i7 Builds - Specs and Results

[albee1952]

Just my opinions:
Asus X99-E Intel X99 Chipset LGA 2011-3 DDR4 128GB M.2 USB 3.1 ATX motherboard.

Starting out with 64GB of ram(kingston hyperX Fury DDR4 2133MHz).

Intel Core i7-5820k Six Core 3.3-3.6GHz.

GIGABYTE Radeon RX 470 G1 Gaming 4G 1230MHz 4GB GDDR5 256-bit PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card. nVidia would be my choice

Intel 256GB 600p 2280, 1570/540 MB/s 3D NASN TLC PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 ssd Samsung 840/850 EVO(or PRO) would be my choice

Crucial 1TB MX300 7mm 530/510 MB/s 3D NAND SATA 6Bb/s 64MB cache ssd
assume this is for sample libraries? If so, no problem
Segate 2tb Barracuda ST2000DM001 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache
WD Caviar Black would be my choice for spinning drive
Asus STRIX Series SOAR Internal 7.1 channels 24-bit 384KHz S/PDIF PCI Express Sound card. For what purpose? Does the motherboard not have audio? I would use the on-board audio for all non-PT sound, and use a "real" interface for Pro Tools recording and playback

[DIABLO-19]

Thanks for the reply and much needed advice.

Where I am ordering from they don't offer nVidia as an option. I had the Samsung EVO starting out but changed motherboards and they are not compatible with it.

Yes the Crucial 1TB is for sample libraries, vst's, etc.

I'll have to check and see if they offer the western digital and if it's the one you are talking about.

As far as sound card goes are you suggesting that I don't get one at all or just down grade to a cheaper one?

Right now i have a used HD I/O Analog 16X16, used HD Native PCIe card. I just brought a used Omin HD I/O preamp to use for monitor control, mic pres, and headphone out. Decided against the Dangerous D-Box for monitor control. I still have to buy cables, DB25 cables. I am coming from a Mbox(third generation)



Much Thanks!!!

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by atticmike

Are there any benchmarks / results available? Of how well they perform / geekbench results?

You can go direct to geekbench and compare processors on the proper OS. We have tried to keep results around here, but its just to much work to be honest. Shan and I kept at it for the Opterons back in the day. Sunburst and Mykhal worked at keeping up the Q6600 series, Mykhal and I worked on the start of this i7 thread. The problem is we are now 6 generations into the i7 and its been years, and just to hard. There are a LOT of variables now as well Comparing a gen 2 6 core to a gen 6 is going to be a HUGE difference and has just got to much to keep track of it all. A few of us might have some of this in our heads, but otherwise you would just have to search.

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by ValkRider

Hi Guitardom,
Is that statement based on single CPU comparisons, as in one Xeon to one I7?
What about dual Xeons?
Don't most people that do their own builds using Xeon's go with dual processor's?
Is a single latest and greatest I7 more capable then dual Xeons?

I have done a lot of builds but not in the last 4 years though I try and keep up with what's new.
I consider computers to age like dogs.
7 years to our one
Edit: I am thinking more of a dedicated DAW application then for gaming purposes!

That is kind of trick question. You can buy a dual quad core processor Xeon for an 8 core, or just get a single processor i7 8 core. Which is more likely to perform faster?? this turns into what generations are you comparing? What are you after?

i7's will generally perform faster (clocked higher) than the comparable Xeon. Xeons are also typically running registered ram which is buffered making it slower. The actual benefits of registered ram are mostly thrown out the window just by shutting your machine down when not using it.

The benefits of Xeons are the ability to go over the current 10 core max of an i7, and depending on the generations and models, the Xeon could have a bit larger L2 cache which is like a ram built onto the processor for the CPU's most used instruction codes. The more cache, the smoother the machine can feel. Xeon server boards can also support more ram. This becomes a bit excessive though as a current i7 can support 128GB of ram with the right MB.

This is where generations come into play. Every Intel generation is obviously an improvement over the last. The largest chunk of my business is replacing Mac Pro's because of this. A current intel 6 core Windows system is equal to the newest 2013 Mac Pro 12 core in multicore performance. The current 6 core blows it away on single core performance. It smokes every generation before the 2013's to the point it starts doubling in power once you go a couple generations back. So someone with a 3.1 Mac Pro for instance would be looking at HUGE improvements by even going a modern 6 core.

[JCBigler]

Originally Posted by guitardom

You can go direct to geekbench and compare processors on the proper OS.

Wasn't it determined some years ago that Protools benefits more from the faster RAM that is used with the regular CPUs than with the ECC and buffered RAM that is used in the Xeon and Opteron CPUs? That the extra latency in the ECC RAM used up vital cycles that slowed Protools down slightly?

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by JCBigler

Wasn't it determined some years ago that Protools benefits more from the faster RAM that is used with the regular CPUs than with the ECC and buffered RAM that is used in the Xeon and Opteron CPUs? That the extra latency in the ECC RAM used up vital cycles that slowed Protools down slightly?

I mention that in my next post

[atticmike]

Any benchmark comparisons available? Current i7 scores vs Mac Pro 3.1 et cetera, whereas I've noticed scores dropped as of geekbench 4?

[ValkRider]

Originally Posted by guitardom

That is kind of trick question. You can buy a dual quad core processor Xeon for an 8 core, or just get a single processor i7 8 core. Which is more likely to perform faster?? this turns into what generations are you comparing? What are you after?

i7's will generally perform faster (clocked higher) than the comparable Xeon. Xeons are also typically running registered ram which is buffered making it slower. The actual benefits of registered ram are mostly thrown out the window just by shutting your machine down when not using it.

The benefits of Xeons are the ability to go over the current 10 core max of an i7, and depending on the generations and models, the Xeon could have a bit larger L2 cache which is like a ram built onto the processor for the CPU's most used instruction codes. The more cache, the smoother the machine can feel. Xeon server boards can also support more ram. This becomes a bit excessive though as a current i7 can support 128GB of ram with the right MB.

This is where generations come into play. Every Intel generation is obviously an improvement over the last. The largest chunk of my business is replacing Mac Pro's because of this. A current intel 6 core Windows system is equal to the newest 2013 Mac Pro 12 core in multicore performance. The current 6 core blows it away on single core performance. It smokes every generation before the 2013's to the point it starts doubling in power once you go a couple generations back. So someone with a 3.1 Mac Pro for instance would be looking at HUGE improvements by even going a modern 6 core.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, it is very much appreciated.
I started with a Z-100 (Zenith) many many moons ago.
Dual processors: 8085 & 8088
CPM & Z-DOS O.S. capability and a smoking 128k of memory. With not one but dual 5.25 floppys.
Ah! the good ol days? cough, choke, hack

[EGS]

Originally Posted by ValkRider

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, it is very much appreciated.
I started with a Z-100 (Zenith) many many moons ago.
Dual processors: 8085 & 8088
CPM & Z-DOS O.S. capability and a smoking 128k of memory. With not one but dual 5.25 floppys.
Ah! the good ol days? cough, choke, hack

Commodore 64 with 5.25 floppy AND data cassette tape. I bought it at Toys-R-Us!!! Oooo ahhh. As I recall, it worked pretty well for MIDI sequencing.

[Bob Olhsson]

Most numbers are meaningless because the real specification is floating point calculations per second. Intel has increased this with each new generation.