Compressor 4.2 Comparison on 6,1?

[jawatkin]

Considering a 7,1 whenever Apple decides to update. I currently have a 2013 27" iMac with a 780m and use FCPX and Compressor daily.

I sat out the Retina iMac because I felt that the GPU was too underpowered for my needs (recording gameplay videos) at that high res.

The iMac is no slouch, but I'm quite interested in the prospect of dual 980m in the 7,1, but I have a question:

The iMac and any of the 'consumer' level processor have a distinct advantage over the Mac Pro due to Intel QuickSync when it comes to single-pass compression of video (specifically H.264). I do this daily, multiple times daily, in fact.

I know that the Xeon processors do not include QuickSync tech and compression was therefore reliant on pure CPU brawn. Now that Compressor 4.2 includes support for multi-GPU compression, I'd love to see how a 6,1 would perform on compressing down some video.

Anyone know of anyone who's done some benchmarking and/or comparisons to Compressor 4.1?

 

[linuxcooldude]

Considering a 7,1 whenever Apple decides to update. I currently have a 2013 27" iMac with a 780m and use FCPX and Compressor daily.

I sat out the Retina iMac because I felt that the GPU was too underpowered for my needs (recording gameplay videos) at that high res.

The iMac is no slouch, but I'm quite interested in the prospect of dual 980m in the 7,1, but I have a question:

The iMac and any of the 'consumer' level processor have a distinct advantage over the Mac Pro due to Intel QuickSync when it comes to single-pass compression of video (specifically H.264). I do this daily, multiple times daily, in fact.

I know that the Xeon processors do not include QuickSync tech and compression was therefore reliant on pure CPU brawn. Now that Compressor 4.2 includes support for multi-GPU compression, I'd love to see how a 6,1 would perform on compressing down some video.

Anyone know of anyone who's done some benchmarking and/or comparisons to Compressor 4.1?

I've done some comparisons of Compressor 4.1 & 4.2 on a 2009 4,1 Mac Pro 8 core.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZWQmdNY90E

 

[jawatkin]

Thanks! Very helpful, that's what I wanted to see, can you tell me what GPU you have? I couldn't quite tell if it was a GTX570 or GTX670?

I'd assume that in the nMP, it'd use both GPUs and would be even faster.

 

[h9826790]

Is it only the GPU that didn't connect to a monitor can be used for rendering?

 

[jawatkin]

Is it only the GPU that didn't connect to a monitor can be used for rendering?

Nope, my iMac only has a single GPU and when I start crunching in Compressor (or even exporting directly from FCP X), my GPU heads up to a load of 3+ in iStatMenu.

However, I'm not sure if Compressor will use both GPUs in the nMPs.

 

[bax2003]

Nope, my iMac only has a single GPU and when I start crunching in Compressor (or even exporting directly from FCP X), my GPU heads up to a load of 3+ in iStatMenu.

However, I'm not sure if Compressor will use both GPUs in the nMPs.

And here is your answer

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8757/17384153905_2e90ed73d2_o.png

 

[h9826790]

Just did some quick tests. It seems Compressor 4.2 can only provide very limiting GPU rendering.

e.g.
It must sent from FCP X 10.2 (not working with older version).
It only works with some preset.
It only works in single pass encoding.

Still better than can't use the GPU at all. However, non of my custom preset able to use the GPU rendering. So, it seems that I still can't get any benefit from this new function yet.

 

[jawatkin]

Just did some quick tests. It seems Compressor 4.2 can only provide very limiting GPU rendering.

e.g.
It must sent from FCP X 10.2 (not working with older version).
It only works with some preset.
It only works in single pass encoding.

Still better than can't use the GPU at all. However, non of my custom preset able to use the GPU rendering. So, it seems that I still can't get any benefit from this new function yet.

I believe it only works with H.264, so you're right on the preset (although it can be any bitrate/frame rate, etc).

Being sent from FCP X 10.2 is not a requirement. I can actually make it work by dragging in a ProRes422 .MOV file created by another program.

According to the release notes, it's supposed to support Multi-Pass encoding. I only do single pass, so I haven't tested it yet.

----------

And here is your answer

Interesting, it's showing the video memory usage, but I think I'm reading it correctly... Only one GPU...

 

[bax2003]

Interesting, it's showing the video memory usage, but I think I'm reading it correctly... Only one GPU...

I don´t understand, where did you read one GPU ? There are two driver monitors open, one for GPU-1, other for GPU-2. Graph with spikes is for GPU which is computational only, and obvisusly is uses memory when its used by software. In my photo it is used by Compressor. When render finishes, all memory for that GPU becomes available again.

 

[jawatkin]

I don´t understand, where did you read one GPU ? There are two driver monitors open, one for GPU-1, other for GPU-2. Graph with spikes is for GPU which is computational only, and obvisusly is uses memory when its used by software. In my photo it is used by Compressor. When render finishes, all memory for that GPU becomes available again.

It looked to me by the memory usage on the graph that Compressor that only the first GPU was being utilized by Compressor in the screenshot. Sorry if I read it incorrectly, so it uses both GPUs?

 

[bax2003]

It looked to me by the memory usage on the graph that Compressor that only the first GPU was being utilized by Compressor in the screenshot. Sorry if I read it incorrectly, so it uses both GPUs?

Yes, when project is sent from Final Cut Pro X to Compressor. I did not tried Compressor "stand alone".