From owner-freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 8 07:06:47 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: multimedia@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-multimedia@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E95D816A41C; Fri, 8 Jul 2005 07:06:47 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from rizzo@icir.org) Received: from xorpc.icir.org (xorpc.icir.org [192.150.187.68]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9AA0043D49; Fri, 8 Jul 2005 07:06:47 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from rizzo@icir.org) Received: from xorpc.icir.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by xorpc.icir.org (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id j6876l5G001588; Fri, 8 Jul 2005 00:06:47 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rizzo@xorpc.icir.org) Received: (from rizzo@localhost) by xorpc.icir.org (8.12.11/8.12.3/Submit) id j6876lf4001587; Fri, 8 Jul 2005 00:06:47 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rizzo) Date: Fri, 8 Jul 2005 00:06:47 -0700 From: Luigi Rizzo To: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" Message-ID: <20050708000647.C1247@xorpc.icir.org> References: <20050708053845.GL19707@wantadilla.lemis.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5.1i In-Reply-To: <20050708053845.GL19707@wantadilla.lemis.com>; from grog@freebsd.org on Fri, Jul 08, 2005 at 03:08:45PM +0930 Cc: multimedia@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Best processor for multimedia? X-BeenThere: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Multimedia discussions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 08 Jul 2005 07:06:48 -0000 On Fri, Jul 08, 2005 at 03:08:45PM +0930, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote: > I'm thinking of building a new, quite fast system for multimedia, > notably displaying MPEGs. I'm currently using mplayer on an Athlon > 1700, and from time to time there are hiccoughs. Processors are cheap apart from the obvious optimizations (such as using mplayer compiled for the specific flags for your CPU) i believe the hiccups are more likely due to CPU and disk not being available when you need, rather than raw CPU speed (above a certain level, that is). I'd try to tweak process priority and things such as HZ and kern.quantum. Also having direct access to the frame buffer helps a lot, but i think most video cards do support that now (possibly the 'expensive' cards might be a worse deal due to lack of sw support!) cheers luigi > now, and it would be trivial to get a "3000" rating processor > relatively cheaply. > > The question is, which one? The current choices seem to be: > > - P4 > - Celeron > - Athlon > - Sempron > - Athlon 64 > > From previous mail on this list, it seems that Athlon 64 is probably > not the best choice for reasons of compatibility. Obviously the > fastest Athlon (32) will be faster than a correspondingly rated > Sempron, and similarly a P4 will be faster than a corresponding > Celeron. But by how much? Ignoring things like Xeons and P4 > Extremes, I find roughly the following pricing (here in Australia, pre > tax): > > Intel Celeron D 335 - 2.8GHz CPCELD335 $134.00 > AMD Sempron 3100+ Box Soc754 CPAS3100 $157.00 > AMD Athlon XP 3000+ BOX BARTON CPAXPB3000 $184.00 > Intel P4 3.40GHz PRESCOTT 1MB CPP43.40HT-PS $409.00 > Intel P4-660 (3.6GHz)LGA775pin CPP4-660 $841.00 > > That's a pretty big price range. What's important for multimedia? My > understanding is that software MPEG processing needs a lot of CPU, and > the processors here are roughly comparable (OK, the P4s may be > somewhat faster). But what about the other differences? How > important is cache? If I take the AMD offerings, am I better off with > the (cheaper) Sempron with a slightly faster clock, or with the Athlon > XP with more cache? How does the Celeron compare with either? Also, > is it worth paying the significantly higher prices for the P4? > > Greg > -- > The virus contained in this message was detected by LEMIS anti-virus. > For further details see http://www.lemis.com/grog/lemis-virus.html > > Finger grog@FreeBSD.org for PGP public key. > See complete headers for address and phone numbers.