CPU question

[Shaorin]

I have a server that is encoding videos at 20fps with just 4 cores. If the server had 8 cores would that increase the encoding speed from 20fps to 40fps?

[TreeTops]

It depends on the software you are using.

[johns0]

Also depends on type and make and age of the cpu,some 4 core cpus are faster than 8 core cpus and vice versa,

[jagabo]

I have a server that is encoding videos at 20fps with just 4 cores. If the server had 8 cores would that increase the encoding speed from 20fps to 40fps?

All else being equal, with properly multithreaded softare, and staying within similar architectures, you are likely to get about 30 to 35 fps. With different architectures and/or badly threaded software you could get worse performance or more than double the performance.

[Shaorin]

It is a Dual Xeon E5 2620 will it increase speed if it had 8 cores?

[jagabo]

That's a 6 core, 12 thread CPU. And since you have two of them you have 12 cores and 24 threads. You have a 4P motherboard?

Look at the x264 (I'm guessing that's what you're using) second pass benchmarks here:

http://anandtech.com/show/7121/trials-of-an-intel-quad-processor-system-4x-e54650l-from-supermicro

There may be a problem with that benchmark though. Windows wasn't reporting the number of threads properly (see the text). The encoder may have been running on only half the number of threads it should have.

[Shaorin]

I don't really know what the motherboard for my server is since I'm only renting it. The software I use is MeGUI and encoding them as x264 at a slow profile setting. I also set it to above normal priority. So since I only have 4 cores on my semi-dedicated server I guess 8 cores will improve?

[johns0]

8 core will improve the speed as long as the software can utilize all 8 cores and that the 8 core cpu is better in that it has the same type of architecture as the 4 core x 2.

[jagabo]

So since I only have 4 cores on my semi-dedicated server

Dual Xeon E5 2620 is 12 hyperthreaded cores. That's 24 threads. Not 4 cores. If Windows is showing only 4 cores it is misconfigured. Or you don't have what you think you have.

[deadrats]

it sounds to me like the OP is renting time on a server, which they used to do years ago before regular commodity computer hardware came down in price to the point where it's economically viable to just build your own workstation. i knew that there where render farms out there that can be rented for big professional projects but i didn't think anyone was doing it just to encode some avc.

regardless, if this is the case, no matter how many cores the server has the limit is what he has paid to rent, his rental agreement probably just gives him access to 4 logical cores (i doubt they are renting him physical cores), in which case his question really becomes what would happen if he upped his rental agreement and rented 4 more logical cores.

@OP: am i correct in assuming that you basically want to know if it's worth it to up your rental agreement for more processing power?

[Shaorin]

it sounds to me like the OP is renting time on a server, which they used to do years ago before regular commodity computer hardware came down in price to the point where it's economically viable to just build your own workstation. i knew that there where render farms out there that can be rented for big professional projects but i didn't think anyone was doing it just to encode some avc.

regardless, if this is the case, no matter how many cores the server has the limit is what he has paid to rent, his rental agreement probably just gives him access to 4 logical cores (i doubt they are renting him physical cores), in which case his question really becomes what would happen if he upped his rental agreement and rented 4 more logical cores.

@OP: am i correct in assuming that you basically want to know if it's worth it to up your rental agreement for more processing power?

Yes that is what I'm asking

[deadrats]

then the answer to your question is yes, in your very specific case if you decide to rent more processing power and go from 4 cores to 8 cores it is reasonable to expect your encoding speed to go from 20fps to 40fps.

the big question is if it's economically worth it for you to do so versus just building a decent workstation that is your own and you can use and upgrade at will.