HandBrakes performance on the new Mac Pro 2x Quad Penryn

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
On my PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5 GHz (June 2004 model) with 6.5 GB RAM I run HandBrake 0.9.1 to rip a home DVD. I then use same HandBrake program on my MacBook Core 2 Duo with 2 GB RAM to rip the same DVD and it completes in 1/2 the time it took on the PowerMac.



If I now run this same HandBrake to rip the same DVD on the new Mac Pro 2.8 Dual Quad Xeon with say the same RAM footprint of 6.5 GB, how much faster than the MacBook would you expect this Mac Pro to be ? Would you expect any difference in the HandBrake's wall time on this Mac Pro using 2 GB vs. 6.5 GB ?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    I wouldn't know how much faster it would be -- just because there are 8 cores doesn't mean HandBreak will use them all. -- most likely it would still only use 2 cores. The real benefit would be the ability to run four HandBreak windows, encoding four DVDs in the same amount of time it previously took to do one.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    buddhabuddha Posts: 386member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by k squared View Post


    The real benefit would be the ability to run four HandBreak windows, encoding four DVDs in the same amount of time it previously took to do one.



    Well no, there are only 2 DVD drives. I would compare the write speeds of the DVD drives - those are very important.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by k squared View Post


    I wouldn't know how much faster it would be -- just because there are 8 cores doesn't mean HandBreak will use them all. -- most likely it would still only use 2 cores. The real benefit would be the ability to run four HandBreak windows, encoding four DVDs in the same amount of time it previously took to do one.



    HB will use as many cores as are available.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by k squared View Post


    I wouldn't know how much faster it would be -- just because there are 8 cores doesn't mean HandBreak will use them all. -- most likely it would still only use 2 cores. The real benefit would be the ability to run four HandBreak windows, encoding four DVDs in the same amount of time it previously took to do one.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by buddha View Post


    Well no, there are only 2 DVD drives. I would compare the write speeds of the DVD drives - those are very important.



    Most of the wall time for HB is used for encoding. Speed differential of DVD drives will be insignificant.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bxs6408 View Post


    Most of the wall time for HB is used for encoding. Speed differential of DVD drives will be insignificant.



    The problem is probably in the handbrake program. When the macbook refreshed in June 2007, handbrake ran very slow (3hrs for a dvd encoded in ipod presets), but that wasn't fixed until the next update that happened around November. The same is probably the case for your 8core. The handbrake programmers are actually quite rude when responding to comments on their forum. While reasonable people might expect that "dude, your program doesn't work on this refresh" should be met with genuine concern, open-sourcers aren't exactly known for their customer service.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by blingem View Post


    ...The handbrake programmers are actually quite rude when responding to comments on their forum. While reasonable people might expect that "dude, your program doesn't work on this refresh" should be met with genuine concern, open-sourcers aren't exactly known for their customer service.



    but, to be fair, as SOON as new hardware is in the consumers hands, they are complaining that their free software doesn't work right. The folks making this software (Handbrake and many others) likely have day-jobs. And they only just got THEIR mitts on the new hardware. It takes some time to get things re-worked to run right on new hardware and or new OS versions.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    I've had a similar problem but reading this thread gives a good reason as to why newer hardware but be slower. I am using a MBP Core Duo 2GHZ (from Feb 2006) and an iMac Core 2 Duo 2.4GHZ (from Dec 2007) both of which have 1GB memory. There are no other applicitons running but the avg encryption on MBP is 31.6fps vs 18.1fps on iMac. Are either of these encryption times reasonable?
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