How fast is the i7 - real life benchmark

You won't get five mins, at least I doubt it. I've done a Handbrake encode on my iMac I7 3.4GHZ in around 12 mins and that was Clash of the Titans...a big rip.

I have Handbrake installed on my rMBP 3GHZ I7 and I'll try a rip later..just got to move my BRD drive into this room...

First off, if you're encoding to mkv you won't be able to use them on an AppleTV. You want to go for m4v. You're probably best using handbrake's Apple TV 3 preset.

In terms of time, its nearly impossible to say exactly as there are variables other than processor model that will make a difference. For example, how much RAM would each system have, what kind and speed of hard drive do you have, are the files on an internal drive or an external USB drive, is your system running well, how many apps are running in the background, what OS is each machine running, what GPU does each machine use, what is the processor speed, is it a dual or a quad core i7?

To give an inexact comparison for you, however, I timed the encoding of a 400p AVI of 360Mb to Apple TV 3 Handbrake preset on both my old 2010 MacBook Pro 13" (2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, NVIDIA 320M, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, Mavericks) and my new 15" Retina MacBook Pro (2.3 GHz quad core Haswell i7, NVIDIA 750M, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Mavericks). The old MacBook Pro took 21 minutes, while the new MacBook Pro took 3 mins 45 seconds to encode the same file. About 5.6 times faster.

Elho said:

I see your point.

Let's say i want to compare my macbook 2.0; 4GB ram; running mavericks; with a base mac mini i7, 4gb ram, running mavericks. Both 5400 rpm hdd.

How important is the GPU in all of this? Which role does it play?

Your comparison is already impressive I must say!

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GPU isn't important if using Handbrake. Quite frankly, you will probably see anywhere from 5x to 10x faster with an i7. I assume though by "base Mac mini i7" you mean the Mid-level 2012 Mac Mini with no upgrades right? The "Base" Mini has an i5.

for what it's worth, the haswell i7 you're benching against has Iris Pro/crystal well, which means a super large fast cache. It's going to do computation like that a lot quicker than the current mac mini i7.

Also, if handbrake uses openCL(which I think it does), then that's another boost that the haswell part is going to have over the current mac mini i7.

None of the benchmarks on the handbrake website are directly on target, however. Even the anandtech cpu database doesn't have any mobile processors. They do, however, have the 3770k vs. 4770k (desktop parts without crystal well). In this comparison (which is only really good for comparing the difference between CPU generations), the 4770k is about 15% faster.

You don't need a quad-core i7 to significantly outpace your 5 yr old C2D MacBook.

Any Mac with 2nd/3rd/4th generation Core architecture can do that.

A refurbished 13" Ivy Bridge MBP would give you 90% of what your looking for and you stay mobile.

Elho said:

But for me to profit from speed compaired to my 2008 macbook, i dont really have to wait for haswell architecture...

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Of course not.

2011 would have been acceptable.

Looks like another person waiting for the Haswell Mac Mini. I can't believe they haven't been released by now.

Well then, be patient and wait for Apple to release the new model. It'll be sometime next year.

I've got a Haswell i7 MBP 2GHz and it's much much faster running Handbrake (uses all 8 cores / threads) than my old 2010 C2D.

I posted some real life test info in these threads.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1623759/

https://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-1625947.html

May help

Elho said:

I know it's stupid, but i just can't convince myself to buy the current mac mini when i know there is a new one around the corner.

Even if the current mac mini will be just fine for my daily needs ... urgh!

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For the record, the guys in June were saying the same thing

Schnort said:

Also, if handbrake uses openCL(which I think it does), then that's another boost that the haswell part is going to have over the current mac mini i7.

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The current versions of Handbrake don't use OpenCL iirc, there's a Windows only beta version you can download with limited OpenCL support, so it's definitely on the way, but it's probably a while off yet before OpenCL is fully utilised by it.

It's not clear if the Mac Mini will get the Iris Pro graphics with that lovely 128mb of cache memory, though I'm hoping the quad core models might, or maybe the build to order version. Even so, Iris graphics alone will be a solid OpenCL performer, which means the Mac Mini could become even faster for Handbrake encoding in future, I'm just not sure what the situation with OpenCL is exactly so I wouldn't get your hopes up just yet.

As another point of comparison, what would the base dual i5 Mac Mini be compared to the quad i7 Mac Mini in terms of Handbrake encoding?

Although I am in the same boat waiting for the new gen Mac Mini or jumping ship to a laptop.

Elho said:

Thanks !

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The link was to an archive so it didn't show images.

See the image on my post on this thread instead.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1625947/

Coding two similar MASH episodes (same original AVI batch run):

Episode 5X02 'Margaret's Engagement' is being done on a 2012 i7 2.6GHz Quad Core (Macmini6,2) and is transcoding at roughly 134fps.

Episode 9x01 'The best of enemies' is being done on a 2011 i5 2.5GHz Dual Core (Macmini5,2) and is transcoding at roughly 54fps.

Perfect timing on this thread! This morning I ordered a 2.6 quad i7 Mac mini (8GB RAM/256GB SSD) to replace a 2010 Mac mini 2.4 C2D (8GB RAM/240GB SSD). BluRay rips take forever and a day to encode on the 2010 machine (1080p, h.264, CQ=18, DTS passthrough, x264 preset= medium, tune=film). It will be very interesting to see how the new mini performs, though I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm since the process is still likely to take several hours.

Schnort said:

Also, if handbrake uses openCL(which I think it does), then that's another boost that the haswell part is going to have over the current mac mini i7.

Click to expand...

OpenCL support in x264 is still experimental. OpenCL does not improve the encoding speed, and is only available in the first pass, if you use 2-pass encoding. The real improvement in Haswell is AVX2:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/574869/137419114-Introduction-to-AVX2-optimizations-in-x264.pdf

opinio said:

Episode 5X02 'Margaret's Engagement' is being done on a 2012 i7 2.6GHz Quad Core (Macmini6,2) and is transcoding at roughly 134fps.

Episode 9x01 'The best of enemies' is being done on a 2011 i5 2.5GHz Dual Core (Macmini5,2) and is transcoding at roughly 54fps.

Click to expand...

So... high end BTO quad-core Ivy Bridge versus mid range dual-core Sandy Bridge.

3rd generation Intel Core architecture versus 2nd generation

1600MHz RAM versus 1333MHz

etc

As a general computing platform, the new mini will only be incrementally better than the current mini and it becomes a lot easier to buy now and pass on the incremental improvement.

If you are basing your buying decision on graphics performance, then the choices really are go for a refurbished 2011 w/6630m or wait for whatever is coming. The current 2012 minis are worse performers than either.

Elho said:

Keep us informed!
By the way, why is it you could resist to the new mac mini that is coming in the near future?

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Mainly the fact that I "needed" a new machine sooner rather than later. Long story short: I use this computer to run Plex Media Server, and my current mini is not capable of transcoding the number of simultaneous 1080p video streams I require.

I seriously considered a Windows build based on either the i7-4770 or i7-3930k; however, the current mini proved to be the path of least resistance. I can simply clone the hard drive on the old mini, stick it on the new one, and be done with it.