i7-5930k on X99 upgrade options

[Satchfanuk]

I'm currently running a Gigabyte GA-X99 SOC Champion with Intel i7-5930k which has been a fantastic setup since I got it. However, I find myself encoding more and more 4k videos with Handbrake and these take hours and hours to complete.

A CPU with a higher core count seems to be the answer but I was wondering what the best option would be. Can I stick with the X99 and change the CPU for another i7 or even a Xeon? Or would I be better off rebuilding entirely with a Ryzen or something?

The cheapest option would be preferred or perhaps he best value option is what I mean. That might be the same thing

Threadripper is a prospect for a much later date, when AMD bring 7nm versions to the table.

Thanks for any thoughts, tips and pointers.

 

[Satchfanuk]

I would go for a used E5 Xeon with as many cores as you can get, your board has a pretty long list of supported E5 v3/v4 chips! There are plenty of sellers for CPU's pulled from servers, I would be aiming for a 6c12t or 8c16t cpu with as high clocks as you can get, maybe stick to V3 Xeons to keep costs down though...

https://www.gigabyte.com/Ajax/SupportFunction/Getcpulist?Type=Product&Value=5129

Di you game on the system at all?

Yeah, I use it for gaming so I wouldn't want to compromise it's gaming performance if I can help it.

 

[Satchfanuk]

A 2700X will probably give a ~50% boost going by my scores although I don't overclock. For anything more you will need Threadripper or a high core(12+) count Xeon. I would have a look on e-bay for 12+ core Xeon and compare the price. You could also build a second rig and split the rendering if that's possible?

I've been looking at the 2700X and it seems like a good option but I'd have to replace the motherboard and ram if I went that route, but it might be the best plan.

 

[Satchfanuk]

HandBrake's own site cites diminishing returns past six cores.

https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/latest/technical/video-encoding-performance.html

Though I believe it also depends on the codec to some degree.

Thanks for the link, I didn't realise there was a drop off above 6 cores. I encode using x265 10bit, makes for smaller files while keeping quality up but takes forever to encode the files

 

[Satchfanuk]

There's a nice Intel Xeon E5-2699 v4 (22c/44t) chip, on that auction site for £595, probably a bit slow for gaming though

I saw that one but was put off by the 'engineering sample' statement in the write up

 

[Satchfanuk]

Having just seen the 2nd gen TR announcement, I'm saving the pennies for one of the 32c/64t beasties