HandBrake version 1.11.0 brings important developments for users of workstations equipped with processors with a large number of cores. AMD has identified and then corrected several bottlenecks linked to thread management. These problems severely limited transcoding performance video on some Threadripper and Threadripper PRO configurations.
The problem did not come from a lack of hardware power, but from poor exploitation of available resources. HandBrake was not originally designed to optimally manage machines with more than 64 logical processors. As a result, with chips like the Ryzen Threadripper, a significant part of the computing potential remained unused.
In addition, certain workloads were broken up into tasks that were too small. While the approach might seem effective with traditional processors, it was punishing on massively multithreaded platforms. The system then spent too much time organizing and scheduling tasks, instead of using the available cores to actually encode the video.
Handbrake, “Threadripper†performance soars
This scheduling overhead was particularly visible in certain scenarios, notably at 720p. In some situations performance could drop by 60% instead of improving with the addition of additional cores.
The fixes included in HandBrake 1.11.0 correct the situation and improve the distribution of work between threads. The application is now able to better occupy available cores and reduce losses linked to task coordination. For users of Threadripper processors, the impact is very significant.
AMD claims impressive gains with a Ryzen Threadripper 7980X, a chip with 64 cores and 128 threads. Combined with 128 GB of DDR5-5600 and a Radeon RX 9070 XT, this configuration records up to 215% more performance in the Perfume test H.264 in 720p.
The improvements are not limited to this scenario. On the LG_8K test in 8-bit HEVC 4320p, AMD announces a gain of 203%. In 10-bit HEVC 4320p at 60 frames per second, the progression reaches 105%. Depending on the workloads tested, increases range from 16% to 215%.
Naturally, Threadripper PRO platforms also benefit from these optimizations. AMD cites in particular the Threadripper PRO 9995WX, a processor equipped with 96 cores and 192 threads. With the same Radeon RX 9070 XT, gains in HEVC can reach 181% depending on the type of encoding and the definition used.
Finally, the good news is that there is no complex manipulation to do. All you need to do is update Handbracke to version 1.11.
