Fairly inexpensive PC for Handbrake use?

[Bsmooth]

I'm spending a lot of time encoding with Handbrake. What fairly inexpensive store PC could I get for doing it. I'd like to just put it upstairs and let it do its thing. That way it would free my regular PC that I'm using for it now for better things. I can find a keyboard and have a monitor and mouse so I was hoping it wouldn't cost too much. Yes I realize storage is cheap, but would like to try this route for now.
What would be my options?

[dcoke22]

I'm spending a lot of time encoding with Handbrake. What fairly inexpensive store PC could I get for doing it. I'd like to just put it upstairs and let it do its thing. That way it would free my regular PC that I'm using for it now for better things. I can find a keyboard and have a monitor and mouse so I was hoping it wouldn't cost too much. Yes I realize storage is cheap, but would like to try this route for now.
What would be my options?

You've got to define what cheap is. The current base level M4 Mac mini is $600 in the US. That's a lot of computer for not a lot of money. And older models or used models can be had for even less. It would be reliable, quiet, and use relatively little power while encoding. I do all my Handbrake encoding on a Mac mini.

If you prefer a Windows computer, $200-ish will buy a refurbished few years old basic office computer. It'll be bigger, probably louder, and maybe not as fast as a modern Mac mini, but it'll cost less and probably work fine. Search 'refurbished PC' on Amazon.

If you can build your own PC, then you can probably min-max something with https://pcpartpicker.com that'll meet your needs.

[flojo]

The N150 nuc style boxes should be considered since for ~150usd you get a Intel with Quick Sync for encoding, 16GB RAM, 256GB of storage and 2.5gbs ethernet. You can download a .iso of Windows 11 trial here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar ... /windows11

With a Type-C port and 1 HDMI + 1 DP:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808467139145.html
No Type-C but 2 HDMI:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807948972514.html
No Type-C but passively cooled:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806178940675.html
With a Type-C and 2x 10gbs SFP ports + 2x 2.5gbs and DC DINN power option (I think :-/):
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806485746390.html

I have 3 of the N100's (predecessor). I run 1 of the passively cooled boxes non-stop for media related docker containers.

[Bsmooth]

I was thinking of a renewed Dell Optiplex. But which CPU would be best, especially If I wanted to do Intel QSV? Or I also have an older GTX 1050 TI I could put in. Probably won't even connect to Internet. Just a workhorse to do my Handbrake work. can you throw aa GTx 1050 Ti into a Dell, or are they a pain in the neck? The Dell Optiplex 7020 look like a cheap option, or maybe the 9020?

[dcoke22]

If you want to use Intel Quick Sync Video to do hardware encoding, Wikipedia has a handy chart showing which CPU generations support which parts of Intel Quick Sync.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Quick_Sync_Video#Hardware_decoding_and_encoding

For instance, if you want to do 10-bit h.265 encoding, you need a 7th gen Intel CPU or later. Windows 11 requires an 8th gen Intel CPU or later, so if you really want to be setup for long haul, you might as well get one of those.

There's a similar chart for Nvidia's NVENC hardware encoding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_NVENC The internet says a GTX 1050Ti is a 4th generation Pascal GP107 GPU, which is one of the first to support 10-bit h.265 encoding.

Depending on which CPU you end up with, Intel Quick Sync Video encoding may or may not be better than your NVENC encoding. You'd probably have to test a few titles to find out.

The other thing to keep in mind is how much power the thing sucks out of the wall. If your encoding box ends up like mine, it'll run 24x7. My Mac mini is pretty power efficient. An N150 NUC would probably be pretty efficient as well although I don't know how fast it would be. A regular old Dell with an old Nvidia card is undoubtedly the least efficient.

[Bsmooth]

I no little about Macs, but I must say you have me intrigued. Which one would you recommend and what are the best options to get with it. Or just point me in a good direction for using one for MKV and Handbrake use ?
I have an older 22" Samsung that works fine, but its VGA connectors probably won't work with the Mac. Tell me more !

[dcoke22]

Apple Silicon CPUs are relatively easy to understand. The current CPUs are the M4 models. Before the M4, there was the M3, and the M2 before that and the first was the M1. Inside each family there's 3 models (sometimes 4). There's the vanilla M# chip (e.g. M4), then there's the Pro chip (e.g. M4 Pro) which has more cores and a better GPU. Then there's the Max chip (e.g. M4 Max) which has more cores and a better GPU than the Pro chip. And sometimes there's an Ultra chip (e.g. M3 Ultra) which two of the Max chips combined into one.

The Apple Silicon chips for their computers are really the same chips they use in the iPhone, but with more cores suitable for a computer. Since the chips start from such a power efficient base, they're still fairly power efficient as they get combined into bigger and bigger CPUs.

Handbrake supports hardware encoding on Apple Silicon chips (and older Intel chips) with something called Apple Video Toolbox.

[dcoke22]

My current machine I use for encoding is an M2 Pro Mac mini. It has 10 cores & 10GB ethernet and I paid about $1100 for it on the Apple refurbished store a little more than a year ago.

That M2 Pro 10 core CPU gets a Geekbench multicore score of 12,395 and a Passmark Multithread Score of 21,855.
Comparatively, the new vanilla M4 10 core CPU gets a Geekbench multicore score of 14,601 and a Passmark Multithread Score of 24,190.
By two separate measures the base model M4 Mac mini is slightly faster than the previous M2 Pro model. That base model M4 Mac mini can often be found on the Apple Refurbished store for $509. It is almost $600 if you catch one with 10GB ethernet.

For comparison, I encoded a 45 minute episode of a TV show from a blu-ray rip 6 different ways using Handbrake CLI 1.9.0 on my 10-core M2 Pro Mac mini. Here is the command lines I used (minus the specifics about paths):

Code: Select all

cd "$output_prefix"/test/x265-10bit-2pass/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder x265_10bit --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --multi-pass --turbo --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768
cd "$output_prefix"/test/x265-10bit-2pass-AVT/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder vt_h265_10bit --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --multi-pass --turbo --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768
cd "$output_prefix"/test/x265-10bit-AVT/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder vt_h265_10bit --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768
cd "$output_prefix"/test/x264-8bit-2pass/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder x264 --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --multi-pass --turbo --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768
cd "$output_prefix"/test/x264-8bit-2pass-AVT/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder vt_h264 --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --multi-pass --turbo --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768
cd "$output_prefix"/test/x264-8bit-AVT/
time HandBrakeCLI --input 45MinuteTVShowEpisodeRip.mkv --output tvShowEpisode.mkv --encoder vt_h264 --vb 5000 --rate 60 --subtitle 1 --subname "" --crop-mode none --audio 1 --aencoder eac3 --ab 768

The CPU only x265 10-bit two pass encode took: 70m 19s
The hardware based Apple Video Toolbox h.265 10-bit two pass encode took: 10m 48s
The hardware based Apple Video Toolbox h.265 10-bit single pass encode took: 5m 24s

The CPU only x264 8-bit two pass encode took: 17m 58s
The hardware based Apple Video Toolbox h.264 8-bit two pass encode took: 11m 53s
The hardware based Apple Video Toolbox h.264 8-bit single pass encode took: 5m 38s

The CPU encoding does a respectable job and the hardware based encoding moves right along.

[Bsmooth]

Just curious how this compares to a PC based CPU. I mean right now with my older I5 11600K and 16 GB of memory I ca do a regular x264 Bluray between 30 minutes and maybe 1 1/2 hours. I'm not sure why the difference with same settings of Format MKV
Video Encoder H264(x264)
Framerate Same as Source, Constant framerate
Quality Constant 18-22 depending on source - DVD at 20, Bluray 20-22
Encoder preset Slow
Encoder Tune Film or animation depends on source
Encoder Profile Main
Encoder level 4.1
Audio same settings