Should I upgrade my CPU for better encoding performance?

Habitat830 · Jun 22, 2016

Hi everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I've recently begun the arduous task of encoding my movie/TV show collection to cut down on space. Previously, I was using uncompressed MKV rips straight from MakeMKV with the intention of building a separate large capacity server to store it all, but those plans have changed.

I've chosen to encode using HEVC instead of H264, and while it is going smoothly, the process is taking forever. Currently I'm averaging about 4-5 fps on a 1920x1080 video with my i7 2600K, using a medium preset in Handbrake.

My question is this:

Would upgrading my CPU make a significant difference in encoding performance? I was looking at either an i7 5820K or a 6700K.

I'm looking for at least a 15 fps boost (so 20+ fps overall) to justify the cost of a new CPU, motherboard, and RAM. If I need to include any more information, please let me know.

Thanks!

popatim · Jun 22, 2016

Is your current cpu being pegged at nearly 100% on all cores or is the optical drive the real bottleneck here?

Habitat830 · Jun 22, 2016

It's the CPU without question. I'm encoding from MKV files on a separate HDD, not straight from the disc.

ak47jar3d · Jun 22, 2016

It depends on how the software handle extra cores and threads. If it can utilize 6 core and 12 threads, you will see massive performance gains.

Habitat830 · Jun 22, 2016

Sorry about that. I should have mentioned that I'm using Handbrake to do the encoding, which I do believe would take advantage of 6 cores. I'm just not sure if the performance gain would be significant, since there are not many benchmarks out there for HEVC.

ak47jar3d · Jun 22, 2016

Handbrake scales really well for more cores and thread. You should get a massive 60-80 percent improvement getting 5820k.

Habitat830 · Jun 26, 2016

Thanks for the input, everyone. I've decided to definitely go with the 6-core. My build is coming together like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/list/Fvm3Fd, including the parts I would be transferring over from my existing system.

Now, my new question is should I stick with the 5820k, or go with the newer 6800k? I'm looking at about an $80 price difference between the two. I'm planning to overclock, but nothing too crazy; most likely 4.2GHz max regardless of which one I choose. I've been reading that the 5820k overclocks better and actually stays cooler than the 6800k, and the 6800k requires higher voltages, but it seemed like that only applied to really pushing them to 4.4GHz and higher.

Any opinions on whether it would be worth it for me to go with the 6800 over the 5820? I'd like to keep heat and power draw to a minimum, in terms of overclocking.

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