improving on athlonII 250 for video editing

Hi guys, I always start here with my hardware advice which has helped me to build a stonking bluray media PC.
However, I'm currently doing a lot of video editing and my Athlon x2 250 is topping out at 100% whilst I'm working on the timeline. Rendering (again at 100%) 3-4min videos takes 20-40minutes. This is all HD footage, much of it at 60fps.
Can anyone advise on what is the sensible upgrade; a financially economical chip, not an ultra high end, that will see me with noticeable increases in speeds? I'm open to budget suggestions as I'd like to see what sort of money I'd have to spend to step up the CPU game.
Thanks!

(I've just realised that my mobo would be handy, will double check tonight after work).

If you can find a nice used 1060T or something that'd be an awesome option for you. 6-core; and shouldn't blow the bank too much..

Else an Athlon X4 640 or something is what I would be after. This is also motherboard dependant though.. Where are you located? (To help locating an appropriate buy for you)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106012&Tpk=X6 1045T

It's not the cheapest.. But it could be good for you? 6-core. 95W. Should be a decent upgrade. Assuming your board supports it.. I found a used 1035T on US ebay for 120 bucks..

Pretty sure my MoBo is a Gigabyte M68M.

Edited - changed the mobo, I know what it is now.

What software are you using?

Sony Vega 10

You may want to consider a good video card and perhaps a quad. Low end cards actually slow the encode process but higher end cards may speed it up more then just a six core CPU.

I'm running a 9800gt overclocked by a third party company, do you think this then might be the bottleneck?

oneloosecrank said:

I'm running a 9800gt overclocked by a third party company, do you think this then might be the bottleneck?

Click to expand...

Try turning off GPU assist and seeing what happens.