2017/10/24 19:13:55
Soundwise
Hey folks,
Struggling with making a decision... I need to upgrade my CPU. The main contenders are i5-7600 and i7-7700. Is there any reason to get i7 with its HT and 4 virtual cores or could i5 be sufficient for most of the tracking/mixing tasks?
Would appreciate any first-hand experience particularly with Sonar and in the box mixing style.
 
2017/10/24 19:26:28
dcumpian
I have an older i5 (4 years now) that Jim Roseberry (Studiocat) built. I get along pretty well mixing on it. My projects routinely have anywhere from 30 to 60 tracks. Plugin count affects CPU usage more than track count though, and I will freeze as I go. Track count is all about disk speeds.
 
Regards,
Dan
2017/10/24 20:46:43
TheMaartian
You don't say if all other things (RAM, storage, etc) are equal, or not. If it's only between the i5 and i7 and the difference is something you can afford, take the i7. If you have a fixed budget, you might be better served with the i5 with more RAM and storage. I don't have any i5 experience, but unless SONAR has code that takes advantage of HT, I'd guess that it's pretty much of a wash (c'est la même chose).
2017/10/24 20:52:39
Jim Roseberry
If you're working with dense projects, get the 7700k.
If you're not working with particularly dense projects, the 7600k will be fine.
Cost difference is about $100.
 
2017/10/24 22:39:55
Soundwise
dcumpian
I have an older i5 (4 years now) that Jim Roseberry (Studiocat) built. I get along pretty well mixing on it. My projects routinely have anywhere from 30 to 60 tracks. Plugin count affects CPU usage more than track count though, and I will freeze as I go. Track count is all about disk speeds.
 
Regards,
Dan

Thanks Dan! I'll take your advice into consideration.
 
TheMaartian
I don't have any i5 experience, but unless SONAR has code that takes advantage of HT, I'd guess that it's pretty much of a wash (c'est la même chose).

I've recently found out that number of virtual cores is not signaficantly important for video editing. It's more about CPU frequency and HDD (SSD) performance. I have 4 physical drives and 16GB DDR4 RAM. So the real question is how Hyper-threading affects DAW performance. Can't figure this myself, that's why I need help.
 
Jim Roseberry
If you're working with dense projects, get the 7700k.
If you're not working with particularly dense projects, the 7600k will be fine.
Cost difference is about $100.

Sonar has many workarounds to tame CPU hogs and handle dense loads. As for K versions - my motherboard does not support overclocking. Is there any reason to pay more for K labeled CPUs in this case?


 
I'll try to formulate my questions more clearly:
1. Do i7-7700 in general and Hyper-Threading particularly have significant benefits over i5-7600?
2. Since my motherboard does not support overclocking and I don't want to mess with high TDP will K modification still be a better choice over a regular counterpart?
 
2017/10/25 15:59:40
Jim Roseberry
Cost difference between 7700 vs. the 7700k ranges from $0 to $20.
 
The 7700 base speed is 3.6GHz
Max Turbo Boost speed is 4.2GHz
 
The 7700k base speed is 4.2GHz
Max Turbo Boost speed is 4.5GHz
 
The 7700k is slightly faster... at little to no difference in cost (depending on when/where purchased).
 
For maximum performance, I'd want a motherboard that can "lock" the CPU speed at 4.5GHz.
 
Hyper-threading won't double the performance... but it is a significant gain when using lots of plugins.
Not all processes/processing can be multi-threaded. 
Thus, additional CPU cores (or virtual cores in the case of Hyper-Threading) won't increase performance in a linear 1:1 ratio.  Our favorite CTO Noel could explain this much better.  
The exact extent of the gain hard to answer in a quantifiable manner... as the answer depends on many facets/variables.  
 
2017/10/25 22:42:05
mettelus
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html is a good guide for benchmarks and current CPU cost. The page is easier to navigate searching it (ctrl-f).
 
Edit: Re-saved from a computer to activate the hyperlink.
2017/10/26 20:17:51
Soundwise
Jim Roseberry
Cost difference between 7700 vs. the 7700k ranges from $0 to $20.
 
The 7700 base speed is 3.6GHz
Max Turbo Boost speed is 4.2GHz
 
The 7700k base speed is 4.2GHz
Max Turbo Boost speed is 4.5GHz
 
The 7700k is slightly faster... at little to no difference in cost (depending on when/where purchased).
 
For maximum performance, I'd want a motherboard that can "lock" the CPU speed at 4.5GHz.
 
Hyper-threading won't double the performance... but it is a significant gain when using lots of plugins.
Not all processes/processing can be multi-threaded. 
Thus, additional CPU cores (or virtual cores in the case of Hyper-Threading) won't increase performance in a linear 1:1 ratio.  Our favorite CTO Noel could explain this much better.  
The exact extent of the gain hard to answer in a quantifiable manner... as the answer depends on many facets/variables.  
 


Thank you for taking your time to explain it thoroughly. I'll go with 7700 because it has lower TDP and not significantly slower than 7700k.
2017/10/26 22:59:59
BenMMusTech
I recently went through the whole computer upgrade thing, and here is my take. Firstly, always get the highest speed CPU you can, no matter what you intend to do with machine. Second of all, in reality, depending on what your mixing style is i.e. a large amount of plugins used versus not many...the most important thing to consider when buying a new PC for creative work is ram, graphics ram and future proofing.

For me, I forgo large bulky desktops in 2010, probably a bit too early in the digital timeline, but now...I would never buy another desktop ever. There is just no point...sorry I know this is a question about i5 v i7...but desktop v laptop is an equally pertinent question.

Since purchasing my new laptop only some 4 weeks ago, with the uber specs of 32 gig ram, 6 gig graphics ram, i7 8gen CPU (4 core), with a USB c 3.1 or the latest thunderbolt for future proofing, and finally internal SSD drive and USB 3 SSD drive for audio and film playback...these are the specs I recommend for anybody looking to get a new P.C for creative work.
For what it is worth, my computer is an ACER Nitro PC, and I use my PC for both audio and film editing. When I use it for audio, I can now use Sonar's 64bitfp mix engine which everyone should use, and I also tend to record and render 64bitfp audio files. That's another discussion ;). Film editing though is where the proof is in the pudding...what would take 4 hours to render on old laptop, which had specs only two years ago that most would have creamed their jocks for, now took 50 mins and less. My film renders are effect heavy and rendered at the highest level, two pass variable bit rate etc. And the best part, my laptop only cost 2500 Oz.

Ben
2017/10/27 01:10:46
abacab
Just to throw wrench into the decision making process, how about these Intel Coffee Lake CPU's?
 
The six core stuff looks pretty sweet! 
 
http://www.tomshardware.c...ces.html#xtor=EPR-8886
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