Advice on choosing a CPU

[jhayat]

Hi all.

Going to build a new computer, and am trying to decide what CPU to go for. It will be a W7 Ult 64 desktop, and the MB choice will most likely be ASUS. The model will be dictated by the CPU.

I don't do any gaming. I do music composition. I currently have a Core i7 4820, 4 core, 3.70 GHz CPU. The MB has 64 MB of RAM, and when my template is loaded, my TM reports just under 61 GB RAM used. Even when I trigger a large amount of samples, I am nowhere near maxing out the CPU, so there is no issue there, currently. My new computer will also have 64 GB RAM.

Do I want a Core X, or an i7? But wait - the Ark Intel site has Core i7 CPUs listed under "Core™ X-series Processors" and also under "7th Generation Intel® Core™ i7 Processors". This is the first thing that confuses me.

Do I want a 8 core 4.3 GHz chip with an 11MB cache, or a 6 core 3.8 GHz chip with an 15MB cache? I don't know if my DAW (Cubase) can take advantage of more than four cores... does the app need to be designed in order to take adv. of a specific # of cores? I can always ask support about that.

Any advice, recommendations, or comments will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mdd1963]

If existing CPU is currently performing fine, I'd stand pat, and save your money, frankly, as you've already stated your current cpu is 'nowhere near maxed out'.... ; your existing CPU is 3.7/3.9 GHz , and at least it is 4c/8t, or, hyperthreaded...

Complicating these matters, drivers for newest chipsets are not/were not being released to allow an option of utilizing Win7 with newest chipsets....so Windows 7 is not going to work for 7th or 8th gen Intel chipsets, and I believe similar situations exist for Ryzen R5/R7 and WIndows 7....

I'd rethink your decision to upgrade , given your curernt OS and usage goals /scenario...

If you MUSt upgrade 'just because', you'd want something at least capable of utilizing more than 64 GB of RAM in future (Z170/Z270 are maxed at 64 GB), so I'd look at X99,making a concious effort to avoid X299 until it matures at little....

GIven the number of folks with stability issues with X370 and Ryzen in this forum, I'd likely avoid this platform a little while as well....

 

[jhayat]

Hey - thanks for the answer.

"so Windows 7 is not going to work for 7th or 8th gen Intel chipsets,"

Oooohhhhh. See, this is why I ask!

Well, the reason I want to upgrade is not so much for a "faster machine", but b/c I want to add more RAM to my slave, which is maxed out at 24 GB. So, I was going to make this machine my slave, and the new one would replace this... and I figured if I were building a new machine, I would make it "better", faster, etc...

Ok, so I need to look into whether or not my apps will all install and run properly on W10. If so, I will likely go that route instead of another W7 machine.

Assuming that will be the case, what CPUs should I be looking at?

Thanks again.

 

[mdd1963]

Pretty sure Z170 works with Windows 7 (with 64 GB cap on memory, chipset limitation), and, it's possible X99 chipset does as well...(supports 128 GB)

I'd do some research on your chosen primary application to see if/how well it scales w/ more cores vs. clock speed, and/or more RAM....and to see if there are Windows 10 issues with the program...

IF win10 works, there are some tremendous deals out there on R7-1700X processors (8 core/16 thread), but, that is of little consequenceif you find out your main program is single threaded, which might mean it would do best on a 7700K by far.

Research...

 

[jhayat]

I am back

So, I am going with W10, as I did some research and found out that all of my apps will run and install properly - even those that were written way back when - prior to W8.

I have also learned that my main app is desigined to take advantage of however many cores are present.

So, I am still on the fence about which CPU. Looking on the Intel site, I see, for the same CPU:

Processor Base Frequency - 3.30 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency - 4.30 GHz

Does that mean that OOTB the CPU runs at 3.30, and o'clocked it runs at 4.30?

So, the i9-7900 is 3.30 base, but the i7 that I have now is 3.70. However the i9 has 10 cores and a 13.75MB cache, while the i7 has 4 cores and a 10MB cache. So, what does that mean in terms of speed and overall performance?

And then the i7-6950 is also 10 cores, but the base is 3.20 (slower?), but has a 25MB cache.

How does one go about making a decision here?

Thanks again

 

[mdd1963]

I am back

So, I am going with W10, as I did some research and found out that all of my apps will run and install properly - even those that were written way back when - prior to W8.

I have also learned that my main app is desigined to take advantage of however many cores are present.

So, I am still on the fence about which CPU. Looking on the Intel site, I see, for the same CPU:

Processor Base Frequency - 3.30 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency - 4.30 GHz

Does that mean that OOTB the CPU runs at 3.30, and o'clocked it runs at 4.30?

So, the i9-7900 is 3.30 base, but the i7 that I have now is 3.70. However the i9 has 10 cores and a 13.75MB cache, while the i7 has 4 cores and a 10MB cache. So, what does that mean in terms of speed and overall performance?

And then the i7-6950 is also 10 cores, but the base is 3.20 (slower?), but has a 25MB cache.

How does one go about making a decision here?

Thanks again

Base clock is (3.3 GHz, etc..)what all cores operate at normally, and one or two cores might clock/turbo up to the higher 4.x GHz when possible...; overclocking locks cores at desired fixed multiplier if needed...(example: 40 x 100, etc..).

The 6950, for instance, was *insanely* priced compared to the very competitive 1800X; the 6950 was/is priced so high, I would not even consider it, frankly..; for the extra money needed for 6950 over an 1800X, you can pay for the case, good GPU or two, RAM, M.2 drive, etc....