AMD Ryzen 1700 vs. i5 7500 / i7 7700k and music production

[Alfonx]

Hi all!

Im thinking about buying myself a new (self/custom made) pc.
Playing Tracks in Live does not really kill my CPU - but my Core2duo got a slow behavior together with push 2, max for live. Not playing the Instruments. But loading a new Instrument and so-its all a little bit slow. And beside making music i want to play some new games (rise of the tomb raider, Fallout 4, ...) in full-hd (no WQHD/4K).
So a new CPU and Board is really welcome (plan to buy 16GB ram).

In my basket case:
i5 7500

I really dont wanted to spend much more money.
... but now i am thinking about buying an Ryzen 7 1700 (which IS more money.... ).
In singlecore about 93% compared to i5 7500.
BUT about 30% faster in multicore compared to i7 7700k (!)

The Ryzen got 8 Cores (+SMT) and i wonder if this would REALLY help in Music Production.
Perhaps not at this time - but with the next updates (Software) - i read live supports 4 cores (by now).

Someone here with the same thoughts?
Would you prefer buying an i5, i7 or Ryzen 7 1700 for music production and playing some games?

Greets
Alfonx

[login]

The more cores the better, invest as much in CPU as you can since is the part that is harder to upgrade, maybe save in RAM (you can add more later), GPU(you don't need a powerfull one for audio) and SSD (you can add more later) to get the best CPU you can.

This new Ryzen family is having incredible benchmarks for its price, much more value than intel at some price points. Personally I would go with the 1800 if I could.

[kitekrazy]

Wait till it matures. For audio it is not as good as Intel. More cores are not always better unless you work in video. So far Ryzen is impressive for video rendering. Running low latency audio is not there yet.

[Stromkraft]

For audio it is not as good as Intel. More cores are not always better unless you work in video.

I've yet to experience that more cores aren't better for audio, especially with Live. Unless you mean 3D, then video editing doesn't need much CPU at all. At least the programs we use utilizes the graphic cards much more than CPU.

In the case of Ryzen and Live I think it's not certain it works out. There's some thoughts that Intel handles audio processes better, whatever that means, but whether that is true or not I don't know and Ryzen is new.

Anyone has any links to articles that straighten out this with AMD vs Intel and audio?

[Alfonx]

This new Ryzen family is having incredible benchmarks for its price, much more value than intel at some price points. Personally I would go with the 1800 if I could.

ohhhh.... thats to much 4 me.
Thank you - so i'll look for the strongest CPU i can get for my bucks.

[Alfonx]

Wait till it matures.

I hate waiting. :-/
Conclusion:
At this time i'll go for i7 because the single core values much are better (4 strong cores + HT).
The Ryzen got 8 cores but they are not very strong in single core.

So - yes, i am doing music. But i think its not very necessary to have SO much cores for my Hobby.
Video rendering... is not my goal.
Beside making music i want to play some games. And i think the i7 is the compromise. And with i7 CPU i dont expect bad surprises with Audio Production.

I would like to hear something from Users who are using the new Ryzen and Live. Perhaps we will hear and know soon. Beside the Users it would be great to hear something from Ableton (about the Ryzen Support).

[Emanresu0891]

Wait till it matures.

I hate waiting. :-/
Conclusion:
At this time i'll go for i7 because the single core values much are better (4 strong cores + HT).
The Ryzen got 8 cores but they are not very strong in single core.

So - yes, i am doing music. But i think its not very necessary to have SO much cores for my Hobby.
Video rendering... is not my goal.
Beside making music i want to play some games. And i think the i7 is the compromise. And with i7 CPU i dont expect bad surprises with Audio Production.

I would like to hear something from Users who are using the new Ryzen and Live. Perhaps we will hear and know soon. Beside the Users it would be great to hear something from Ableton (about the Ryzen Support).

I think you going for a cpu that has better single core processing is the best idea.
It doesn't matter how many cores you have with audio because no daw properly spreads the cpu load across the cores efficiently. Its basically one track per core. If you add too much to a track and the cpu has a low clock speed you will get playback issues even though you may have 7 cores open doing nothing.

In my experiences higher clock speed per single thread is the most important thing in audio. I have a MacBook pro 2012 with whatever 2.somthing quad core i7 came with it and it is not enough for 96k recording at 64 samples. I can barely record at 88k at 64 samples due to the clock speed being so low. Its basically the same as recording with a 2.4ghz single core cpu from 10 years ago.

All that said I am building an amd pc soon Im just waiting on the case and I will let you know how it works out.

[Alfonx]

All that said I am building an amd pc soon Im just waiting on the case and I will let you know how it works out.

Respect to you! You recommend me buying an i7 but youre about to buy an AMD (thats not sarcasm - i mean it true). Many AMD fans are saying: Hey - buy AMD! Now! Quick!
So i am really excited to hear some news from you....
Which CPU did you bought exactly?

Greets
Alfonx

[H20nly]

I think you going for a cpu that has better single core processing is the best idea.

agreed.


AMD vs. Intel is like Nike vs. Adidas, not much difference. not 100% sure about lately, but in the past... AMD would come up with the great ideas/innovations and Intel would perfect them. basically, AMD had the smarts and Intel had the money.

you can't go wrong with an Intel, but i seriously doubt you can go wrong with an AMD either. see quote above.

[Stromkraft]

I have a MacBook pro 2012 with whatever 2.somthing quad core i7 came with it and it is not enough for 96k recording at 64 samples. I can barely record at 88k at 64 samples due to the clock speed being so low.

You obviously use the wrong audio interface. We run 96 on multiple quadcore MBPs without any major issues.

In my experiences higher clock speed per single thread is the most important thing in audio.

Clock speed is not the only aspect indicating performance level so potentially woolly thinking there. Have you done any actual tests on different machines? Experience, while not without value, is biased.

[JamieRmusic]

CPU Benchmarks mean nothing in the world of audio. In fact, you never utilize more than maybe 50-70% of your cpu at any given time.
It's all about I/O. The peripherals talking with your CPU. The CPU will in fact make your writing speed go faster to disk, which is why it matters a lot more when working with video editing. The audio interface, sample location, etc is far more important. The main issue, which makes playback not go smooth, is the fact that the CPU can only do ONE thing at a time, and it will constantly get requests from other places including the ones you are asking it to do. So when it is locked into one thing, it cannot fill the buffer for your audio chunk. Sadly, it CANNOT que up more than one chunk at any given time. Essentially, your captain is locked out of the control booth, while the train is running head first towards the cliff.

This is why some XEON" 59" core blabla CPUs will perform worse than i5 3ghz CPUs. Every CPU, every setup, will work differently. This is why you need "benchmarks", from someone with the same audio interface, external drives, motherboard, cpu etc as you are planning to buy. Then, and only then, will you get a true representation of how it will run.

That said, ryzen has propelled AMD on par with Intel at last. They are fairly identical, besides some tasks where intel is still performing better. Ryzen seem to scale better, and it has a very interesting architecture, as well as a whooping 16mb cache. Excellent OC possibilities, amazing scaling and performance. Can't go wrong with them.

Watch this :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUsLLEkswzE

[Stromkraft]

Watch this :

CPU Performance vs. Real-Time Performance in Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) by Richard Ames Music in 2015

[Alfonx]

Hi all,

when time goes by ... I have not bought a new PC yet....

But i wanna tell you that i am close to buying an i7 8700k now to have enough Power (not only audio, its for games/everything). I am a (just) a little bit thinking about buying an i5 8400 because the i5 is very good in price-performance - and very powerful too.... But just a little bit thinking

The final decision is just some weeks ahead (still hoping to end my journey to my new Desktop setup ).

Greets
Alfonx