An embodiment of a semiconductor package apparatus may include technology to determine a residual error based on coding unit information, and determine a candidate coding unit and an associated rate distortion cost based on the residual error. An embodiment may additionally or alternatively include technology to partition a first coding unit into two or more smaller coding units based on a partition message, accelerate processing of at least one of the two or more smaller coding units, and estimate motion fora frame based at least partially on results of the accelerated processing. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.