satisfaction with my quad core and Vegas

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/17/2007, 9:25 AM

I've been doing some rendering while I have a PCwizard monitor overlayed in the top right corner showing the core usage etc... as I render, and while I can see a few things that may not be optimized for 4 cores here or there, most of the time I'm at 90% or above all the way through on my rendering.

I'm pretty pleased with the results, but better still, when I can render a 25 track project with a lot of gen media, masking, compositing, guissan blurs, chromakeying, nested projects, and all in BEST no less with lots of scaling being done. I render 8 minutes of this in under an hour which is wonderful compared to before... believe you me.

Anyway, it's basically just a 2.4ghz that I OC'd a little to 2.8 since my MOBO came with an easy tuning software and all I had to do was up the bus and drop the voltage right within windows, I boosted it 400mhz overall with about an 8% drop in voltage (helps it to run cooler with less voltage going through it) and it ran prime 95 for over 10 hrs w/o a problem so it's stable.

So, when all is said and done, I'm pleased with the end result to be sure.

Dave

Comments

Tattoo wrote on 12/17/2007, 9:50 AM

Dave,

Is that Phenom or Intel quad? Win XP or Vista? I'm starting the search, but probably a month or more before I'll have the time to pull the trigger.

Brian

essami wrote on 12/17/2007, 10:39 AM

I have Asus P5B, Intel Core 2 CPU with 4GB ram.

Can you just change the CPU to quad core? Is it upgradable like that?

Sami

megabit wrote on 12/17/2007, 10:42 AM

If you're running Vegas under XP, please check for me whether in 32bit video mode, HDV also renders at above 90% CPU load!!!

TIA

Piotr

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/17/2007, 11:48 AM

This particular one was under Vista ( where I do most of my work now ), but everything is new and I have little issue with stability, plus the drivers are becoming more plentiful.

it was in 8 bit SD for this client

----------------------------------------------------

regarding the drop in a quad core question, it appears that some if not all of the asus-p5b boards accept quads, however I don't know if they will take the new 45 nm quads or not, but it should probably take a quad, however you should search your specific board model and the words quad core in google and you'll prolly find your answer in 2 results or less.

-------------------------

it's an intel Q6600 OC'd to 2.8 Ghz with Easy Tuner 5 that came with my gigabyte board.

Dave

Tim Stannard wrote on 12/17/2007, 1:34 PM

Out of interest Dave - which Gigabyte Board? I'm running an Core 2 Duo E6600 in GA-965P-DQ6, but what I've been reading recently here is tempting me to replace it with a Q6700.
Whilst in recent years I've tended to avoid overclocking rather than risk stability, your experience is making me question that judgement.
Are you using the stock cooler?
(Sorry if I'm veering off topic a bit)

epirb wrote on 12/17/2007, 1:42 PM

I just ordered the C2 Q6600 with the ASUS P5k deluxe board, i wanted something with 2 PCI e slots for both my Video cards. Also ordered 2 gig of crucial balistic ram (2x1g) and a 950w power supply.
Im hoping those were good choices, anybody want to chime in.
Glad to hear yours is stable Dave, you guys have me drooling and with my recent fiasco, i figured id bite the bullet.

AtomicGreymon wrote on 12/17/2007, 1:45 PM

The Core 2's overclock very well, from everything I've read. I got my E6750 2.66Ghz up to 3.2Ghz with stock cooling on an Asus P5K-E WiFi-Ap motherboard; and it's been nothing but stable since I bought it.

I'll probably upgrade to one of the 45nm quad cores mid to late 2008, depending on prices. That should last me for a while.

John_Cline wrote on 12/17/2007, 1:53 PM

Tim,

I have been on record for years about not overclocking processors. However, just after I got my QX6700 quad machine up and running I decided to go against my own advice and try overclocking. The QX6700 is rated at 2.66Ghz and I cranked it up to almost 3.8Ghz and it seemed perfectly stable. I'm running the Intel D975XBX2KR motherboard and a massive Thermalright Ultra-120 CPU cooler. Even though it was stable at 3.8Ghz, I backed it down to 3.2Ghz and that's where it's been running for almost a year. The current Intel processors seem to overclock quite well. I haven't had any problems at all.

John

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/17/2007, 4:05 PM

Tim, the MOBO is a GA-P35-DS3R 775, and I just tossed on a firewire card, but I've got 8 SATA Ports so lots of room for storage.

I am running everything stock except for I removed the thermal pad that was on the fan and went with thermal paste in its stead dropped a few degrees C

I've never OC'd but this was too easy and it just took one night of Prime 95 to convince me that it was solid enough and never topped 66C with the little stock cooler on it. I like keeping my proc in the 65 C range or lower, and that's in a room that's about 19C so it's running quite a bit hotter than surroundings but it's got quite the graphics card in there too that's a hot one, and adds to the overall heat of the case.

Dave

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 12/17/2007, 4:08 PM

John, the real beauty of the X chips are that they have no limit for the multiplier. Now I'd say to be sure to watch your temps at 3.8, but hey that's GREAT for a 2.66 to go to 3.8, rock on.

and for anyone looking to buy a QUAD before the 45nm procs come down or if their board isn't 45nm compatible, try and make sure you get one that has G0 ( that's G zero ) stepping as it's less voltage hungry and can hit higher speeds with stability at the same voltage all things being equal (which is never the case from processor to processor :) )

Dave

LReavis wrote on 12/17/2007, 9:51 PM

I upgraded my P5B about a month ago from a dual-core to a Q6600 with the latest stepping (see above). I've had it running at 3.05 gHz with 100% stability after getting a few crashes during the first few days (removing and re-inserting one stick of ram solved the instability). I have a $20 Arctic Cooling pro and with it the CPU runs about 37 degrees right now, and up to 48 degrees with 100% utilization of all 4 cores while rendering - according to Core Temp Beta .94. It probably was overkill to get the after-market cooler, but it goes on without a backing plate, so I was able to change out the old CPU and put in the quad + the cooler without even removing the motherboard from the case. I love it and consider the $350 to be money well spend (I sold the old cpu for $80 to a friend, so out-of-pocket expense, including shipping, etc., was less than $300)