Anyone knows how do Intel 13900k and AMD 7950x compare in SL?

[DorianaCele]

I am going to have a new PC and debating on these two latest processors. Among other considerations, SL performance is a vital element for me. Does anyone know how they compare in SL? I know they will be both fast, but I still would like a comparison. Thank you so much!

[Wulfie Reanimator]

I'm also planning to upgrade in the next couple months, though I've figured a 13600 is more efficient in terms of power/heat/price. I'll let you know if I upgrade before you.

SL is rarely bottlenecked by the GPU (past very low-end builds) so you can rest easy about that choice.

[Henri Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

I'm also planning to upgrade in the next couple months, though I've figured a 13600 is more efficient in terms of power/heat/price.

I am, too, planning to upgrade my main PC (9700K @ 5.0GHz on all cores, 64GB DDR4) for a newer CPU (and motherboard, and RAM, since these will also need updating to match the new CPU socket and memory controller)... This means a very significative investment (CPU + MB + 64GB DDR5), with hardware prices still very high (much higher than in 2019, before the COVID)...

So far, I had planned to go the Zen 4 route, especially since I do not like at all the mixed cores (P+E cores) architecture of Intel's newest CPUs. Also, given the high price to pay for that upgrade and for it to be worth that price, I need a large improvement on performances when compared to my existing system (and not only for SL, but also for tasks I do daily, such as compilation of very large software), so I need at least a 12-cores (true cores, not SMT ”threads”), meaning a 7900X is what I first had in mind...

But given AMD's new CPUs prices (+100 euros or so for a Zen 4 compared with an equivalent Raptor Lake), I am starting to consider a 13700K. The 13900K is nice too, and not much more expensive than the 7900X, but it consumes (and thus heats up) too much for my taste: the 13700K will be easier to cool down and thus will offer a better ”OC” (read: all cores locked on turbo) potential...

Since Raptor Lake just got announced, I will however wait (maybe until next year) and see how AMD reacts: competition is good for prices... 😜

3 hours ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

SL is rarely bottlenecked by the GPU (past very low-end builds) so you can rest easy about that choice

True. But if you go the P+E cores route, do make sure your viewer can be configured so that it runs on P-cores (the Cool VL Viewer allows to set the CPU affinity for its main thread, using all other cores for its child threads).

[Wulfie Reanimator]

3 hours ago, Henri Beauchamp said:

This means a very significative investment (CPU + MB + 64GB DDR5)

As a slight relief, new Z790 motherboards are available in DDR4 versions and there doesn't seem to be a significant performance difference between the two, at least right now.

But yeah, I'm still looking down the barrel at closer to $2000 (half of that being a GPU) unless holiday sales improve things (which is only a faint hope).

[Henri Beauchamp]

33 minutes ago, Wulfie Reanimator said:

As a slight relief, new Z790 motherboards are available in DDR4 versions and there doesn't seem to be a significant performance difference between the two, at least right now.

Not an issue for SL viewers, but there are differences, especially in the highly threaded applications department (such as parallel compilation, which I do a lot every single day), where the RAM usage is very high on every CPU core...

Frankly, I won't invest in a DDR4-only MB or even in a dual DDR4/DDR5 one, the latter also meaning you ”loose” two RAM slots when you want to increase the RAM in your system when compared with a 100% DDR 4 or 5 MB.

Edited October 29, 2022 by Henri Beauchamp

[Kavarek]

ID have to put together a test build to bench it. I use I9 10 and 16 core processors and both get solid FPs with shadows and advanced on. If I lock at 60 fps it stays at 60 fps with a good draw but i set draw back down to 312m-400m  because of  levels on our sims. I dont use that fire storm optimizer as it limits loads and detail my detail is set at 4.0.

SL is very CPU dependent but newer high end I7 and I9's handle it easily. However we are dealing with old Opengl as an issue. 

 

GPU memory for texture availability helps for loads.