Need help picking a new CPU for this game(recording)

[Markhor]

I'm still using FTB Unleashed..whatever the recommended is..1.1.7 I think it is.
Currently, my Motherboard supports LGA 1155, Sandy and Ivy Bridge processors. I am using a 2.7 ghz dual core processor..but just PLAYING FTB Unleashed, it's maxxing out the cpu on MINIMAL SETTINGS. Oh, it runs beyond 60 FPS..beyond 120 fps..but when I go to record, using OpenBroadcast, it stutters. Bad. Want proof? My signature is the first video of a now discontinued series showing the stuttering.

I need either, A) a better processor, or B) better settings.

Here's one I am thinking about:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116887

Dual core there. Here's a quad core on special, 10 bucks is 10 bucks:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116782

(if any of these suck, please tell me why). I would like sugestions..SOONER IS BETTER, so I can go ahead and purchase it. I would like one that rocks for Minecraft, FTB, and recording, would last a decent amount of time(unemployed, mind you)..and does well in all gaming.

Thank you.

edit: so it appears my hard drive might also be too slow. I'm looking for any way of figuring this out(my HDD light on my case is ALWAYS lit up thanks to Windows doing nothing..)

 

[kittle]

The 2nd one (i5 chip) will work better because its newer technology and a faster clock speed. Since minecraft is mostly single threaded, the more MHz you have the better off you are.

I would go for 4 cores rather than 2. then you have 1 for MC, 1 for windows, 1 for the server and 1 for your recording software

something like this is even better:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

Next is RAM - get 8GB minimum, more is better, especially if you want to run server and client AND recording software all at the same time. 4gb is ok if you are just doing single player or connecting to another server. but if you want to run server and client and recording software, you will need the ram.
Lack of ram can be one cause of your hdd light running constantly.

Lastly, your video card. i suspect recording software will use your video card to help with realtime encoding, so if you have a decent video card it will help a lot. plus a decent video card will help minecraft run faster. An integrated videocard is NOT recommended for this.

I have a 3.3 ghz cpu, 12gb of ram and a GTX 580 video card. Minecraft FTB runs at 80-120fps with everything maxed out.

 

[netmc]

Also, when dealing with video, the best bet it to have a completely separate hard drive for saving the video. Video is very disk intensive, and recording to the same drive that is being used to run the computer and ftb/minecraft can cause disk lag. And while the disk is waiting for io, it will lag everything else in the process. A separate partition is not enough. It needs to be a completely different drive.

 

[VestigeOfHope]

I was running something similar with the client, server, and OBS all running on the same machine. Though in my situation I was only using very low resources on my cpu (something like 10%) and still have performance issues. Turns out the 8GB of ram I had wasn't enough. Once I upgraded to 16GB of ram I had no issues at all. Minecraft is a heavy hitter to ram, so check that before your cpu (it is cheaper and easier to upgrade ram over a cpu).

On a side note, I have an i7-4770k processor. Way more power than what I'm currently using the machine for (have plans for more intensive usage later though). So something in the i5 series may be more to your liking. Here is the benchmark ratings for high to mid range cpu's: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/mid_range_cpus.html. I found this site quite usefull for building my machine.

As netmc mentioned, a separate hard drive will improve recording performance significantly. This allows for 2 individual devices accessing data at the same time.

 

[kaovalin]

If you change your settings in MC to power saver it locks the FPS at 30. Youtube doesnt give you more than 30 IIRC so this can greatly improve performance as you record if this also is set to only record at 30. I have not tried this for the problem you have stated, but in theory it could help in the meantime.

I second that an i5 is great. If you want to cut rendering times in post processing an i7 will help in that regard. In game you shouldnt be able to tell a difference between i5 and i7. I also second having a seperate drive just for saving videos. They can really eat up a drive space and performance so best to keep it isolated.

 

[Markhor]

Seems to be a good consensus on that second cpu. For ram I have 6 gigabytes, 1333mhz, if the hertz matters. Graphics card is a 5750 radeon, on max settings, no more than fifty percent used. Server...? I don't run one. And javaw.exe likes to use as much cpu as is available for minecraft..does java run alongside minecraftc requiring its own computation?

 

[kaovalin]

Seems to be a good consensus on that second cpu. For ram I have 6 gigabytes, 1333mhz, if the hertz matters. Graphics card is a 5750 radeon, on max settings, no more than fifty percent used. Server...? I don't run one. And javaw.exe likes to use as much cpu as is available for minecraft..does java run alongside minecraftc requiring its own computation?

I'd run a server anyways. It allows you to have a rendering crash without crashing the whole thing. There are also some tricks I do with MCPC+, worldborder, and OPIS to pregenerate my in game world maps (mapwriter mod that's part of OPIS). Makes exploring more of a guided event when I need it to, and it moves the overhead of generating chunks to a time when I'm sleeping. I can confirm my technique works for other dimensions, even mystcraft ages (at least so far). I also have automatic backups every 8 hours with a 12 day archive just in case. Servers are great.

 

[Kwequay]

Just wanted to throw out a bit of advice, double check that your recording software isn't trying to convert the file on the fly.

While this isn't an issue for some, on an older processor that will be very intensive. Record to .avi and convert later.

Just worth a mention.

 

[Markhor]

Thanks both, I will research that sottware. As foe recording, I chose OBS because it records straight to AVI. I generally don't convert. But yeah a new cpu is on the list. Should fix my issues. Thanks all

 

[iNd3x]

I would recommend intel i5 4670k
1. It's a good cpu for it's price, and it's easy to overclock
2. i7 isn't really needed for you, you could go with the i7 4770k but it's also more expensive
3. Intel are awesome when recording and especially working with video, they use some awesome hyper-threading, but you only get the real deal of this on i7 processors.

If you don't have a solid state drive yet, do it. That's one of the best upgrades to any computers. It will allow you to record directly to the same harddrive as you record to, but i suggest using a normal HDD for the movie files.
SSD is more a general upgrade to any computer, but it will decrease loadtimes in MC too. (Buy a 120gb one, put your OS there with the most important programs, and keep your current drive for the rest)

 

[kaovalin]

I would recommend intel i5 4670k
1. It's a good cpu for it's price, and it's easy to overclock
2. i7 isn't really needed for you, you could go with the i7 4770k but it's also more expensive
3. Intel are awesome when recording and especially working with video, they use some awesome hyper-threading, but you only get the real deal of this on i7 processors.

If you don't have a solid state drive yet, do it. That's one of the best upgrades to any computers. It will allow you to record directly to the same harddrive as you record to, but i suggest using a normal HDD for the movie files.
SSD is more a general upgrade to any computer, but it will decrease loadtimes in MC too. (Buy a 120gb one, put your OS there with the most important programs, and keep your current drive for the rest)

I'd never use and SSD to save a recording to. Recording eats up a ton of space. I would recommend running the game, software, and OS from said drive however.

 

[iNd3x]

I'd never use and SSD to save a recording to. Recording eats up a ton of space. I would recommend running the game, software, and OS from said drive however.

I stated that:

"but i suggest using a normal HDD for the movie files."

 

[Ryiah]

Since minecraft is mostly single threaded, the more MHz you have the better off you are.

Only when comparing similar models and even then you are far better off researching benchmarks for applications that are known to be single-threaded. Actual clock speed isn't that important and can sometimes be very misleading. For example the Pentium 4 @ 3GHz was slower than the Athlon XP @ 2GHz simply because the architecture they used at the time (termed NetBurst) was vastly inferior.

As for processor choice, all three of those (both yours and the ones in the OP) are outdated architectures. Haswell is the current architecture and is only slightly more expensive. I'd go with a Core i5 Haswell. A Core i7 is a bit overkill and the main feature it adds is Hyper-Threading which Minecraft won't even benefit from.

 

[Markhor]

I ordered the second one I linked. I could afford the one mentioned, but my savings are running out. Need to hang onto cash.

Least this new cpu will work for a while

 

[kaovalin]

I ordered the second one I linked. I could afford the one mentioned, but my savings are running out. Need to hang onto cash.

Least this new cpu will work for a while

Best of luck

 

[Enigmius1]

Before you spend money trying to upgrade your PC to better handle gameplay + video recording, consider a hardware recording solution instead. I use an AverMedia capture card that eliminates any load on your processor. I have a dedicated drive for saving recorded media to, so I can play any game and see absolutely no performance degradation when I start recording. A capture box/card will run you $100-200 but you'll never go back to software recording.

 

[kaovalin]

Before you spend money trying to upgrade your PC to better handle gameplay + video recording, consider a hardware recording solution instead. I use an AverMedia capture card that eliminates any load on your processor. I have a dedicated drive for saving recorded media to, so I can play any game and see absolutely no performance degradation when I start recording. A capture box/card will run you $100-200 but you'll never go back to software recording.

Too late, he already ordered. Good info though.

 

[Markhor]

Before you spend money trying to upgrade your PC to better handle gameplay + video recording, consider a hardware recording solution instead. I use an AverMedia capture card that eliminates any load on your processor. I have a dedicated drive for saving recorded media to, so I can play any game and see absolutely no performance degradation when I start recording. A capture box/card will run you $100-200 but you'll never go back to software recording.

I will be getting a capture card in time. Really, I would like to get one I can plug the yellow white red plug-ins with, so I can play SNES on my monitor. Good advice though.