AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X & 7970X Review: Revived HEDT Brings More Cores of Zen 4

TR 7000 vs. Intel: Encoding

One of the interesting elements of modern processors is encoding performance. This covers two main areas: encryption/decryption for secure data transfer and video transcoding from one video format to another.

In the encrypt/decrypt scenario, how data is transferred and by what mechanism is pertinent to on-the-fly encryption of sensitive data - a process by which more modern devices are leaning towards for improving software security.

We've updated our list of encoding benchmarks for our 2024 CPU suite to include some of the most relevant and recent codecs, such as AV1, HEVC, and VP9. Not only this, but we have also included FLAC audio encoding as well as WebP2 image encoding into the mix to show not only how the latest processors perform with these codecs but also to show discrepancies in performance throughout the different segments.

We are using DDR5-5200 RDIMM memory on the Ryzen Threadripper 7980X and 7970X as per JEDEC specifications. For Intel's Xeon W9-3495X, we are using DDR5-4800 RDIMM memory as per Intel's JEDEC specifications. It should be noted that both platforms are run with their full allocation of memory channels, eg, TR7000 in 4-channel and Sapphire Rapids in 8-channel.

Below are the settings we have used for each platform:

• DDR5-5200 RDIMM - AMD Threadripper 7000
• DDR5-4800 RDIMM - Intel Xeon Sapphire Rapids WS
• DDR5-5600B CL46 - Intel 14th Gen
• DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 7000

Starting with the WebP2 Image encoding tests, the Ryzen Threadripper 7980X and 7970X perform well compared to the other chips we've tested. Interestingly, in the SVT AV1 encoding using the fastest preset, the desktop chips with the faster core frequencies win. The tables turn using the mid preset, with both Threadripper 7000 chips sitting on top of the charts.

In the SVT-HEVC benchmark, the Intel Xeon W9-3495X sits at the top of the list, and the same is prevalent in the VP9 encoding benchmark. In the FFmpeg 6.0 benchmark with x264 and x265, the desktop processors with the faster cores win in this situation, with the Core i9-14900K and the 6.0 GHz boost core frequencies playing a bigger hand than simply having more cores.

Looking at 7-Zip performance, both the Threadripper 7980X and 7970X are vastly superior to the Intel Xeon W9-3475X and the flagship desktop chips, including the Core i9-14900K, Ryzen 9 7950X, and Ryzen 9 7950X3D.