Should I Buy 8700k or 7800x or 1700x

[Nilekhet]

Hey guys,

im planning on building a PC for music production. My current setup consists of a sky lake i7 laptop with 16gb Ram. This laptop can’t handle the softwares now. 

Should I build the PC on ryzen 1700x or should I go for the i7 8700k or 7800x. 

 

[AresKrieger]

Depends on the software you are using as some software likes more cores while others like higher clock speeds

[porina]

What is the limiting factor with the existing system? Is it the CPU, or the ram quantity? Or something else?

 

7800x is very affordable, and you know there are existing higher end CPUs you could put in later, even if they are far from cheap.

 

8700k short term problem is lack of general stock. Also I wouldn't assume there is any CPU upgrade path in the future without also replacing the mobo.

 

1700X (or the ones either side) gets you more cores at slightly less clock. AMD have promised to support the socket so there remains the possibility of future upgrades, but they don't exist right now, and we don't know how much more they might offer.

[Jurrunio]

7800x is out of the competition since it's only advantage to the 8700k is more PCIe lanes, which doesnt matter for music production.

 

1700x is out as well since the 1700 is cheaper with also 8 cores.

 

IMO it's a shootout between 8700k and Ryzen 7 1700. Due to much faster single core speed, 8700k at stock speeds matches a 1700 overclocked as far as it could go even in multi threaded tasks. However 8700k comes with a much higher price tag ($200 more for the CPU and mobo).

[porina]

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

7800x is out of the competition since it's only advantage to the 8700k is more PCIe lanes, which doesnt matter for music production.

I wouldn't write it off so quickly. If you went that route, you know there exists higher end CPUs TODAY you can swap in if needed. No vague promises for the future that might or might not happen. More ram bandwidth (probably not important in this use case) and AVX-512 support (does anything use it yet?) are also other differences. The only reason I see not to get it would be in high fps gaming scenarios, but that doesn't seem to be a factor here.

 

3 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

1700x is out as well since the 1700 is cheaper with also 8 cores.

Depends on your local pricing. Since days before CL launch, I've seen lots of places discount the 1700X below 1700 pricing. Doesn't make sense, but it is happening at more than one place.

[steffeeh]

What kind of music production are you into? Are we talking numerous recorded stems, tonnes of thick MIDI progressions, Kontakt libraries, long plugin chains, etc?

 

Do you have other use case intentions for the PC aside from music production?

[Fardin]

IIRC audio production, you do need faster cores too. I assume your budget is not tight seeing the options listed. go for 8700k & that should be more than enough comparing your laptop's i7.  

[StealthArsenal]

There are a couple of ways to look at this.  As mentioned previously, the 7800X allows an upgrade path to other Skylake X processors as well as the next X iteration will still be on socket 2066 (CannonlakeX?).  The catch here is that the 8700K does more or less make the 7800X obsolete when you look at it in terms of performance.  True that the 7800X has more PCIE lanes, but for your music creation and what have you, that does not matter.  The problem is the 8700K does not offer an upgrade path as this is the last run for the 1151 socket and also forces a new motherboard purchase to deal with the z370 chipset and extra power requirements for the 8700K.  With that in mind again, as previously mentioned, if you wanted to upgrade to whatever the next generation is called (in say 6 months at this rate), you again will require a new motherboard.  I'm personally a fan of the 8700K, but I have found myself seriously considering the 7820X on the X299 platform to handle production work and gaming.  To me and everyone is different, it is making a bit more sense to spend a little bit more and go that route and not have to worry about new hardware so quickly. 

 

You really can't be faulted for either choice.  I don't mention the AMD counterparts just because you can't beat their price to performance for production.  Gaming wise, that is open to interpretation and everyone has a difference in opinion on that matter.  I won't be going down that road. 

 

Hope that helps.

[Nilekhet]

I use FL studio as my daw and then I use plugins like sylenth 1, serum, spire and other vsts. I also use two different sound cards, two Dj sets(one needs two usbs) and then a midi controller, along with two hdmi outs and keyboard mouse and orbweaver chroma. 

I will be playing some light games like paladins and PUBG. 

My limiting factor currently is my cpu, my projects usually use about all the ram it can use.

i chose the i7 7800x because it has support for more ram, and in the future to upgrade I can simply put in the i9 x edition. It should be cheaper later and will still be able to trade blows with intel’s i7 line up for atleast 4-5 years