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So I don’t take a different post completely off topic, I’m answering and explaining a few differences here about Intel and AMD CPUs that some people may be unaware of and also touching upon certain issues with discreet GPUs. I round up this post by mentioning something very positive which I think we will be seeing in the soon to be released update for Edius. Also, all of my references to Edius are to do with Edius X and the Edius workflows I’m talking about are those with H.264 and H.265 source media, as this was the basis of the previous workflow example and H.264 and H.265 are going to be the most representative of codecs used with Edius, both in professional and amateur use.
The last Intel system I worked on that worked “properly” with Edius was a 10th Gen i9. That system was noticeably faster than your 5950x when using just straight clips or clips with the colour correction filter. Faster as in more clips in real-time. This was using H.264/5 4:2:0 25FPS sources at both 1080 and UHD.
You have to remember that the QS processing also helps with decoding, this is why even a 10th Gen Intel CPU will be better than your 5950x for Edius.
This also brings us to another reason why the 5950x will always be a poor choice for Edius. Even if GV update Edius so that it takes account of the video decoding/encoding proceeding power of AMD APUs, this still won’t help you with the 5950x because it’s not an APU. In fact, in that instance there’s a chance that a much lower powered and cheaper AMD APU could be better than a 5950x in Edius.
For instance. Take a very powerful Xeon system and compare it to a less powerful and much cheaper Intel desktop system with QS, for instance a 10850K. The cheaper, and technically less powerful system will be a much better option for Edius. This may end up being the same with AMD CPUs VS AMD APUs if Edius ever takes advantage of the iGPU on AMD APUs as it does with QS on the iGPUs of compatible Intel CPUs.
The bottom line is that a 5950x just isn’t a great choice for Edius and it will always be beaten on performance in Edius by much cheaper Intel CPUs.
You’ve also mentioned things about the Nvidia GPUs. For a number of reasons, QS is better than NVENC, not least of all because earlier versions of NVENC have B frame problems and aren’t as efficient as QS. There’s also the consideration of GVs implementation of NVENC and how it differs from the way others use NVENC with their post applications.
Don’t forget, you “have to” use an Nvidia GPU or you won’t be doing much at all with Edius and your 5950x. Given that you need at least some sort of GPU just to be able to switch on your PC, you are immediately at other disadvantages compared to most other Edius users. You’ve obviously got your reasons for choosing such a hardware workflow but I doubt you’ll find many Edius users who would knowingly and willingly opt into buying something that simply isn’t as suited to Edius as a single Intel CPU/iGPU combination is, which will also be a lot cheaper and more powerful.
Given that the vast majority of Edius users won’t be seeing any advantage what so ever with using an Nvidia GPU, then it would make sense to not have to buy something you don’t need. In which case a compatible Intel CPU, which is also the best performing CPU, coupled with QS, is going to be all that is needed for the vast majority of Edius use. This is also how Canopus/GV have historically designed Edius to run, as a CPU based post application which later took account of QS and one could argue that QS is still a CPU asset anyway. Maybe this changes in the future but even if it does it won’t benefit your 5950x.
let’s not forget just how cost prohibitive any discreet GPU is right now, let alone Nvidia GPUs and the general (industry) consensus is that we are going to have to wait at least 2 years to see anything change with regard the silicon shortages and before we get back to any “normality” with prices. Personally, I think this current position we are in with GPUs and many other processor based items, is our future norm and prices will always be higher than we used to pay and shortages will always be a thing, by comparison.
So with that in mind and also bearing in mind that if the least anyone would want from an Nvidia GPU is NVENC and to be up to date with NVENC you’d need at least Turing. You would have to be paying what can only be described as a huge amount of money just to get H.265 encoding, not even decoding. Then there’s also the fact that Edius does not scale directly with Nvidia GPUs as far as its very limited compatible processing tasks are concerned. Then buying into any AMD CPU right now, let alone the 5950x, is an extremely poor choice, not just for performance but also your wallet.
Now talking about the future. Pat recently eluded to the fact that some Edius users are going to be happy with the next update. We can all hold our breaths and hope this means full discreet GPU utilisation. However, even if that isn’t the case, I think it’s a solid bet that we now get full DG1 and DG2 compatibility. That being the case, we are likely to see 11th and 12th Gen Intel CPUs taking a hefty leap in QS processing performance with Edius. This will also force the 5950x further down the food chain and given that 11th Gen CPUs have now become cheaper, they could now become the sweet spot for Edius. And let’s not second guess what may be about to happen with Edius and 12Th Gen/DG2 if this new update is what we think it’s doing to be, but this could be the biggest boost in Edius performance that we’ve ever seen.
In one of my many video examples of Edius, I made a video that was showing some very odd behaviour with DG1 on an 11th Gen NUC, basically Xe graphics. And I say odd in a very good way. Not only was the QS processing noticeably better than UHD750 etc. or anything on desktop but there was also an effect on the colour processing. It was never explained why this oddity occurred, although, it none the less demonstrated some very beneficial behaviour with Edius as far as processing with Intel Graphics is concerned and at least hinted that there are benefits beyond just decoding and encoding H.264/5 with QS.
Taking that last point a step further. I’d guess that if GV can leverage any further performance enhancements for Edius from already available technology, it’s more likely to be Intel based as opposed to Nvidia or AMD. So, while we are all asking for GPU acceleration for decoding and timeline/FX processing with Nvidia etc. Which I suspect we will never happen, or at least to the degree that we would all want, having seen such benefits in other post applications. I’ve got a feeling that we will see some very noticeable performance enhancements for Edius with DG1 and DG2.
In fact, just to round off this post and to explain why Intel CPUs will always be a better bet for Edius compared to AMD and why a 5950x is not only a poor choice but quite possibly the poorest choice. I’m going to well and truly nail my colours to the mast and say that the next Edius update is definitely going to give us GPU optimisation, which is likely to be Intel based for their iGPUs and soon to be released DG2 Xe-HPG based discreet GPUs. And in the very unlikely event, maybe the same for Nvidia and/or AMD. Which would mean that everyone is a winner.
Originally posted by noafilm
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You have to remember that the QS processing also helps with decoding, this is why even a 10th Gen Intel CPU will be better than your 5950x for Edius.
This also brings us to another reason why the 5950x will always be a poor choice for Edius. Even if GV update Edius so that it takes account of the video decoding/encoding proceeding power of AMD APUs, this still won’t help you with the 5950x because it’s not an APU. In fact, in that instance there’s a chance that a much lower powered and cheaper AMD APU could be better than a 5950x in Edius.
For instance. Take a very powerful Xeon system and compare it to a less powerful and much cheaper Intel desktop system with QS, for instance a 10850K. The cheaper, and technically less powerful system will be a much better option for Edius. This may end up being the same with AMD CPUs VS AMD APUs if Edius ever takes advantage of the iGPU on AMD APUs as it does with QS on the iGPUs of compatible Intel CPUs.
The bottom line is that a 5950x just isn’t a great choice for Edius and it will always be beaten on performance in Edius by much cheaper Intel CPUs.
You’ve also mentioned things about the Nvidia GPUs. For a number of reasons, QS is better than NVENC, not least of all because earlier versions of NVENC have B frame problems and aren’t as efficient as QS. There’s also the consideration of GVs implementation of NVENC and how it differs from the way others use NVENC with their post applications.
Don’t forget, you “have to” use an Nvidia GPU or you won’t be doing much at all with Edius and your 5950x. Given that you need at least some sort of GPU just to be able to switch on your PC, you are immediately at other disadvantages compared to most other Edius users. You’ve obviously got your reasons for choosing such a hardware workflow but I doubt you’ll find many Edius users who would knowingly and willingly opt into buying something that simply isn’t as suited to Edius as a single Intel CPU/iGPU combination is, which will also be a lot cheaper and more powerful.
Given that the vast majority of Edius users won’t be seeing any advantage what so ever with using an Nvidia GPU, then it would make sense to not have to buy something you don’t need. In which case a compatible Intel CPU, which is also the best performing CPU, coupled with QS, is going to be all that is needed for the vast majority of Edius use. This is also how Canopus/GV have historically designed Edius to run, as a CPU based post application which later took account of QS and one could argue that QS is still a CPU asset anyway. Maybe this changes in the future but even if it does it won’t benefit your 5950x.
let’s not forget just how cost prohibitive any discreet GPU is right now, let alone Nvidia GPUs and the general (industry) consensus is that we are going to have to wait at least 2 years to see anything change with regard the silicon shortages and before we get back to any “normality” with prices. Personally, I think this current position we are in with GPUs and many other processor based items, is our future norm and prices will always be higher than we used to pay and shortages will always be a thing, by comparison.
So with that in mind and also bearing in mind that if the least anyone would want from an Nvidia GPU is NVENC and to be up to date with NVENC you’d need at least Turing. You would have to be paying what can only be described as a huge amount of money just to get H.265 encoding, not even decoding. Then there’s also the fact that Edius does not scale directly with Nvidia GPUs as far as its very limited compatible processing tasks are concerned. Then buying into any AMD CPU right now, let alone the 5950x, is an extremely poor choice, not just for performance but also your wallet.
Now talking about the future. Pat recently eluded to the fact that some Edius users are going to be happy with the next update. We can all hold our breaths and hope this means full discreet GPU utilisation. However, even if that isn’t the case, I think it’s a solid bet that we now get full DG1 and DG2 compatibility. That being the case, we are likely to see 11th and 12th Gen Intel CPUs taking a hefty leap in QS processing performance with Edius. This will also force the 5950x further down the food chain and given that 11th Gen CPUs have now become cheaper, they could now become the sweet spot for Edius. And let’s not second guess what may be about to happen with Edius and 12Th Gen/DG2 if this new update is what we think it’s doing to be, but this could be the biggest boost in Edius performance that we’ve ever seen.
In one of my many video examples of Edius, I made a video that was showing some very odd behaviour with DG1 on an 11th Gen NUC, basically Xe graphics. And I say odd in a very good way. Not only was the QS processing noticeably better than UHD750 etc. or anything on desktop but there was also an effect on the colour processing. It was never explained why this oddity occurred, although, it none the less demonstrated some very beneficial behaviour with Edius as far as processing with Intel Graphics is concerned and at least hinted that there are benefits beyond just decoding and encoding H.264/5 with QS.
Taking that last point a step further. I’d guess that if GV can leverage any further performance enhancements for Edius from already available technology, it’s more likely to be Intel based as opposed to Nvidia or AMD. So, while we are all asking for GPU acceleration for decoding and timeline/FX processing with Nvidia etc. Which I suspect we will never happen, or at least to the degree that we would all want, having seen such benefits in other post applications. I’ve got a feeling that we will see some very noticeable performance enhancements for Edius with DG1 and DG2.
In fact, just to round off this post and to explain why Intel CPUs will always be a better bet for Edius compared to AMD and why a 5950x is not only a poor choice but quite possibly the poorest choice. I’m going to well and truly nail my colours to the mast and say that the next Edius update is definitely going to give us GPU optimisation, which is likely to be Intel based for their iGPUs and soon to be released DG2 Xe-HPG based discreet GPUs. And in the very unlikely event, maybe the same for Nvidia and/or AMD. Which would mean that everyone is a winner.
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