Dedicated DVD ripping / burning PC

[9600baud]

I dont want to burden my PC when I want to rip/burn DVDs so I was wondering what should I focus on to build a budget rip/burn PC. Processor? RAM? What are recommended specs? I'm getting a top of the line burner. Is onboard video okay?

Thanks!

[MakeYourslf2012]

It really doesnt take much to do that stuff (provided you have a DVD burner), but if you were "ripping" the DVD to the hard drive, it would take ALOT of storage.

Give us a budget to work with.

[9600baud]

Hi,

no budget really, trying to save in the right spots that is all. It wont play the movies or do anything other than rip and burn.

[RJ]

For just rip and burn all you need is a good DVD burner and a PC that can handle it (like a fast Pentium III system, for example). A 7200rpm hard drive is sufficient for that.

If you want to transcode, then a fast CPU would be of advantage. Like a P4 CPU. The faster CPU you get, the quicker the transcoding will be done.

If you do many ripping/transcoding/burning in order, I'd get this:

P4 system with mainboard with at least 2x SATA and 2x PATA. Drives are 1x DVD-ROM, 1x DVD burner, and 2x 7200rpm SATA hard drives. Each drive will be connected to its own IDE channel as master.

That will allow you to use all drives independently. Means, you rip from DVD-ROM to hard drive 1, transcode to hard drive 2, and burn from hard drive 2. And you can already rip another DVD to hard drive 1 while the DVD is being burnt. Parallel ripping and burning.
You can do that also without transcoding. You can rip a DVD to hard drive 1 and burn from hard drive 1. While the burning process is in progress, you can rip another DVD to hard drive 2, . . and so on.

RJ

[ghsrocketman]

If your budget allows, you should look into getting a dual core processor. It'll allow you to rip and burn atleast 2 DVDs at once. I believe the cheapest AMD dual core is the X2 3800+ which goes for $322 on Newegg.

[9600baud]

Originally Posted by RJ For just rip and burn all you need is a good DVD burner and a PC that can handle it (like a fast Pentium III system, for example). A 7200rpm hard drive is sufficient for that. If you want to transcode, then a fast CPU would be of advantage. Like a P4 CPU. The faster CPU you get, the quicker the transcoding will be done. If you do many ripping/transcoding/burning in order, I'd get this: P4 system with mainboard with at least 2x SATA and 2x PATA. Drives are 1x DVD-ROM, 1x DVD burner, and 2x 7200rpm SATA hard drives. Each drive will be connected to its own IDE channel as master. That will allow you to use all drives independently. Means, you rip from DVD-ROM to hard drive 1, transcode to hard drive 2, and burn from hard drive 2. And you can already rip another DVD to hard drive 1 while the DVD is being burnt. Parallel ripping and burning. You can do that also without transcoding. You can rip a DVD to hard drive 1 and burn from hard drive 1. While the burning process is in progress, you can rip another DVD to hard drive 2, . . and so on. RJ

Great info! I'm guessing RAM (512) and VC (spare GE2) are of least concern. Thanks RJ and every one who helped.