Question Need help choosing a high end CPU for a workstation dedicated to audio production and sound engineering.

[visusys]

I am an electronic music producer and sound engineer, and I haven't updated my CPU in about four years.

Right now I'm currently rocking a Core i9-9900KF and I desperately need an upgrade so I can run more CPU intensive VST plugins and VSTi instruments.

I am planning an upgrade this month, but I'm extremely (understatement) frustrated with the current offering when it comes to CPUs.

I originally bought a Core i9-14900KF and motherboard about a month ago, but ended up returning it after hearing everywhere about all the instability issues with Intel 14th gen. People were saying that intel is basically selling defective chips that will most likely degrade heavily over time. I've read this on numerous forums (Here, Overclock.net, AnandTech).

So I've been biding my time for the Ryzen 9 9950X and planning on switching to AMD for the first time in my life. But now after reading reviews of the 9950X, it appears this chip also has a nasty problem. Specifically the PPM Provisioning driver. See quote from the AnandTech Review:

Unfortunately, the issues we experienced with the PPM Provisioning driver, despite following all of AMD's guidelines and then some, has undermined this launch. So far we've seen core parking cause quite a few issues in performance, most notably in gaming. If it was an issue limited to just our testing, that could be negated, but having checked with a few of our colleagues, it looks to be a widespread issue. Something just doesn't seem to be working in the core parking department, as we ourselves have observed random cores from the parked CCX firing up randomly and taking game threads with them, and this in itself seems in defiance of what AMD is trying to achieve by running gaming workloads within a single CCX.

Tom's Hardware's review here also lists "Core parking and thread targeting issues" in its review as a "Con".

Is this an issue that will affect a pro audio setup? Will the PPM driver issue and core parking problems be detrimental to an audio workload, or just for gaming?

What I really need is:

1. Low latency (DPC Latency)
2. Rock solid stability when it comes to running virtual instruments and effects.
3. Great single threaded performance for the most demanding synths (u-He Diva comes to mind)
4. Exceptional multi threaded performance so I can run many virtual instruments at the same time.

So I guess, tl;dr:

1. Have the issues with the 14th gen Intel chips (specifically the i9-14900K/i9-14900KF) been resolved or mitigated at this point?
2. Will the core parking and thread targeting issues being reported with the 9950X cause problems with an audio production workload?

Can someone please recommend the best way forward? Should I roll the dice with a 14900K, or go with the 9950X?

I truly appreciate any help or guidance.

Thanks so much.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

Personally, I wouldn't go with Intel 14th gen for any reason right now.

You are correct to a point that the Zen 5 chips have issues. Also, that they perform closely or worse than Zen 4.

I'd go with a 7950/x3d, plenty of cores, great performance, and good enough to game, and drive any high end GPU. It's also very stable.

 

[dwd999]

I originally bought a Core i9-14900KF and motherboard about a month ago, but ended up returning it after hearing everywhere about all the instability issues with Intel 14th gen. People were saying that intel is basically selling defective chips that will most likely degrade heavily over time. I've read this on numerous forums (Here, Overclock.net, AnandTech).

First of all I wouldn't recommend an F chip since most of the problems we see here are difficult to diagnose because the users only have gpus and don't have an igpu that they can fall back on if they remove their gpu.

As far as Intel's 14 gen cpus they work fine as long as you don't go messing with the settings and don't try overclocking the chip. Most motherboard manufacturers have already release updated bioses which make it clear that you should follow Intel's recommended settings and which discourage overclocking the chip. Intel has been good about extending the chip warranties and replacing chips of overclockers who burned them out. But the easiest solution is to simply not mess with Intel's default settings.

 

[Eximo]

7950X just for the cost savings over the 9950X.

AMD just had Microsoft finally fix some lingering issues with scheduling in Windows. Might have resolved some of the core parking issues.