Ryzen vs Intel Workstation.

[Rw920hmm]

I'm in a bit of a bind right now, I have around 1.3-1.5k to spend on a new rig, I want it to be a workstation for video editing and photo editing using the Adobe programs. Now here is where the crisis occurs, go Ryzen or go Intel. I know this is the ancient question that is going to be the main debate for the rest of eternity, I will not be using the workstation professionally yet. But that is my goal in the long haul, so which set up would be more logical to go with for the long haul as to upgrades and future performance. I understand nobody has a crystal ball and can tell me what is going to happen in the future or even in the next few hours. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I've been searching and searching for weeks now and still cannot chose, It is annoying to try and find good am4 mobo's let me tell you what...

 

[Rw920hmm]

I would love an 1800x but unfortunately i will only be able to afford it if I cheap out on the rest of the build, so for now I have my eye on the 1700-1700x or the i7 7700k

 

[CRO5513Y]

I would look at Ryzen personally. Excellent performance often up with the i7 6800K-6900K sometimes beating them in specific applications and for cheaper. By the way most people are just buying R7 1700 and overcloking them to 1800X speeds haha. They are the same chip with higher clocks speeds out of the box and AMD's "XFR" added which doesn't do much to begin with. Check out this review by Aandtech on CPU rendering performance between the Ryzen CPUs and i7's. > http://www.anandtech.com/show/11170/the-amd-zen-and-ryzen-7-review-a-deep-dive-on-1800x-1700x-and-1700/18 also has a full in-depth review on everything if you need to see that. The Ryzen 7 would be much better than 7700K they are consumer processors. If you were going editing a X99 Intel CPU or Ryzen 7 would be much better. Note the 7700K is better at Gaming if that matters to you much. Hope this helps

*Edit* Ultimately, it depends if you are primarily doing multi-threaded tasks or single-threaded.

 

[k1114]

I'd look at how it performs in adobe then. Rendering is not the same in every software so all those are irrelevant. Ps would rather take the i7 as many functions are actually only lightly threaded. After effects and premiere have an decent improvement with 1700x. As for upgrades and future, I think that goes to intel. Intel will actually be releasing a 6 core for that socket and would be a better value if it takes the same price bracket as the current top 7700k. Intel's current 6 core is already keeping up and that is broadwell, a gen behind. Going 3/4 gens (kinda not since skylake refreshes have no ipc improvement) to cannon/coffeelake 6 core will beat 1800x and whatever they release after.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-7-1800x-cpu,4951-8.html
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Adobe-Photoshop-CC-2017-AMD-Ryzen-7-1700X-1800X-Performance-907/
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Premiere-Pro-CC-2017-AMD-Ryzen-7-1700X-1800X-Performance-909/

 

[Lucky_SLS]

I would love an 1800x but unfortunately i will only be able to afford it if I cheap out on the rest of the build, so for now I have my eye on the 1700-1700x or the i7 7700k

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD RYZEN 7 1800X 3.6GHz 8-Core Processor ($498.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Jet)
Motherboard: ASRock AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($89.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($99.97 @ Jet)
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 240GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card ($244.99 @ Jet)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox 5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1298.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-24 03:55 EDT-0400

 

[bambiboom]

I'm in a bit of a bind right now, I have around 1.3-1.5k to spend on a new rig, I want it to be a workstation for video editing and photo editing using the Adobe programs. Now here is where the crisis occurs, go Ryzen or go Intel. I know this is the ancient question that is going to be the main debate for the rest of eternity, I will not be using the workstation professionally yet. But that is my goal in the long haul, so which set up would be more logical to go with for the long haul as to upgrades and future performance. I understand nobody has a crystal ball and can tell me what is going to happen in the future or even in the next few hours. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I've been searching and searching for weeks now and still cannot chose, It is annoying to try and find good am4 mobo's let me tell you what...

Rw920hmm,

This is a difficult equation. Adobe CS/CC application span a variety of performance demands: Photoshop,Illustrator, Lightroom, and After Effects have components such that the single-thread performance needs to be good which means the Turbo clock speed should be high. Premiere and various CPU rendering processes can benefit from multiple cores- but not too well, and editing 4K video means as many CUDA cores as possible a lot of video memory. No Adobe program likes to use dual prcessors. Have a look at the series of articles on the content creation / hardware relationships on Puget Systems site.

Hanging over all these applications is the need for a lot of system memory too- especially video editing. Only yesterday, I tried a VRay test rendering of a large Sketchup model and this crashed on an HP z420 with a Xeon E5-1660 v2 6-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz / 32GB DDR3-1866 ECC /Quadro K4200 4GB. The reason: the single frame rendering needed 38GB of RAM. Fortunately, we have a system for this purpose: HP z620 having 2X Xeon E5-2690 8C@ 2.9/3.8Ghz / 64GB DDR4-1600 ECC reg.). That rendering ran for 40 minutes with all 32- cores at 100%. After the setup, the steady state memory use was 19GB.

As Adobe applications that have any ability to use multiple cores seem to peak at 5-6 cores, in an ideal world (=big budget) my recommendation fro the proposed system would be an Intel E5-1600 v4 8-core with a top clock speed of 4GHz, at least 64GB of RAM, a pair of GTX 1080 or better, a Quadro P5000. But that is in the $6-8,000 range.

If you look at the Puget systems specifications that are tailored to these uses, and in 3D CAD /animation uses, there is strong concentration on four core system as the single threaded performance is the most prominently used. However, when buying a Premiere-optimized system, the CPU's are single 8-core Xeon LGA2011-3's, the sense is being steered into 64GB as the minimal RAM and a GTX 1070- and paying $5,232.

This is all leading up to what I think is the logical choice:

HMM920-RW TurboSignatureExtreme iWork Adobe Blaster 9000_3.24.17

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD RYZEN 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor ($388.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 5 51.2 CFM CPU Cooler ($51.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard ($159.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($68.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card ($234.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake Suppressor F31 ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($62.89 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($46.88 @ OutletPC)
___ Optical Drive ALT: Pioneer Electronics USA Slim External Blu Ray Drive BDR-XD05S Silver ($74.00@ amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit ($99.99 @ Amazon)
_____________________________________________________
Total: $1499.33

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-03-24 08:42 EDT-0400

We at BambiBoom Elektrix pride ourselves on meeting budgets.

Features of the HMM920-RW TurboSignatureExtreme iWork Adobe Blaster 9000

1. The Ryzen 1700X can be slightly clocked up to 4.0 or 4.1GHz for a good single thread performance, and the rest of the eight cores can run single frame CPU renderings.

2. The X370 chipset is the top AM4 performer and allows a 2nd GPU.

3. The RAM is 2X 16GB so that completes one channel and allows another 32GB to be added later.

4. A GTX 1060 6GB will provide a healthy video editing /processing performance. A second one can be added later, and although both will run at x8- the limitation of the 20 PICe lanes, the presence of two GPU's and 12GB of memory will make quick work of video effects /animation processing,

5. Arrange the Samsung 850 Evo to have a partition for the OS /Programs and a separate one for the active projects. the partitions do not affect access time and make it easier to backup and relocate folders.

6. The Thermaltake Suppressor F31 is not glamorous, but has among the best ratings for noise supression.

7. Consider using an external USB 3.0 Blu-Ray writer and having an external USB memory card and USB port on the desktop so the system can be tucked away under the desk for sound isolation.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

CAD / 3D Modeling / Graphic Design:

HP z420 (2015) (Rev 3) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card + Logitech z2300 2.1 speakers > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit >> 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14046 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559] [6.12.16] Single-Thread Mark = 2341
[Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1031cb / Single Core = 142 cb / OpenGL= 127.39 fps / MP Ratio = 7.24x] 3.2.17
[FryBench: 3:24 /Efficiency 2177.13] 3.11.17

Analysis / Simulation / Rendering:

HP z620 (2012) (Rev 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB) + Samsung 850 Evo 250GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB) / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCIe sound card + Logitech z313 2.1 speakers / 800W / Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > > HP 2711x (27" 1980 X 1080)
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16 Single Thread Mark = 1903
[ Cinebench R15: CPU = 2209 cb / Single core 130 cb / OpenGL= 119.23 fps / MP Ratio 16.84x] 10.31.16

 

[Rw920hmm]

Now here is something to just throw in the mix, and should be a bit easier to compare. I've also been looking into the i7 6800k as a build to go with as well.. any thoughts?

 

[k1114]

It costs more, it's a dead socket(being replaced in august or so with lga2066) and ryzen competes with it multithreaded. It should not be looked at.

 

[Rw920hmm]

So basically at this time it is either Ryzen or wait for Intel's fire back at Ryzen, new socket and new high core cpu coming from intel?

 

[Lucky_SLS]

u could wait for the new intel ones, but i doubt intel will give the pref/dollar as the ryzen ones...

 

[Rw920hmm]

From what I have been seeing and researching the 480's work well with Ryzen but would it be more efficient to go with Nvidia since they have the option in premiere to utilize their CUDA memory for faster render times?

 

[k1114]

The new socket is enthusiast which is never really known for their performance value. It'll most likely be out of your budget or you'd have to make sacrifices elsewhere like you do with x99 already.

That's too long of a wait for any new intel cpus though and honestly a cpu upgrade down the line is usually a bad value. It's only a small improvement vs the price so you usually end up buying a whole new pc multiple years down the line when you need more performance. Now ryzen is best. At the end of the year, intel will probably be the best value again, then amd should shoot back.

When buying a pc, you always buy when you need to buy. The waiting/future upgrade game is illogical and a waste of time/money.

Premiere can use either opencl or cuda. Render times typically scale with gpu performance regardless of amd vs nvidia. Amd gpus have been showing a lower cpu usage in games which is why you probably seen it as a better choice with ryzen.