Quote:

Quote: It is at best a GPU compression test, and still not that good of one considering the source content isn't even 4K to begin with.

It doesn't really test the CPU much . There is no manipulation of the source content at all.

For example, no lighting adjustment, stabilizer, video denoise, color adjustment, white balance adjustment - to list just the common options under "fix/enhance". I often use at least one of those, sometimes two, occasionally three. I can attest that the processing for those usually trounces the time it takes to compress. Those are heavily CPU-limited, usually.

The test was suggested for a very narrow question. The question was, will a GTX960 perform any faster that what I have? My CPU is only at 30%, so would a different CPU really reduce HA encoding times of the GTX960.

To answer this question only, I suggested the this test for the exact opposite reason you state. You want something that does not test all the other tasks a CPU does like lighting adjustment....etc, as then I'm not testing the capability of the GTX960, the test is evaluating their CPU and many PC's will never load the GTX960 to it's capability level. You don't want 4K source material as then the test depends on what does the decoding, CPU, GPU, and exactly how the user configured their pref. This suggested test won't care, a pure play on what a GTX960 is capable of HA encoding wise.

Jeff

OK, fair enough. But in that case, don't call it "PC performance comparison". Call it "GTX960 compression comparison".

I'm really much more interested in the differences between CPUs.

In the following thread

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/45843.page

You posted some results with the project 4ktest-minuet_DT.pds where your encoding time was 98s, to my 208s.

Specifically, this post :

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/25/45843.page#238049

I have asked you multiple times what CPU you had in this test, as I simply can't understand how your encoding time could be half mine, when my CPU is hardly a low-end one. I even sent you a PM about it. Did you miss it ? I would really appreciate a response as I'm considering a CPU upgrade.

Same question for the CPUs used in this post :

http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/45843.page#237065

As the words "mid level CPU" and "higher end CPU" are fairly meaningless to me. My FX-8350 OC is as high end as it gets in the AMD line. MSI X99A Raider
Intel i7-5820k @ 4.4 GHz
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GTX 960 4GB
480 GB Patriot Ignite SSD (boot)
2 x 480 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD (striped)
6 x 1 TB Samsung 860 SSD (striped)

2 x LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K
Asus PB238 23" HD (portrait)

Quote: OK, fair enough. But in that case, don't call it "PC performance comparison". Call it "GTX960 compression comparison".

Read the threads, look at the authors, absolutely nowhere will you find I called it a PC performance comparison, period! The author of the statement corrected it on their OP, unfortunately that does not filter through to all posts in the thread.

Quote: I'm really much more interested in the differences between CPUs.

This does not seem appropriate for this thread, maybe start your own topic and solicit input. Many users with claimed high end PC's and perfect editing with PD that I'm sure would assist.

In the other posts you doubted my results after I posted pics demonstrating and proving what PD was capable of, what PD and a GTX750Ti was capable of. You, claiming I must be using multiGPU, Quicksync. You’ve declared the results I posted are impossible for any CPU. I have no intention of wasting anymore of my volunteer time trying to show you otherwise. I didn’t start this gig with PD the other day, I’ve been around the block a time or two since the start. A PC builder from the mid 1990's as you indicated of yourself, that’s more than adequate to tackle the basics for PD. As for a 8350 being high end, not even when it was released 3 yrs ago. Cheap for performance ability, definitely.

Jeff

Jeff,

Quote:
Read the threads, look at the authors, absolutely nowhere will you find I called it a PC performance comparison, period! The author of the statement corrected it on their OP, unfortunately that does not filter through to all posts in the thread.

It still says so right there, above : http://forum.cyberlink.com/forum/posts/list/46135.page#238770 . And I didn't say you specifically called it that - but it got called that somehow. Sorry that you took that remark personally. Someone else called it that.

In the other posts you doubted my results after I posted pics demonstrating and proving what PD was capable of, what PD and a GTX750Ti was capable of. You, claiming I must be using multiGPU, Quicksync. You’ve declared the results I posted are impossible for any CPU. I have no intention of wasting anymore of my volunteer time trying to show you otherwise. I didn’t start this gig with PD the other day, I’ve been around the block a time or two since the start. A PC builder from the mid 1990's as you indicated of yourself, that’s more than adequate to tackle the basics for PD. As for a 8350 being high end, not even when it was released 3 yrs ago. Cheap for performance ability, definitely.

You are off base. I believe your results, I was merely surprised by them. I thought you might be using multiGPGPU/Quicksync, and you corrected me. I simply want to know what kind of CPU it was that you used so I can consider that when upgrading. Clearly PowerDirector isn't performing at the same level on my AMD FX than on whatever (presumably Intel) chip you were using.

There is no need for animosity, and truly, it would have taken you less time to simply name the chip than type this response. It was not a big ask, I didn't ask you to spend time re-running any tests, just name the particular chip or chips you used, since terms like mid level or high end are too vague. I only said my FX-8350 was high end for AMD. But in most CPU benchmarks I have looked at, it is still in the upper 50% of desktop chips. And with the OC, often about as 70% of a recent non-OC Intel chip. So, I have a right to be surprised that Powerdirector was working so much faster (2x) on your mystery chip than mine, and I'd like to elucidate the reason why - starting with comparing the different instruction sets between my chip and yours - and ultimately get one of those better performing chips for my next upgrade. MSI X99A Raider
Intel i7-5820k @ 4.4 GHz
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GTX 960 4GB
480 GB Patriot Ignite SSD (boot)
2 x 480 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD (striped)
6 x 1 TB Samsung 860 SSD (striped)

2 x LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K
Asus PB238 23" HD (portrait)

I was trying to help, not cause a fall out. I created the datasheet and this thread to (a) move the discussion about, in particular Eugene's GTX960 vs other 960s, out of a discussion about the merits of desktop vs laptop. And (b) to help gather the data in an easily readable format.

When I created the datasheet it occured to me that those with other builds might wish to include their data as a further comparator. Hence I named the worksheet 'PC Performance Stats', i.e., open to any build. This hopefully would engage more people and thus get more input.

It soon transpired that this resulted in a misunderstanding about the validity/usefulness of the tests being applied, so I changed 'PC' to 'GTX960' in the thread header. This has lead to someone feeling excluded. I'm beginning to wish I'd left it the way it was. I can change it back (the datasheet is still as originally named) if you'd prefer. Or perhaps another datasheet and thread should be created with its own set of tests.

I've added another field to the datasheet for CPU Clock.

Eugene,

I've input your driver & CPU clock. Not sure why you put it in your post and not in the datasheet.

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

TonyL

doing a good job.

we're grown men. young(kid) at heart!



PepsiMan 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

Although only a few bothered, for those and anyone else that have an interest I've added another set of performance readings at the following link.

Click here to see data.

The new readings result from a cpu change from i7-920 to Xeon W3690.

This was the second of three component changes to my desktop. The final component change will be from HDD to SSD. Readings to follow in due course. I'm not looking forward to moving to SSD because of the amopunt of work entailed in reinstalling all my software and settings. Where I am currently on Win7 HE 64-bit I will install same on the SSD then do the free upgrade to Win10 (already done same on other machines), then do a clean install of Win10.

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

Tony,

Quote: Although only a few bothered, for those and anyone else that have an interest I've added another set of performance readings at the following link.

Click here to see data.

The new readings result from a cpu change from i7-920 to Xeon W3690.

FYI, I just did a new build with new CPU & GTX960, and have added the new data as well.

This was the second of three component changes to my desktop. The final component change will be from HDD to SSD. Readings to follow in due course. I'm not looking forward to moving to SSD because of the amopunt of work entailed in reinstalling all my software and settings. Where I am currently on Win7 HE 64-bit I will install same on the SSD then do the free upgrade to Win10 (already done same on other machines), then do a clean install of Win10.

TonyL

Moving to SSD should not require you to reinstall the OS.

If your SSD is big enough, you can just clone the HDD to the SSD.

If it is not, you could move the large data files off your HDD, and keep only the OS & application programs.

Then, defrag and shrink the partition, until it is small enough to fit on the SSD.

Finally, clone it to the SSD. MSI X99A Raider
Intel i7-5820k @ 4.4 GHz
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GTX 960 4GB
480 GB Patriot Ignite SSD (boot)
2 x 480 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD (striped)
6 x 1 TB Samsung 860 SSD (striped)

2 x LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K
Asus PB238 23" HD (portrait)

I hope you don't mind, Julien, but I moved your last data and placed it next to your previous. It's not a problem to move back if you prefer.

Yes I'm only too aware that I could have cloned my drive but it's been in use for six years (the longest I've ever used the same PC) now so it's well time it was started afresh. A PC collects an awful lot of rubbish in that time no matter how good you are at housekeeping. I particularly want a nice clean start for Win10. I now also need to sort a problem - I did a test render today using my new CPU and one of my video progs and it has failed every time. It BSODs with different problems. A fresh build will either help me isolate the problem or it will go away.

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

Thanks TonyL for collecting and providing the test Data.

Interesting to note that the replacement of the CPU resulted in only a 20 sec time saving.

How much faster is the new CPU compared to the 920 using a benchmark test?


It sure proves that the 960 is an amazing GPU at only $200 and just as great that PD14 makes full use of it.



BTW have you tried this on your iMac with whatever editing program Apple has?



As to the SSD, on my computer it has 3 partitions, C for OS , PD14 etc major stuff only. partition D has all the lesser stuff like Format Factory, PD SAVE files, MPC and other players, CCleaner, Skype, TsMuxer and so on. Part. E is used for mail etc. My SSD is 250GB and about 60% used and will stay in that range.

Makes life so much easier.

Eugene 73s, WA6JZN ex DL9GC
CYBERLINK PLEASE ADD UHD BLU RAY BURNING SOFTWARE
PD14,
Win10,64bit.CPU i7 6700,16GB ,C= 480 GB SSD ,GPU GTX1060 6GB 1 fan. Plus 3 int, 4 ext HDD's for video etc.LG WH16NS40 reads UHD.
4K 24" ViewSonic monitor.Camera Sony FDR-A

Eugen157,

Quote:
It sure proves that the 960 is an amazing GPU at only $200 and just as great that PD14 makes full use of it.

FYI, if you look at my latest results on the i7-5820k box, you will see that I got a better H.264 encode time than anybody else in the spreadsheet so far - 1:05. This suggests that perhaps GTX960 GPU may not be be fully utilized on the slower CPUs.

Also, on my system, H.265 encode time was 1:42, which is much longer than the 1:05 I got for H.264 . This is different than your findings where you are getting the same times for both H.264/H.265 . Your machine clearly has a botltleneck other than the GPU, not sure what it is.

Julien MSI X99A Raider
Intel i7-5820k @ 4.4 GHz
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GTX 960 4GB
480 GB Patriot Ignite SSD (boot)
2 x 480 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD (striped)
6 x 1 TB Samsung 860 SSD (striped)

2 x LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K
Asus PB238 23" HD (portrait)

Julien,
I agree with your assessment.

If I had more confidence I would have gotten a faster CPU to reduce that bottleneck. However my main concern is to render 265 in a reasonable amount of time and about 2x real time I consider great, remembering that what now takes perhaps two hours used to take days.

BTW, there are a number of other results getting the same rendering time for 265 and 264.

So I am a happy camper, waiting for UHD BR, expecting to be able to use a sub format, UHD on a regular 25GB BR disk.

Eugene 73s, WA6JZN ex DL9GC
CYBERLINK PLEASE ADD UHD BLU RAY BURNING SOFTWARE
PD14,
Win10,64bit.CPU i7 6700,16GB ,C= 480 GB SSD ,GPU GTX1060 6GB 1 fan. Plus 3 int, 4 ext HDD's for video etc.LG WH16NS40 reads UHD.
4K 24" ViewSonic monitor.Camera Sony FDR-A

Quote: Julien,
I agree with your assessment.

If I had more confidence I would have gotten a faster CPU to reduce that bottleneck. However my main concern is to render 265 in a reasonable amount of time and about 2x real time I consider great, remembering that what now takes perhaps two hours used to take days.

Yes, the GTX960 is certainly a great tool for H.265 rendering. I wonder how expensive the rest of the rendering is though - other than compression. Things like stabilizer, color and lighting adjustments, etc. These usually rely more on CPU than GPU.

BTW, there are a number of other results getting the same rendering time for 265 and 264.

Yes - I guess those boxes must also have other bottlenecks too. Still waiting for someone to show faster results than my new build on either H.264/265

So I am a happy camper, waiting for UHD BR, expecting to be able to use a sub format, UHD on a regular 25GB BR disk.

The UHD BR specs were just released earlier this year.

I think they call for 66 - 100GB optical discs. The few players available are far too expensive so far - $3000+, only available in Japan seemingly. Guess the UHD BR has missed the 2015 xmas season in any meaningful sense.

On the computer side, it will require new software for sure to play and produce. And maybe a new physical drive too, that part is less clear. Maybe BDXL computer drive would work, I don't know. I don't have a BDXL drive yet and will hold off buying one until that becomes clear. MSI X99A Raider
Intel i7-5820k @ 4.4 GHz
32GB DDR4 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GTX 960 4GB
480 GB Patriot Ignite SSD (boot)
2 x 480 GB Sandisk Ultra II SSD (striped)
6 x 1 TB Samsung 860 SSD (striped)

2 x LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K
Asus PB238 23" HD (portrait)

Eugene,

I didn't carry out my own benchmark tests but have you seen the PassMark site High-end CPU Benchmarks

No I haven't tried this on my Mac - been too busy. The video editing packages I have on it are iMovie (included with the OS and is a cut down version of FCPX) and Final Cut Pro X (FCPX) (currently GBP230).

My SSD is also 250GB but it will not be partioned as it will only have the OS and applications on it. Partitioning is used on a HDD to (a) save the drive time physically locating stuff on the disk, and (b) separating stuff. As (a) doesn't arise on SSD in that respect it's unnecessary, but (b) does in your case because have personal data on it. My SSD will replace a 500GB HDD that has 160GB taken up. We all have our own way of working and configuring our PCs. We both have our OS and apps (only some in your case) on the 'C' drive so can easily restore an earlier image of it (without risk to our personal data) if something goes amiss. So I fully agree with your comment that it, "Makes life so much easier".

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

I started so I may as well continue.

Now having swapped my OS HDD drive for a new SSD, then carrying out a clean install of Win7, followed by an upgrade to Win10, followed by a clean install of Windows 10, I'm now in the process of reinstalling everything and tweaking. So I thought I see what new performance figures these changes produced.

I've added another column of figures and three more rows (OS, Drive and RAM) to the datasheet. Click here for Datasheet.

Other than reduced RAM figures I'm not impressed by what the OS and SSD changes have produced with respect to PD14 rendering. I'm hoping for much better performance improvements with my other software.

I'm now awaiting arrival of 24GB of new RAM. Nothing to do with PD but very much to do with my most used and favoured slideshow software, Proshow Producer (only 32-bit available unfortunately). Since the change of CPU I'm unable to fully render a project I'm working on using it. I get a BSOD every time but at different points and all refer to memory errors. So I thought I'd get some new memory and get more of it so I can run multiple apps concurrently. Computers! Don't you just luv 'em.

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

Good luck on your troubleshooting. Hope you find the problem and the 24GB of new memory help here. You could try the stress test for memory first (Memtest|)and pc (Prime 95) to see if you still get the BSOD. This could help you determine where the problem might be and maybe save the money on buying new memory.

HDEdit "Laptops in general do not have enough reserve in either number crunching or data transfer capability for HD and hgher video projects. A desktop made in the past 5 years with an i5 or higher CPU can outperform."

This might be worth looking at.

HP's latest Z-series laptops: powerful workstations for video

Al Power Director 13&14 Ultimate, Photo Director 6, Audio Dir, Pwr2Go 10
Win 10 64, Intel MB DH87MC, Intel i5-4670 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 16Gb DDR3 1600, 128Gb SSD, 2x1Tb WDBlue 7200rpmSATA6, Intel 4600 GPU, Gigabyte G1 GTX960 4GB, LG BluRay Writer

tomasc,

Since I first built this PC six years ago with the i7-920 I've had the occasional BSOD. I've run Memtest a number of times in the past and it never found a problem - yet the BSODs still cropped up when running rendering progs. Changing to the Xeon CPU has put greater stress on the RAM when rendering.

I'd forgotten about Prime95 - thanks for reminding me. I used it when I built my i7 and not since. So downloaded the current version, ran the Blend config (with RealTemp on display) and within a minute got a BSOD with a memory error.

Keeping my fingers crossed that the new memory will fix the problem.

Al,

Thanks for the link but I really don't need another machine. I already have a Sony i7-720QM 17" laptop, plus a smaller laptop, a netbook, 2 Android tablets, an iPad Air, etc., etc. Laptops get too hot when they are put to real work, and I much prefer working on a larger screen with full size keyboard.

TonyL Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit

TonyL - Intermittent problems are hard to find. It sound like that you are determined to find the problem. I like to share my experience with one pc.

Good luck on troubleshooting your homebuilt pc. This reminds me of the problems I had on an old win xp homebuilt pc. On the last 5 years of it's life. The pc would say reboot by itself say once every 3 months, then every month, then more often. I ran every diagnostic that I know of for both components and then for windows. They all passed. Stress test the memory for 24 hours, Replaced the nvidia 5950 gpu with a 5200 ultra gpu, started replaceing memory, removing memory helped the pc to boot up properly. Reseated memory and components, replaced the power supply. Added extra cooling fans for drives and to cool the motherboard voltage regulator. Inspected the MB for bulging(bad) capacitors and none found. Anything I did would appear to have solved the problem until the next time. I did note that the old copper core aluminum heat sink worked better than the Spark 7 all copper heatsink as far as keeping the motherboard voltage regulator cooled but not for the intel cpu because of the designed exhaust air flow of the HSF.

In the end it turned out to be the motherboard voltage regulator. I can run this pc now only with a smaller hard drive, and 1 stick of 512 meg. of memory. Any more load and the pc refuses to boot. I decided to shelve this pc years ago as I have others that are more powerful and they work properly.

If you have dual or triple channel memory, you could remove one stick at a time to locate the bad memory stick and rerun the prime95 stress test.

happy new year. Tony

Quote: I started so I may as well continue...

I've added another column of figures and three more rows (OS, Drive and RAM) to the datasheet. Click here for Datasheet.

TonyL

i got a MSI GTX 950 2G from newegg's. paid $144.11 after tax, discounts and the rebate.

with the driver 358.5, GTX 950 2G beat my MSI GTX960 2G time.

i've updated the Datasheet.

i've seen Julien's new toy's data, too. it's awesome.



PepsiMan

'garbage in garbage out' 'no bridge too far'

Yashica Electro 8 LD-6 Super 8mm
Asrock TaiChi X470, AMD R7 2700X, W7P 64, MSI GTX1060 6GB, Corsair 16GB/RAM
Dell XPS L702X i7-2860QM, W7P / W10P 64, Intel HD3000/nVidia GT 550M 1GB, Micron 16GB/RAM
Samsung Galaxy Note3/NX1

OK, I bothered too
The exercise to me wasn't too interesting, because I found from the other PD versions that:
1. It doesn't show the eventual video effects or trasitions contribution.
2. The results show clearly that the ultimate bottleneck is in system's latency.
None of the variables is maxed out (even if table is missing the HDD/SDD utilization - mine was around 40% with short spikes when PD was writing on disk).

I was hoping that Win10 will improve on this issue, but for now, PD doesn't seem to take advantage of the new WDDM 2.0.

A Happy New Year to you and everyone else, PepsiMan.

SoNic67 aka Grumpy, I tend to agree with your comment. It seemed like a good idea at the time but now I'm not sure what value there is in it. There are so many other variables/components that play a part in performance.

Tony Self build Xeon W3690, 12GB RAM, 850EVO SSD, Asus 2GB GTX960, Win10H 64bit, PD14
iMac 27" Retina 5K i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon M295X 4GB, Bootcamp Win10H 64bit