Is it time for me to upgrade my i7 2600 Handbrake encoding rig?

[middle_pickup]

I have been using an old Dell workstation PC with an i7 2600 quad-core for transcoding my bluray rips for the last several years in Handrake. It's been a good machine for that purpose. I don't need the fastest encodes out there necessarily. I've always been more concerned with the output file results. I want the best quality I can get at the smallest file size.

 

I watched a video a few minutes ago of a handbrake test a guy did with his Ryzen 3900x 12 core machine. His results blew me away in terms of speed. His PC took about an hour and a half for a single bluray movie to be encoded with the x264 encoder and the high-quality 1080p/60fps preset that comes stock in Handbrake. I didn't believe that result at first, but then I remembered that he has 3 times the number of cores I do. So I get that there is a massive speed increase available for encodes on newer hardware.

 

So the question I have now is will these modern processors produce a more efficiently compressed (smaller file size), or a better looking video given the same Handbrake encoder settings? I encode my bluray video rips (that I make myself) with the x265 encoder at constant quality set anywhere from 20 to 24 depending on the movie or show in question. I don't often use the filter settings. I never adjust aspect or crop. I know I'm using the software encoder that theoretically doesn't use hardware acceleration. Is this a crazy question?

 

TLDR: I don't care about encoding speed that much. Will new CPU's produce better looking or smaller video files?

[SkilledRebuilds]

Doubt it.

If you set particular variables... and keep them between systems you'd tend to think its going to encode faster but look the exact same due to your particulars.

 

Specifically... say using a x264 or H265 Preset.. the preset doesnt change so I doubt the video will.

Hope I make sense.

 

You said encode time isn't an issue so I guess if I was you I'd leave it until speed or quality is a concern.. then you make the adjustments you need.

Be it hardware for faster encodes ,or using differing quality options for encode quality boosts, which you are already versed in somewhat already..

[middle_pickup]

5 minutes ago, SkilledRebuilds said:

Doubt it.

If you set particular variables... and keep them between systems you'd tend to think its going to encode faster but look the exact same due to your particulars.

 

Specifically... say using a x264 or H265 Preset.. the preset doesnt change so I doubt the video will.

Hope I make sense.

You do make sense! That's actually what I assumed to be true, but I wondered if there might have been some new feature developed since the 2600 era that Handbrake would be able to utilize for my purposes. I know the x265 encoder is a software encoder, but I don't know enough about what goes on in these tiny magical metal squares to know for sure what's what sometimes. hahaha