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Video rendering - more cores or more GPU vram?

Right so I got into this whole video enhancing AI thing but it can take about a day to work on a 30min video (literally over 20h!) on a i7 4-cores 4ghz Skylake and AMD M395 2gb - I've got the 2015 27" iMac 5K.

 

I also dabble in video editing and do some conversions using HandBrake as well. Nothing professional, just personal use like editing/enhancing old home videos or saving storage space with format conversions and such.

 

So I was wondering which option would be more efficient: going for a 2017 model with 8gb vram and stick with the i7 4-cores or get the 2019 with i9 8-cores and possibly 4gb?

 

Used prices are about the same but I could get a better deal on the older model - on the other hand the newer model could hold its value for longer.

 

 

OBS: mods I wasn't sure if should post it here or in the GPU subforum so please move if required.

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14 minutes ago, caincha said:

Right so I got into this whole video enhancing AI thing but it can take about a day to work on a 30min video (literally over 20h!) on a i7 4-cores 4ghz Skylake and AMD M395 2gb - I've got the 2015 27" iMac 5K.

 

I also dabble in video editing and do some conversions using HandBrake as well. Nothing professional, just personal use like editing/enhancing old home videos or saving storage space with format conversions and such.

 

So I was wondering which option would be more efficient: going for a 2017 model with 8gb vram and stick with the i7 4-cores or get the 2019 with i9 8-cores and possibly 4gb?

 

Used prices are about the same but I could get a better deal on the older model - on the other hand the newer model could hold its value for longer.

 

 

OBS: mods I wasn't sure if should post it here or in the GPU subforum so please move if required.

Are you locked into the Mac ecosystem? There are much easier and cheaper ways to get a good rendering machine, and it won't thermal throttle to boot.

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Topaz Video Enhancer, Movavi Video Editor, HandBrake, AVIdemux…

 

I know it's hard but let's not get into Mac vs PC here please. 😉 

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18 minutes ago, caincha said:

Topaz Video Enhancer, Movavi Video Editor, HandBrake, AVIdemux…

 

I know it's hard but let's not get into Mac vs PC here please. 😉 

Those will be much faster on a pc with a 3070 if you can use that.

 

Or get something like a egpu for your mac.

 

What is the cpu usage like? Those programs are mostly gpu, so cpu cores shouldn't matter, but Id aim for more than 4 cores.

 

 

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40 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Those programs are mostly gpu, so cpu cores shouldn't matter, but Id aim for more than 4 cores.

I only got 2gb vram at the moment so the i9 with 4gb vram should be a huge improvement. Will aim for the i9 and 8gb vram - no upgrades later on 🙄 - but consider the 4gb vram if price difference is too big.

Thanks! 😃

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Just now, caincha said:

I only got 2gb vram at the moment so the i9 with 4gb vram should be a huge improvement. Will aim for the i9 and 8gb vram - no upgrades later on 🙄 - but consider the 4gb vram if price difference is too big.

Thanks! 😃

What gpus. 

 

Vram doesn't determine performance. The gpu core does. 

 

You can upgrade the cpus in those imac, but not the gpus.

 

But id just add a egpu to your current imac if thats the limit.

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7 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What gpus. 

 

Vram doesn't determine performance. The gpu core does. 

 

You can upgrade the cpus in those imac, but not the gpus.

 

But id just add a egpu to your current imac if thats the limit.

It should be the AMD 580X Pro or something… Not entirely sure about vram vs gpu core - hence the topic - but from what I've read I would be needing those 8gb vram for bigger file sizes right?

Plus there aren't many GPU options anyway… Unless I manage to find a VEGA with HBM2 vram but that could come with a T2 chip and I sure do not want that… 🙄

 

I had considered an eGPU but it would cost pretty much the same - or more - as upgrading to a newer iMac.

And I'm pretty sure the 2019 non-T2 would be the last good one till about 2025 or later depending in how they evolve their CPUs.

 

Oh and I know about the CPU upgrades and a bit more 🙂

 

 

 

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5 hours ago, caincha said:

It should be the AMD 580X Pro or something… Not entirely sure about vram vs gpu core - hence the topic - but from what I've read I would be needing those 8gb vram for bigger file sizes right?

Plus there aren't many GPU options anyway… Unless I manage to find a VEGA with HBM2 vram but that could come with a T2 chip and I sure do not want that… 🙄

 

I had considered an eGPU but it would cost pretty much the same - or more - as upgrading to a newer iMac.

And I'm pretty sure the 2019 non-T2 would be the last good one till about 2025 or later depending in how they evolve their CPUs.

 

Oh and I know about the CPU upgrades and a bit more 🙂

 

 

 

Why don't you want a t2 imac? They seem like the better way to go these days.

 

Id personally wait for a arm imac. THere much faster, and should be similar in price. to the current intel ones. 

What gpu does your curren timac have? 

 

THe gpu core determines performance, not vram. How much vram are you using now?

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41 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Why don't you want a t2 imac? They seem like the better way to go these days.

 

Id personally wait for a arm imac. THere much faster, and should be similar in price. to the current intel ones. 

What gpu does your curren timac have? 

 

THe gpu core determines performance, not vram. How much vram are you using now?

T2 have several annoyances that can be real bad. For one it makes real hard (impossible?) to recover your data if something in the hardware fails and that is just stupid.

ARM chips - and the current MacOSs - are more device-like than computer-like and if I am buying a desktop I don't want a tablet even if it is a 27" one… 

There are more than a few things to be ironed out for me to even consider it. I held on to my 2011 iMac till a couple years ago when I finally made the move to the 'slim' models for similar reasons.

 

I mentioned the current GPU above: AMD 395M 2gb.

I can actually game with it on Windows-BootCamp since I do not care for AAA tittles but that will be the only reason I would ever go back to Windows if I have to: only if there are absolutely no options for a very specific task for a brief period of time and as long as I don't actually have to use the OS itself.

But then again, let's not start PC vs Mac here, it's not my goal…

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22 minutes ago, caincha said:

T2 have several annoyances that can be real bad. For one it makes real hard (impossible?) to recover your data if something in the hardware fails and that is just stupid.

ARM chips - and the current MacOSs - are more device-like than computer-like and if I am buying a desktop I don't want a tablet even if it is a 27" one… 

There are more than a few things to be ironed out for me to even consider it. I held on to my 2011 iMac till a couple years ago when I finally made the move to the 'slim' models for similar reasons.

 

I mentioned the current GPU above: AMD 395M 2gb.

I can actually game with it on Windows-BootCamp since I do not care for AAA tittles but that will be the only reason I would ever go back to Windows if I have to: only if there are absolutely no options for a very specific task for a brief period of time and as long as I don't actually have to use the OS itself.

But then again, let's not start PC vs Mac here, it's not my goal…

Backup yoru data, then recovery won't be a issue.

 

Im typing on a m1 mac book pro now. Feels like every other mac, and super fast. Nothing tablet like. I don't see a reason to stay on a slower intel system. Id just wait for a arm imac if I were you. Also I feel like third party software support for intel macs is gonna be dropped fairly fast, just like what they did to PPC, those last gen PPC systems didn't age well.

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6 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Backup yoru data, then recovery won't be a issue.

 

Im typing on a m1 mac book pro now. Feels like every other mac, and super fast. Nothing tablet like. I don't see a reason to stay on a slower intel system. Id just wait for a arm imac if I were you. Also I feel like third party software support for intel macs is gonna be dropped fairly fast, just like what they did to PPC, those last gen PPC systems didn't age well.

PPCs didn't age well because only Apple was using them (I think…?). However they were still quite good for more than a few year as far as I remember and I could argue no PC from that period aged well either…

 

As for recent M1 I'm still cautious about anything 'new' from Apple including software. Since Steve Jobs passed it's only about money (as in yes it was always about money after all it is a company but they did have a direction then - a 'vision' if you will - that they do not have today).

For instance Photoshop was buggy as hell in Catalina and I am pretty sure they haven't that fixed as they were moving on to Bin Sur. And I won't even go there till I am sure.

Likewise many of the hardware released in the past 10 years felt like a gimmick in beta stage - hence the reason I held on to my 2011 iMac till a few years ago. 

The Mac Pro from 2009 is still used today by many people though arguably more than the 'trashcan' model. And as far as I am told by friends who do have those they're still very good today.

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Hey man,

I just started using Topaz Video Enhance AI - if it helps, here's what my specs look like with Topaz. Using Artemis MQ engine I usually get .12 seconds per frame, just to give you a frame of reference.

Screenshot 2021-03-09 192259.jpg

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10 hours ago, gargamel314 said:

Hey man,

I just started using Topaz Video Enhance AI - if it helps, here's what my specs look like with Topaz. Using Artemis MQ engine I usually get .12 seconds per frame, just to give you a frame of reference.

Screenshot 2021-03-09 192259.jpg

Files didn't open…

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