AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920X & 1950X Review

GIMP

While it may be open source, GIMP is actually one of the most popular free photo editors available right now. It uses both CPU and GPU acceleration for certain tasks. In this test we use an 8K image and use a script to run eight different filters in succession. This is considered a lightly threaded workload since the memory, CPU and storage drive can all play a role in performance.

Handbrake

Video conversion from one format to another is a stressful task for any processor and speed is paramount. Handbrake is one of the more popular transcoders on the market since it is free, has a long feature list, supports GPU acceleration and has an easy-to-understand interface. In this test we take a 6GB 4K MP4 and convert it to a 1080P MKV file with a H.264 container format. GPU acceleration has been disabled. The results posted indicate how long it took for the conversion to complete. 

With GIMP and many other photo manipulation programs preferring high clock speeds over multiple cores, it was obvious the Threadripper processors would suffer. Our custom photo manipulation test actually saw the 1950X and 1920X come right up against the Ryzen 5 1600X rather than the faster Intel processors.

Luckily Handbrake saved the day by allowing Threadripper to flex some incredible muscles and beat down Intel’s highest end desktop processor.