Optimizing the Speed of Your Computer Processing Tim

[GadgetVictim]

There's several factors within your computer system that can be tweaked to optimize your computer's performance and processing speed.

As I've seen multiple related questions scattered in various forums, I'd like to post and share some information and insight that I've recently gained. Also, I apologize in advance for being a bit long on this blog.

BACKGROUND:
I'm not a computer expert. I'm merely a hobbyist. As implied by the handle I picked, I enjoy playing with computers and related gadgets.

Related hobbies includes: producing family slideshows using Adobe and Sony video products, standing up and supporting IP wireless home security camera network, and integrating all videos on NAS based home entertainment HD TV system.

I purchased the full DVDFab system in Feb 2011. So, you know that I'm just a novice DVDFab user.

DISCUSSION:
I initially ran the DVDFab Blu-ray ripper using a stock Toshiba M645 Satellite laptop with:
- CPU: Intel core i5-460M 2.53GHz Win7/64
- Intel HM55 Express Chipset
- GPU: Intel HD Graphics with 64M-1696MB dynamically allocated memotry
- RAM: 4GHz DDR3

My Toshiba is no slouch when it comes to speed. The baseline stats for ripping blu-ray DVD's to mp4.h264 was between 2 to 3 hours per BD movie (specific time obviously depended on length of movie). I noticed that my FPS count was about 18 fps max.

I wanted a computer that provide more horsepower in terms of speed and flexibility for growth, so several weeks ago I finished putting together my new min-tower based computer, which included the following:
- CPU: Intel i7/950 3.06GHZ (Quad Core)
- RAM: 6 GB Corsair DDR3 Dominator 1600MHZ
- SSD: 2 ea Crucial C300 128GB in Raid0 (C-drive)
- HDD: 2 ea Hitachi 2TB 32MB/7200rpm in Raid0 (for data)
- GPU: XFX Radeon HD 5770

My BD ripping time dropped to just under 60 minutes per movie, and my FPS speed increased to between 30-40 fps.

Then about a week ago, I read about CUDA and the Nvidia graphics cards. So, several days ago I swapped my XFX HD 5770 plus some cash for a EVGA Nvidia GTX570 card. I believe, this was one of the better single system deals that I made wrt improving my systems performance (for both DVD's and video productions)

Upon installation, the GTX 570, CUDA was enabled by default via my GPU setup process. I was really impressed with results I got when I ripped my first BD yesterday. Also, during the ripping process the DVDFab ripper information screen provided feedback message that CUDA encryption and decryption process was enabled.

The follow are my latest results:
- Movie: The Bourne Supremacy (blu-ray), Time to Rip: 33 minutes (to mp4.h2640), Speed: 70++ fps.

- Movie: Avatar (blu-ray), Time to Rip: ~1 hr 15 min (to mp4 and m4v); Speed: 30++ fps. (note: This movie is over 2 hours long).

But I wondered if this was a fluke. So I started reading various forums to see what I could find, and that's one of the reasons why I'm here writing this blog.

SUMMARY
The CPU makes a big difference. However, the GPU (with CUDA) and SSD & HDD in Raid 0 also contributes to the speed. Thus needs to be technically optimized.
- There's a significant difference in speed with CUDA.
- I notice the difference on transfer time between Raid1 (NAS/HDD) versus Raid0 (computer SSD's and HDD's) whenever I move mp4 files from my computer to the NAS for TV viewing.

Hopes this help!
Questions and Comments are welcomed.

Regards, GadgetVictim

[IPopov50]

GadgetVictim,
Thank you so much for such a great summary!!!! That's what lot of new members and DVDFab users need. Also, congradulations on your new system, seems quite impressive and effective.

[GadgetVictim]

Correction & New Benchmarks

I would like to make a correction to my above posting, where I referenced the on-screen blu-ray ripper information that was provided by DVDFab (i.e.; "... during the ripping process the DVDFab ripper information screen provided feedback message that CUDA encryption and decryption process was enabled. .."). The actual on-screen information provide by DVDFab was:

- "CUDA GPU acceleration for video encoding enabled." and
- "CUDA GPU acceleration for video decoding enabled.".

If you're a computer novice like I am, you can find a wealth of good 'how-to" information posted on YouTube wrt improving the performance, upgrading, or even building from scratch a computer system to fit your budget. Just need to be able to cut the wheat from the chaff. I spent hours watching many of the YouTube videos, and surfing the internet looking for bargains on components. This is where my Google TV came in handy, as I could layback on my couch and surf/view the videos via HDTV, vice having to lean over my computer desk.

NEW BENCHMARKS:
Ripped my first 3D movie today, so below provides some additional benchmarks.

Movie: "Tangled" by Disney (includes 3 discs: blu-ray 3D, blu-ray 2D, and DVD versions)
Run Time: 100 minutes.

3D BLU-RAY DISC:
Total time taken: 1 hr 35 min using mp4.h264.aac.3D (Note: it appears that the 3D ripper makes separate passes on the "right" and "left" movie channels/screens.)

Encoding FPS (approximate averages) displayed: 1st pass = 62 fps, and 2nd pass = 44 fps (not sure why there's a difference)

Output Files:
- 3D version was a .mp4 file at 5.9GB
- 2D version was a .m4v file at 1.7GB (I was surprised that this file got produced...a bonus.)
*NOTE: I'm still confused wrt differences between above two Codec (See: my other post on this forum.)

2D BLU-RAY DISC:
I ripped the 2D blu-ray version anyway just to get some comparative benchmark data.

Time: 37 minutes
Encoding FPS (approximate averages) displayed: ~67 fps
Output File: .m4v at 1.7GB (same as the bonus produced via 3D rip).

Something to For/At,
GadgetVictim