How good is GK with multi core CPUs?

[Ice =A=]

Can GK take advantage of multicore CPUs? Do you have to configure it some special way or does it support such processors automatically?
Do these optimizations work with all DivX and XviD versions?
Thanks!!!

[Doom9]

AutoGK is just a very intelligent launcher for other applications.. it depends on the audio and video encoder to actually make use of SMP systems. To my knowledge, neither lame (for audio encoding via BeSweet) nor DivX & XviD contains SMP specific optimizations. Hence all you can do is move processes to a different CPU but since the actual encoder isn't running separate from the decoder, you'll get the result of Window's placing encoding threads over your CPU cores.

This isn't multicore specific btw.. it applies to all multi CPU setups as well as Hyperthreading capable CPUs.

[Ice =A=]

That was fast, thanks!
I have to confess that I'm very new to AutoGK. However I just found that chart here @ Anandtech (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2410&p=6) which looked impressive to me!
Any insight of that, especially which programs/configurations they used?

[Doom9]

They used AutoGK as stated on that page. You'll get that performance increase because Windows dynamically schedules threads for the least busy CPU.. you'll see what kind of CPU usage you get but normally without any special encoder optimization (so they'd have to be in the XviD or DivX codec), you won't get 99% usage on both cores. The experience with the x264 codec, which has undergone some SMP optimizations, shows that CPU usage of both cores went up considerably with the optimized version (but you'll never reach 99% on both).

It is not always easy to make SMP optimizations because for ideal cpu use you need to rip each frame to be encoded apart, encode parts on different cores, and put it back together. In MPEG-4 AVC, since frames can be put into different slices, this is probably a more straightforward task than for codec specs that do not forsee such mechanisms.

[Ice =A=]

Did I get this right: If I use a dual core CPU I get those performance increases of at least 33% (like shown at Anandtech) automatically?! With any encoder I use, let it be DVDx with Xvid or something else?!?
That would be just too cool!!!

[jggimi]

Moving to PC HW/SW

[Doom9]

Did I get this right: If I use a dual core CPU I get those performance increases of at least 33% (like shown at Anandtech) automatically?!Yes.

And you'll get even more from smp optimized applications. So if you were to use x264 from within Gordian Knot, and configure x264 to use 2 threads, you get an even more impressive speed boost.

[Ice =A=]

Oh boy, that's great! :) Thanks!

[dvd_maniac]

Just my 2 cents:

I have been encoding all my TV captures into xvid using latest AutoGK 2.09.
I record from Digital Cable into 12mbit/s mpeg-2. leaving me with about 5GB per hour of video. AutoGK takes a little over 2 hours to encode the file into 300MB/hr xvid file. This is on my P4 3.0 (478 pin) HT enabled CPU with 1GB DDR400 ram onto a raid-5 disk array.
I just purchased the Dual Core 3.0 Pavillion m7170n PC (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=320289&pfp=cat3) from CompUSA and now it takes about 1 hour 15 Min. The only time the two CPUs seem to work together is during the VirtualDubMod phases. But I am mightily impressed with the speed increase and hope that the other steps get SMP optimized soon....