'...

After a crash from which my computer would not reboot (or even POST), I decided to upgrade to an Althon system. For around $800 I purchased (from NewEgg) a new motherboard, 2GB RAM, and an Athlon 4400 X2, which seemed to be the price sweet spot at the time (I paid $440 for the chip)...

Well, let me say, WOW!

After finishing this last project, I've experienced NO crashes whatsoever, and am rendering to MPEG in 40mins.

I've also overclocked the 4400+ X2 to 2.6GHz, which is the same speed as the much higher priced 4800+, and have had no ill effects or overheating as a result.

Basically, the system screams....

Incidentally, an initial color correction render for this project was supposed to take 5hrs, but when I closed the video preview monitor and ran it again, it dropped to 3hrs. BIG DIFFERENCE... I think someone may have mentioned that if the video preview window is open, the X2 doesn't take advantage of both CPUs as well, or something like that..

Anyways, that's my experience. YMMV. Hope that helps some of you thinking of making the jump to Athlon. Prior to this, I'd used Intel chips since I started editing in 1999...

All the best,

Ben

Comments

Former user wrote on 12/8/2005, 1:14 PM
Ben,

I just picked up the X2 4400 as well. I am interested to know what motherboard you purchased for the X2

Update when you can.

Cheers,

VP
Ben1000 wrote on 12/8/2005, 1:19 PM
I think it was the Asus 8ne. I need a legacy mother board (ie. AGP and not PCIe) for compatibility with my old cards and such...

B.
gdstaples wrote on 12/8/2005, 5:40 PM
I would be very interested in X2 owners and their components such as MOBO and Memory. I am going to purchase an X2 4400 or 4600 in the next two weeks and want to make sure that I get a stable combination of components.

Thanks,
Duncan
Former user wrote on 12/8/2005, 6:18 PM
Ben,

I went with the X2 4400+ in the ASUS A8V Deluxe. 2GB of Corsair TwinX2048-3200C2 RAM....this thing smokes!

I too needed at least 5 PCI slots and the AGP slot for my Matrox P750.

If this is the same board you chose - care to share any of your overclock settings in the BIOS?

Cheers!

VP
Ben1000 wrote on 12/8/2005, 11:04 PM
I just chose the automatic overclocking settings on the motherboard. Seems to set everything for you...

- Ben
JohnnyRoy wrote on 12/9/2005, 12:12 AM
> I would be very interested in X2 owners and their components such as MOBO and Memory

I have mine posted on my website. The system is solid and fast!

~jr
JJKizak wrote on 12/9/2005, 5:36 AM
I have the AMD X2 4600+ not overclocked with 4 gig Kingston ram and Gigabyte board (Not SLI) . I have determined that it is fabulous for DV but not so good for HDV as it starts to choke with a one hour HDV with about 75 stills and a multitude of cookie cutters, text, pans, crossfades, avi's, color texts, & velocity changes, etc. With 8 complete renders to DV NTSC Widescreen 7 finished and the last one stopped at 99% for low on memory after adding one last velocity change and crossfade. Might have to go to a server board with 16 gig of ram to effectively do HDV. I haven't even tried rendering to 1080i hdv yet on this project. Vegas is going to have to invent "stitch rendering on the timeline" for people with small amounts of ram.

JJK