ryzen 9000 series

[anttimaatteri]

anyone here already has experience with one of the new amd 9k series.

i just started the first step to upgrade my pc from a 3400g to am5 by buying an appropriate motherboard. im thinking about gettin the 9700x when it drops in price a little bit, just like the motherboard luckily did. i skipped the 5700x upgrade, which already would be a minor leap, but i re-arranged by plans to the am5 gen.

[uOpt]

3400 to 5700x is not a minor leap.

If you save the money on a new mainboard and RAM you could probably afford a 5950x.

[Jim Roseberry]

I've been testing the 9950x.
Performance is nearly identical to the 14900k (but at lower TDP).
Ultra low latency audio performance is also nearly identical to the 14900k.
I can play The Grandeur at 96k using a 48-sample ASIO buffer size (0.9ms playback latency)... and audio is completely clean.

The 9950x needs large top-notch AIO cooler. I'm using a 420mm.
Under stress-test loads (all cores maxed at 100%), it runs cooler/quieter than the 14900k.
Working with audio, both the 9950x and 14900k run quiet.

I'm running a higher-end Asus X670E motherboard (Five internal 4TB M.2 SSDs, Thunderbolt-4, etc).
This build is about $200 more than the comparable 14900k build.

Thunderbolt is working great.

[Pictus]

I've been testing the 9950x.
(...)
Thunderbolt is working great.

That is good news!
Deep dive in ZEN 5 nerd stuff .

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2432580/amd-ryzen-9000-patch-boosts-performance-on-windows-11.html

https://hothardware.com/news/amd-zen-5-benchmark-discrepancies

[anttimaatteri]

I've been testing the 9950x.
Performance is nearly identical to the 14900k (but at lower TDP).
Ultra low latency audio performance is also nearly identical to the 14900k.
I can play The Grandeur at 96k using a 48-sample ASIO buffer size (0.9ms playback latency)... and audio is completely clean.

The 9950x needs large top-notch AIO cooler. I'm using a 420mm.
Under stress-test loads (all cores maxed at 100%), it runs cooler/quieter than the 14900k.
Working with audio, both the 9950x and 14900k run quiet.

I'm running a higher-end Asus X670E motherboard (Five internal 4TB M.2 SSDs, Thunderbolt-4, etc).
This build is about $200 more than the comparable 14900k build.

Thunderbolt is working great.

thx jim.
sounds ok. its the top notch cpu i will not buy, but i guess the 9700x and 9800x will do it too then.


win11 had produced some issues, but i guess it all will be settled soon. i stay on win10 anyways or turn over to linux if necessary.

[Pictus]

[Jim Roseberry]

One BIG downer (until it's addressed).

If you use an iLok, the "Pace License Services" currently won't run.
The service tries to start... stops... tries to start... stops (in repeated loop).
Can't open the iLok License Manager... or use any software/plugins protected by iLok.
I've submitted a support ticket making them aware of the issue.

I'm sure they'll get it squared away. Just a question of how long.
It's not AMDs fault/issue... but compatibility quirks are (slightly) more common vs Intel.
Wish it were something a bit more niche'. I've got a ton of software/plugin licenses on my iLok.

[Jim Roseberry]

Been in touch with folks from iLok/Pace.
They have a hot-fix that addresses the issue.

If anyone else experiences this issue, let me know... and I'll forward a link to the fix.

[uOpt]

How did iLok manage to introduce code that works on Ryzen 7xxx but not on Ryzen 9xxx?

[Jim Roseberry]

How did iLok manage to introduce code that works on Ryzen 7xxx but not on Ryzen 9xxx?

Don't have the answer to that (iLok worked fine with 7950x).

When I contacted them... they were (already) aware of the issue.
Less than 24 hours later, they forwarded a hot-fix.

The Pace service would start... then stop... start... then stop (in a repeated loop).
Hot-fix immediately solved the issue... and iLok License Manager runs as normal.

[McLilith]

When I contacted them... they were (already) aware of the issue.
Less than 24 hours later, they forwarded a hot-fix.

It's good to hear they found a fix so quickly. It's my dream to build a 9950x system sometime next year, assuming AMD doesn't release something even better before I'm ready to start building.

Would you say it's currently the most powerful CPU choice for simultaneously running a DAW, multiple Kontakt instruments, and several VST synths and effects?

[jdnz]

Would you say it's currently the most powerful CPU choice for simultaneously running a DAW, multiple Kontakt instruments, and several VST synths and effects?

I presume you mean 'in the sane price range' - cos if money is no object the threadripper pro 7995 is miles ahead of anything else you could describe as a 'desktop' processor, obviously on core count but also very solid single-threaded speed

[McLilith]

Would you say it's currently the most powerful CPU choice for simultaneously running a DAW, multiple Kontakt instruments, and several VST synths and effects?

I presume you mean 'in the sane price range' - cos if money is no object the threadripper pro 7995 is miles ahead of anything else you could describe as a 'desktop' processor, obviously on core count but also very solid single-threaded speed

Yes, I was thinking of something in the "reasonably sane price range".

Anything with a Threadripper price tag or higher is definitely out of my reach. Also, don't those have inferior single-core performance, which would be a bottleneck for an audio workstation?

[Jim Roseberry]

Couple of things about Threadripper Pro:

TDP is 350w... and motherboard chipsets often have active cooling.
Even a top-tier 420mm AIO isn't enough (IMO).
It's nigh on impossible to build a quiet Threadripper/Pro based machine.

Due to its architecture, ultra low latency performance of Threadripper had been very poor.
Haven't tested the newest 7xxx series.

In heavy multi-threaded non low-latency scenarios (like video rendering), that's where Threadripper/Pro shines.

[Jim Roseberry]

When I contacted them... they were (already) aware of the issue.
Less than 24 hours later, they forwarded a hot-fix.

It's good to hear they found a fix so quickly. It's my dream to build a 9950x system sometime next year, assuming AMD doesn't release something even better before I'm ready to start building.

Would you say it's currently the most powerful CPU choice for simultaneously running a DAW, multiple Kontakt instruments, and several VST synths and effects?

Performance is nearly identical to Intel's 14900k.
The difference is that the 9950x yields that performance at lower TDP.

With proper configuration, both 14900k and 9950x can do things like run IK's ToneX plugin at 1ms round-trip latency... or run The Grandeur at 1ms playback latency.

I wouldn't use anything less than top-tier 420mm AIO with either CPU.