Focus on single- or multi-threaded CPU performance?

[fluffy_little_something]

So, I am investigating which CPU to pick for the music computer I will build next year.
In order to avoid Intel I will likely wait for the AMD Zen processors that will be available in 2016. But with AMD one never knows, they are often late. So I am also checking existing models...

Anyway, I was checking some of those benchmark rankings for AMD processors and found that regarding single-threaded performance some older and generally supposedly weaker chips totally outperform my current CPU (Phenom II X6 1100T). For instance quite a few of those cheap all-in-one A-series processors as well as somewhat dated mid-range 4-core Athlon chips scored up to 1700 point or so vs only 1261 for my 6-core CPU, which used to be AMD's top CPU before they launched their FX series. And even FX processors often score worse than cheaper CPU's.

So, at the end of the day, what is more important for DAW's and plugins, single or multi-threaded performance?
My current chip is not very good with powerful plugins, that much I know

But who knows, maybe my RAM is too slow, I have read repeatedly that people recommend using memory that is above the speed limit specified by AMD/Intel for their respective CPU's.

[robotmonkey]

You'd definitely want to get a processor with maximum single thread performance as the multi-threading support in DAW's and plugins still could be fairly flaky. There might even be cases when you need to disable multi-threaded processing for certain plugins to avoid stability issues.

[D-Fusion]

So, I am investigating which CPU to pick for the music computer I will build next year.
In order to avoid Intel I will likely wait for the AMD Zen processors that will be available in 2016. But with AMD one never knows, they are often late. So I am also checking existing models...

Anyway, I was checking some of those benchmark rankings for AMD processors and found that regarding single-threaded performance some older and generally supposedly weaker chips totally outperform my current CPU (Phenom II X6 1100T). For instance quite a few of those cheap all-in-one A-series processors as well as somewhat dated mid-range 4-core Athlon chips scored up to 1700 point or so vs only 1261 for my 6-core CPU, which used to be AMD's top CPU before they launched their FX series. And even FX processors often score worse than cheaper CPU's.

So, at the end of the day, what is more important for DAW's and plugins, single or multi-threaded performance?
My current chip is not very good with powerful plugins, that much I know

But who knows, maybe my RAM is too slow, I have read repeatedly that people recommend using memory that is above the speed limit specified by AMD/Intel for their respective CPU's.

I went from Intel i7 3770k to Amd fx 8350 because i had some hw issues on that platform.

In daily use i don't see that much difference compared to the i7 some plugins works even better compared to my i7 (Redominator being one of them).
I run mine at stock speed 4012mhz.

[fluffy_little_something]

Yes, that CPU offers excellent value, it is also the number 1 on my list at the moment. It achieves Almost the same benchmark results as the 8370, which is about 30 bucks more expensive.
The two top FX CPU's require water cooling, they are optionally even shipped with stock water cooling. They consume much more energy, but the results are not nearly as superior compared to your processor. Yet they cost a lot more. So AMD's biggest advantage (value/price) no longer applies.

I just read that AMD is about to release a new Athlon CPU (880K) and a new A-series CPU (A10-7890K), which are both based on a different architecture, which allows better single-thread performance. But they both have "only" 4 cores vs. the 8 cores of your processor.

I don't know which makes more sense for music, though.

One thing I might have to consider is that the new Zen processors next year will be based on a completely new architecture, socket, chip sets etc. So maybe there will be problems and bugs that need to be fixed. It has happened with other new CPU series before. So it might make sense to buy the latest mature processor instead.

Do you use the stock cooler? On my Phenom the stock cooler is very quiet, I can hardly hear it, but on the Internet everyone seems to complain that stock coolers suck.

[D-Fusion]

I use Water cooling
The stock fan sounds louder than a vacum cleaner with a high pitch on top even when browsing so i would recommend another cpu cooler.

My plan wasn't to go with water cooling since i don't like the idea of having a waterbomb inside my case but it was the only thing the store had when i got feed up by the stock fan.

If you don't plan on overclocking i would recommend a Cooler master Hyper 103 which is very cheap and keeps the cpu cool enough for everyday use (Air fan not water cooling)

I was actually very surprised when i swapped the i7 for amd since i heard so much shit on the net regarding performance and bad benchmark results but for my use it is a different story and i love it

[fluffy_little_something]

Strange, why do people's coolers get so loud? I have set my computer to max performance under Windows in order to avoid audio issues. Yet I can hardly hear my stock cooler, the CPU temp is 37°C.

[D-Fusion]

Strange, why do people's coolers get so loud? I have set my computer to max performance under Windows in order to avoid audio issues. Yet I can hardly hear my stock cooler, the CPU temp is 37°C.

Not sure why but the fx 8350 has a new type of cooler that is very loud and screams.
It could be that the new stock cooler isn't strong enough so it has to work harder to keep the cpu cool.

I did read about the new Zen and i see that it will be released q4 next year so if you can hold on to what you got until then you should wait.

This is not my video but here is what the stock cooler sounds like on the fx 8350.

[fluffy_little_something]

According to photos its cooler looks almost identical to mine.

Have you set the speed target (basically it means the min speed) in the Bios to a low speed? I remember when I built my current computer that Bios parameter of my mobo was by default set to max speed, and it sounded accordingly Like this, it is the same cooler and almost the same processor:


Mine sounds like this one, although it is actually your cooler


I am pretty sure that when he closes the case, he no longer hears anything.

[t3toooo]

Multi Core all the way!

Single core performance maybe matters if using older software with not so good multi-thread support but then a current/modern quad core will outperform an older single/dual core CPU anyway.

Efficiency wise you will not buy a several year old AMD CPU which are still sold for the new price so better wait for the next generation.

Intel is delivering faster and are generally more energy efficient as well.

Why spending much money for Water cooling?

The peripheral (e.g. motherboard) also need some cooling so you are better off to buy a proper heat sink and some low noise quality fans,also a good case can help tremendous.

Depending what kind of system you want to build,energy efficiency is also important to keep the noise and system cool.You can search on CPU Benchmark.net and study the threads vs wattage vs performance vs the price.

Last but not least,that's where Windows 10 shines compared to Windows 7 (i don't know 8.1),the multi core/hyper threading support is much better and (because of that) that's the way to go.

[fluffy_little_something]

I take it multi-core is not the same as multi-threaded?

Just heard some cracking on a lush pad with lots of effects and long release. So I checked the Windows monitor thingy, and one care was almost at 100%.
It seems that every instance is attributed to a specific core. And when there are more instances than cores, they are spread around, hopefully depending on which core has most free resources. Right?
So would it not make sense to put the emphasis on a higher speed per core rather than the number of cores? In my example if that one core with the pad had, say, 4.1 GHz instead of 3.3 GHz, maybe there would be no cracking. But even if I had a zillion cores with 3.3 GHz each, there would still be cracking, right? I mean, my 5 other cores were close to idle, while one was overburdened with a pad, that's crazy.

[t3toooo]

I mean, my 5 other cores were close to idle, while one was overburdened with a pad, that's crazy.

Would be nice to know which version of Windows you are using,which Synth and which DAW too.

For me in Windows 10 sometimes one core is more stressed than the others but compared to Windows 7 the other cores are not idle and all cores are much more balanced.

Multithreading is still a work in progress it is evolving.I've found that on my 3930k most software is working better now than some years ago that's because a lot of programs are more optimized for multi threading.

The Phenom II X6 1100T indeed looks like it has a rather weak single core performance (compared to the overall performance),better if it would be a quad core.

[fluffy_little_something]

W10, not sure my stuff is compatible, I doubt it

It was a Sylenth pad. I checked UA2 as well, there the load is slightly spread across three cores, but there is also a huge focus on one core, and since UA2 is not as optimized as Sylenth, I get cracking much more often despite the slightly better multi-threading support. The only good thing is that I don't really like and hence use UA2, anyway In Sylenth there hardly ever is any cracking, it was an extreme pad in this case, with 32 waves per note, FX, long release and some modulation.

My DAW is Mixcraft, on 64-bit W7.

[t3toooo]

If you have a old spare hard drive laying around you could test Windows 10 though.

[fluffy_little_something]

Not sure why but the fx 8350 has a new type of cooler that is very loud and screams.
It could be that the new stock cooler isn't strong enough so it has to work harder to keep the cpu cool.

I did read about the new Zen and i see that it will be released q4 next year so if you can hold on to what you got until then you should wait.

This is not my video but here is what the stock cooler sounds like on the fx 8350.

Just watched this new video and remembered my thread
Seems AMD will ship their processors with a much better stock cooler in the future:

[fluffy_little_something]

More good news from AMD, they will finally launch their latest APU in Q1, which I will get for my new computer
http://wccftech.com/amd-a10-7890k-apu/

It has only 4 cores, but each of them is about 1 GHz faster than each of my current six, most of which are idle most of the time, anyway So all in all I hope to get much better performance, especially since I will also get much faster memory modules.

Which brings me to something interesting I read recently regarding the problem of load distribution across cores, especially but not only with AMD processors. There are people suggesting turning off Core Parking. Anyone here tried that?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2645594

Seems one has to manually install that fix with W7 (if necessary), while in W8 and W10 it is already included.