VIDEO ENCODING

Taking video that’s been shot in one format, and changing it to another, so it can be displayed or archived more easily, is a classic CPU-intensive task. Exporting your projects from video-editing software will also benefit here.

We took a 4K video file in HEVC (also known as X265), captured on an iPhone, and converted it to the 1080p X264 format our set-top box can manage using Handbrake, a freely available conversion application. A 16-core Threadripper managed the downsampling and codec conversion at an average of 45fps, taking about 70 percent of CPU time, and spreading over more than 300 threads, when all’s said and done.

One of the good things we’ve noticed about Threadripper is that it never gets very hot, even with a modest overclock. We’ve only got a single 120mm radiator on ours, albeit cooled by two fans, but during our Handbrake tests, it never got above around 55 C. This is possibly due to AMD’s use of solder, rather than thermal paste under the chip’s lid, or it could be thanks to something deeper within the chip’s design.

Another similar task that can be accelerated by an HEDT processor is file compression, with 7zip in particular having a nice, easy-to-find “Number of CPU Threads” option on its “Add to Archive” screen. The LZMA2 algorithm is the one to choose, because it opens up as many threads as you can give it—others are limited to one or two. In our testing, it quickly shot to 84 percent of CPU usage, before backing off slightly to the high 70s.