1950x vs 7900x vs 7700k - Which should I buy for my use case?

[Aakburns]

I'm about to build a new machine for editing.  I heavily use after effects.  I'm at a crossroads here. 

 

Is it better to go with threadripper 1950x or something like the i7-7900x or even the i7-7700k?

It seems I'd be better off staying with intel from the information I've found.  

 

This article seems to sum it up to staying with intel.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/After-Effects-CC-2017-2-CPU-Comparison-Skylake-X-vs-Threadripper-1015/

 

I really need solid real time playback as much as possible.

Does anyone have any input about this?

[bellabichon]

Unless you're working with huge files (and I mean HUGE), the 8700K would probably be enough. If you wanted to go with team red, the Threadripper 1900x would also be a good idea.

[Guest]

The newer article from the same website you used gives the win to threadripper:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/After-Effects-CC-2017-2-CPU-Performance-Core-i9-7940X-7960X-7980XE-1037/

 

 

But like the other guy says,  you could do fine with a 8700 or a 1700.

[Damascus]

7900x, or maybe an 8700k.  @done12many2 did a bunch of testing, check the post history.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Damascus
8700k seems best

[Airdragonz]

The threadripper will be best for this. Or an Intel i9. 

[Energycore]

Just now, bellabichon said:

Unless you're working with huge files (and I mean HUGE), the 8700K would probably be enough. If you wanted to go with team red, the Threadripper 1900x would also be a good idea.

The 1900X is only 8 cores, like the ryzen 7s. If you're gonna go TR, at least grab the 12-core 1920X.

[Damascus]

1 minute ago, Almostbauws said:

The newer article from the same website you used gives the win to threadripper:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/After-Effects-CC-2017-2-CPU-Performance-Core-i9-7940X-7960X-7980XE-1037/

Good catch.  I rescind 7900x and recommend an 8700k.

 

Quote

There is no reason to try to sugar coat things here, for normal After Effects projects these new CPUs from Intel are not very good. To be fair, After Effects is about the worst case scenario for these CPUs as the software is very poor at utilizing high core counts, but it is interesting to see just how much slower these expensive CPUs actually are:

 

 

[bellabichon]

Just now, Energycore said:

The 1900X is only 8 cores, like the ryzen 7s. If you're gonna go TR, at least grab the 12-core 1920X.

Fair enough. I just don't think he needs a $1200 CAD CPU for his workload.

[Streetguru]

35 minutes ago, Aakburns said:

 

Threadripper because it's fun to have 16 cores, which also means if you have only one workstation you can set 8 cores to render something while you work on a another project on the same PC. Or game on the same PC without dropping any frames giving 12 cores to the rendering

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

Threadripper because it's fun to have 16 cores, which also means if you have only one workstation you can set 8 cores to render something while you work on a another project on the same PC.

Yes that is a very good reason to get a threadripper!

[done12many2]

43 minutes ago, Aakburns said:

I'm about to build a new machine for editing.  I heavily use after effects.  I'm at a crossroads here. 

 

Is it better to go with threadripper 1950x or something like the i7-7900x or even the i7-7700k?

It seems I'd be better off staying with intel from the information I've found.  

 

This article seems to sum it up to staying with intel.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/After-Effects-CC-2017-2-CPU-Comparison-Skylake-X-vs-Threadripper-1015/

 

I really need solid real time playback as much as possible.

Does anyone have any input about this?

 

I know you say that you heavily use AE, but what else do you use your rigs for?  If that's it, pick up a 1950x.  Great CPU, but I will say that between my 1950x and my 7900x, the 7900x is much better at more things overall.   If you are task specific to AE, you don't have to concern yourself with that.  

 

Added bonus, 1950x mines like a beast so when you aren't editing in AE, mine Monero and recoup the cost of your 1950x in a year or so.  

[Aakburns]

24 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

 

I know you say that you heavily use AE, but what else do you use your rigs for?  If that's it, pick up a 1950x.  Great CPU, but I will say that between my 1950x and my 7900x, the 7900x is much better at more things overall.   If you are task specific to AE, you don't have to concern yourself with that.  

 

Added bonus, 1950x mines like a beast so when you aren't editing in AE, mine Monero and recoup the cost of your 1950x in a year or so.  

I use a lot of adobe products and some cad when needed.  However, heavily tracking in mocha.  Things such as removing objects from video... example, if you had footage and a director wanted a logo removed from the shot or a person all together.

 

It's a lot of screwing around to achieve the results.

 

I do game on my machine as well, but I'm not worried about that, I have a second machine for that.

 

I have a bias to Intel, simply because it's been around and been optimized more for this type of work over AMD's stuff.  Though.. threadripper is tempting.

I am more than happy to pay 1000 - 1500 for a cpu.. so if you take price out of the build, it's a hard choice.

[Aakburns]

42 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

Threadripper because it's fun to have 16 cores, which also means if you have only one workstation you can set 8 cores to render something while you work on a another project on the same PC. Or game on the same PC without dropping any frames giving 12 cores to the rendering

Core count isn't everything.

[SupaKomputa]

Quote

Can an argument be made for using any of these CPUs in After Effects? Really the only time it would make sense is if you use the integrated "Cinema 4D" 3D renderer or some other CPU-based rendering engine.

In premiere pro i'm having much better result from gpu playback then cpu / software.

 

18 minutes ago, Aakburns said:

Core count isn't everything.

AE may not optimized for multicore for now, but it will be better in the future i hope.

[Aakburns]

The real question is this.  Is the 7700k actually a better cpu for these work loads over the i9 line and thread ripper?  Data seems to support that thought.

 

Further, this system will get a titan xp as well.

[SupaKomputa]

If AE prefered clock speed then 7700k would be better. But why not 8700k? It got better ipc.

 

1 hour ago, Streetguru said:

Threadripper because it's fun to have 16 cores, which also means if you have only one workstation you can set 8 cores to render something while you work on a another project on the same PC. Or game on the same PC without dropping any frames giving 12 cores to the rendering

core count isn't everything, but this is a fun way to use the extra cores.

[Streetguru]

8 minutes ago, Aakburns said:

The real question is this.  Is the 7700k actually a better cpu for these work loads over the i9 line and thread ripper?  Data seems to support that thought.

 

Further, this system will get a titan xp as well.

After Effects is terribly optimized so yes the 8700K is better than Threadripper or X299 CPUs

However if you do anything else like Handbrake encoding, anything multi-threaded, or you want to be able to work while you're rendering something using the extra cores, or game while you're rendering, having the extra cores is going to be nice

 

 

[SupaKomputa]

And handbrake loves core count.

[Aakburns]

I have never used handbreak.  Using AVS.

[SupaKomputa]

Handbrake not an editor, just a converter.

I Use it to compress h264 for videos.

I can get 1/4 of the size from h264 rendered by premiere.

[Aakburns]

I'll check it out.

[Aakburns]

After some research.. the 7900x and 1950x are pointless.  In fact, adobe products will perform worse on these cpu's.  The 7700k and 8700k are the best route to go and much cheaper.

 

Makes me a little sad, I wanted to build some crazy thing.  Turns out it's absolutely pointless.

 

So.. 8700k it is.

 

 

Anyone still interested in this topic, here are some reading materials.

 

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2411358

[Aakburns]

Here are the build results. 

 

8700k, 64gb ddr 4 corsair ram, gtx 970 that was lying around for now, and the asus hero x motherboard.