[EN] Advice: Video Card for Video Encoding?

[finotti]

My wife records video (with OBS) then edits them (with Shot Cut) or just encodes them with Handbrake.  (The latter is the most common task.)  She does it a few times a day and our old computer is taking a long time with the re-encoding and making the computer quite laggy while doing it.  Since it is an old computer (Intel Core i7-4771), we are considering an upgrade that would make these tasks quicker.

My main question is if a video card would help with this tasks?  I am not sure that handbrake, ffmpeg, OBS, etc., can actually use a video card, so I am not sure if the investment would be worth it.  (No gaming or anything in this computer.)

If so, any recommendations on a reasonable, but not too expensive card?  I would be inclined to go with AMD, to avoid breaks using the nvidia drivers, but would consider nvidia if it would be better for these tasks.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

[finotti]

Well, after some research (quick Googling) it seems that indeed handbrake and ffmpeg can use the GPU, so I went ahead and bought the parts:

Processor: AMD Ryzen™ 7 9700X 8-Core, 16-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor.
Cooler: Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE CPU Cooler.
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B850-PLUS.
SSD: SAMSUNG 990 EVO Plus SSD 4TB.
Memory: Crucial Pro DDR5 RAM 64GB Kit (2x32GB) 6400MHz CL40.
HD: Seagate IronWolf 8TB.
Video Card: ASRock RX 6600 8GB CLD Challenger D.

Now, I wonder if my 10+ years old PSU (Corsair, I don't know the model) can handle it or if I will need a new one...

[charlyheinz]

While I don't really know what you are doing I would like to tell you that there is no really need of a new maschine for your job.
I am  recording a lot of Videos over satelite with my harddisc- receiver (*.TS- files), cutting them (avi-demux) to eleminate advertisings and then re-encode them to *.mkv- files via Handbrake using nvidia-h264 in hd- or sd- depends on the source- quality.

My PC (more than 10 years old):
Intel core I7 4550, 32 GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce 2070.

A complete HD-Film recorded from ARTE / ARD / ZDF which is around 10-16 GB big as source takes me around 15-30 minutes to complete cut and recode them to a 3GB full-hd mkv- Video. That is why I'm using the GraKa for encoding with the nv-h264 codec.

While encoding my system runs max. 65% processor speed (8 threads) and fullspeed GraKa nearly 3800 MHz 55°C without any problems and really fast. So for me there would be no need to by new hardware!!

[charlyheinz]

Sorry: Graka speed is 2180 MHZ clockspeed

[dibl]

Great information!  Thanks for sharing it, charlyheinz.   

[finotti]

While I don't really know what you are doing I would like to tell you that there is no really need of a new maschine for your job.
I am  recording a lot of Videos over satelite with my harddisc- receiver (*.TS- files), cutting them (avi-demux) to eleminate advertisings and then re-encode them to *.mkv- files via Handbrake using nvidia-h264 in hd- or sd- depends on the source- quality.

My PC (more than 10 years old):
Intel core I7 4550, 32 GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce 2070.

A complete HD-Film recorded from ARTE / ARD / ZDF which is around 10-16 GB big as source takes me around 15-30 minutes to complete cut and recode them to a 3GB full-hd mkv- Video. That is why I'm using the GraKa for encoding with the nv-h264 codec.

While encoding my system runs max. 65% processor speed (8 threads) and fullspeed GraKa nearly 3800 MHz 55°C without any problems and really fast. So for me there would be no need to by new hardware!!

Thanks for the reply!  If I understand what you are saying, a new graphics card would be sufficient, correct?  Also, what it "GraKa"?

[charlyheinz]

@finotti
Yes, GraKa means grafikcard for me ;-)
The main reason why a good grafikcard is more importand than a complet  new pc is with a special codec like the nvidia nv-264 you are using more hardware cores.
A new cpu has maybe 4/8/16 cores and with multi- threading enabled you can get 8/16/32 threads in paralel.
A new gpu has at least 2304 coreunits, so when using the new vulcan or cuda technics you will get much more thrueput when the codec like nv-264 is supported from the grafikcard..
With my not really fresh Nvidia Geforce 2070 I can realise minimum 500 -750 fps in 720/480 SD- quality and 350 - 450 fps in 1080p HD- quality. Means a complete film 90 minutes in HD 1080p 60 pictures / sec. is encoded in 15 minutes.

For me always buying new hadware the is last way to get more performance . You can buy "new" hardware and expect more performance and you will  not get it because it is not good configured for that what you want to do with. You maybe only only need more electrical power-supply, maybe 1000W.

I hope I'm right and not to much confusing...

[fams]

Now, I wonder if my 10+ years old PSU (Corsair, I don't know the model) can handle it or if I will need a new one...

You've bought so may expensive stuff, you should not save on this. Please buy new, quality one.
An old and malfunctioning PSU can cause a wide variety of very strange faults you would never expect coming from a PSU.

[finotti]

Now, I wonder if my 10+ years old PSU (Corsair, I don't know the model) can handle it or if I will need a new one...

You've bought so may expensive stuff, you should not save on this. Please buy new, quality one.
An old and malfunctioning PSU can cause a wide variety of very strange faults you would never expect coming from a PSU.

Thanks for your comment.  The current PSU is a quality one.  I don't know for sure, since I need to open the case to check it out, but it is a Corsair (for sure) Gold (maybe Silver) 850W.  At the time it was expensive and highly rated, but it is old (over 10 years).  Since it is currently still working well, I assume that it should still be good.

But do you think that 10 years is enough to warrant a replacement?

[fams]

For me, definitely yes.
It's like in Audio, a clean, stable power source is the basis of all...
Otherwise just keep that in mind, if something doesn't work like expected and you can't break it down to another fault.

[sunrat]

If you were encoding videos with the onboard GPU of your Intel Core i7-4771 it's no surprise that it is slow, Your new computer should be well capable of much faster encoding using the RX660. Here's a video of a guy doing a quick test, albeit in Windows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsZl4JInd2E
If your power supply was working with the old computer, it should work in the new one. Take the opportunity to vacuum out any dust it may have accumulated. I have a Corsair RM750i PSU and it has been very reliable.

[finotti]

Thanks all for the comments.

I ended up getting a new PSU as well, an MSI MAG A850GL PCIE5.  Better be safe, I suppose.  I might have overdone it with the new computer, as a graphics card might have been enough, but this new one should last me a long time, I suppose.

Thanks again!

[minixjr]

Hi finotti,
don't be surprised if you can not use the AMD GPU out of the box with handbrake.
My experience is that you need some closed source stuff from AMD.
Take care not to install the dkms things, it's not working.
Maybe you can start here: https://rocm.docs.amd.com/projects/install-on-linux/en/latest/install/install-methods/amdgpu-installer/amdgpu-installer-debian.html
For installation it was enough for me to install the following:

Code: [Select]

sudo amdgpu-install --no-dkms --usecase=amf