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Intel dropped their latest line of processors on OCT.5, 2017. I’ll link an article w the specs, but I’ll comment saying that they’ve added two more cores/threads compared to each previous model. So i5’s are 6 core now! i7’s are 6 core/6 threads! Pretty beastly upgrade. Best of all the price points have remained the same, so if you were in the market for a new computer, your build just got better or cheaper due to timing! The chips aren’t compatible with older motherboards however, so upgrading requires a new MOBO w the 300 series chipset.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/intel-8th-gen-cpus-release-date-specs-price-2952599

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kmetal Fri, 10/20/2017 - 16:35

Makzimia, post: 453608, member: 48344 wrote: They finally caught up cost to allow equal to my 2012 Xenons in my Mac Pro lol :).

Yup. Also for proportionally lower cost. These new hips are 6 core 12 thread i7’s, and 6/6 i5’s. They also run on motherboards which support DDR4 Ram that can clock twice as fast as DDR3. The new chips support server grade (ECC) memory as well. the new $200 gigabyte motherboard has 3, yes 3 M.2 slots that support Nvme boot.

To give perspective on that. Your standard 250gb Samsung evo sata3 SSD ($100) reads and writes at 500mb/s. Current 250gb 960 evo m.2 ssd ($120) reads at 3,200mb/s, and writes at 1500mb/s. So there’s a huge difference in data transfer potential. Something only the NvME compatible motherboards, from the last couple years can do.

And the new i7 can run up to 4.7ghz before overclocking.

So where talking a machine that about 1/4 the cost of that Mac, would do quite well compared to it, possibly dust it.

Now having dual xeons changes things a bit. But also makes that computer 5-6x the price new.

So unless all that power is needed upfront like say for heavy avid media composer, or beastly vsti it’s cheaper to upgrade computers more often. Basically due to the trickle down effect you describe. The fact that support for immensely faster drives and ram comes into play, makes the upgrade more often path a better value by quite a bit. This is due to the law of diminishing returns in cost vs performance, and the resulting proportionally higher cost for a ‘flagship’ machine. Although older machines are not capable of having these NvME ssd drives.

A dual Xeon is a great machine, and a good value if you select the current 8core chips, tough to beat. But your talking the cost of 3x i7 machines. Where in that case you have 18cores and 36 threads working in master Slave configuration, that could outperform a dual xeon.

There’s other factors like PCI lanes which Xeon has more of, and xeons rock solid 24/7 operation.

DonnyThompson, post: 453612, member: 46114 wrote: Is 6 core modern? Or have they surpassed that to 8 ...or higher?

Up until now the i7 which is fairly popular for most typical daws has been 4 core 8 threads. These have been well received by most users, with the exception being people who use heavy. Vsti where 6 or more cores was deemed necessary for a single PC configuration.

Now for just about the same price, you get 6 cores and 12 threads on the i7 for the first time.

So basically it’s a significant boost in performance. Anyone looking to buy a new machine lately has just got a nice healthy upgrade for nada.

With the i5’s being 6 core 6 thread vs 4/4 last gen, for $200, it has the potential to be amazing bang for the buck. I’m strongly considering it.

Pair it with a gigabyte $125 MOBo and you’ve got something that is really capable and unbeatable value wise. It gives you 6 cores at 2.8ghz, a single m.2 slot, up to 64gb of server grade ram, your talking nearly half the cost of what a similar machine would have cost six months ago.

I see the i5’s as a very high value relatively low cost solution for a daw or slave. $675 gets you 6 core processing,16gb ram, a decent PSU, and rack case, a blazing m.2 (nvme) OS drive. That’s tough to beat right now.

In pro studios where anything might show up, 8 core is in the lower side, 16 being higher side I would guess. Normandy runs on a twelve core Mac, replacing the 8 core last year due to 64 bit needs, so it was an old 8 core.

Avid media composer recommends a minimum of the 4 core/8thread i7, with the 8core Xeon the standard.

If you already have the previous year or twos i7 the MOBO might make it not worth the upgrade, but for anyone with an aging or non-exisitant setup, it’s a good time.

I’m most likely going to re-assign my i5 Lenovo to graphic design/web publishing and not even bother doing audio with it, and instead put the $ into the new i5 setup. The ram is the same price, and the ssd’s are similar in price grossly different in performance. My Lenovo can’t take the newer ssd type. Therefore I’d be buying old stuff at a premium vs new stuff at standard pricing.

This announcement changed my game up, since the timing for a dual Xeon beast isn’t quite right for me. This i5 should make a nice slave to the dual Xeon...

kmetal Sat, 10/21/2017 - 13:30

Yea man those are wel built computers. My cousins quad tower from late ‘13 is still running strong as well.

I have no bias towards either. I personally use PCs to save cash vs a similar Mac, and because I enjoy the technical aspects of the components.

I’ve seen both types perform well and poorly.

Guelph_Guy Wed, 11/29/2017 - 19:46

kmetal, post: 453593, member: 37533 wrote: Intel dropped their latest line of processors on OCT.5, 2017. I’ll link an article w the specs, but I’ll comment saying that they’ve added two more cores/threads compared to each previous model. So i5’s are 6 core now! i7’s are 6 core/6 threads!!! Pretty beastly upgrade. Best of all the price points have remained the same, so if you were in the market for a new computer, your build just got better or cheaper due to timing! The chips aren’t compatible with older motherboards however, so upgrading requires a new MOBO w the 300 series chipset.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/intel-8th-gen-cpus-release-date-specs-price-2952599

hey kmetal ... long time since I've been on .. I jumped on the new 8th gen pc and am up and running ... runs like the wind ...!!

Guelph_Guy Wed, 11/29/2017 - 19:50

kmetal, post: 453593, member: 37533 wrote: Intel dropped their latest line of processors on OCT.5, 2017. I’ll link an article w the specs, but I’ll comment saying that they’ve added two more cores/threads compared to each previous model. So i5’s are 6 core now! i7’s are 6 core/6 threads!!! Pretty beastly upgrade. Best of all the price points have remained the same, so if you were in the market for a new computer, your build just got better or cheaper due to timing! The chips aren’t compatible with older motherboards however, so upgrading requires a new MOBO w the 300 series chipset.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/intel-8th-gen-cpus-release-date-specs-price-2952599

I'm also running 2 Samsung 960 pro M.2 SSD's !!! 9 think we talked about those in the past ) .. anyhow amazing products .. check the computer section out I put up a few notes on these i7 rigs