Processor for VR, threadripper any good?

[Turk]

I'm starting to think about upgrading my PC in preparation for ACC VR.

My current build is an intel i7 2600k OC'd to 4.5ghz, AsusP8 P67 evo, 16gb ram.

I do have a legitimate reason to upgrade in that lightroom, photoshop and premiere are starting to struggle, I can't edit an image in lightroom and watch a youtube video for example.

I now have an opportunity to offload my MB, CPU and Ram to a PC in work and replace the gizzards of my PC with something more up to date.

I don't follow the market until I have to so I'm getting up to date on what's available and saw the AMD threadripper processors. I read that they are better suited to high resolutions and wondered if they'd be better than the the standard Ryzen 7, maybe more future proof for the next generation of VR coupled with new ray tracing being introduced by Nvidia?

I have used intel all my life, has AMD caught up with their Ryzen 7 2700? The Intel i7 8700k doesn't seem to cost that much more when I'm pricing it out and I'd lean towards Intel unless there's a VR advantage with AMD. I've heard AMD is better at things like video processing too.

So is there any advantage to a threadripper for a VR system and is the Intel still worth the premium?

 

[Dan Costa]

You want high single-threaded performance, unless ACC somehow starts scaling across many cores, which the current AC does not (neither does any racing sim on the pc).

I have the 2700X @ 4.3Ghz and my old 2600K @ 5.1ghz was faster than my ryzen in single-threaded games.
Your best bet is the 8700K @ 5ghz for the best experience in simulation racing games (as of 2018)

Threadripper goes in the completely opposite direction, although still fast, is much more geared towards other workloads. The 2950x though, can boost up to 4.4ghz which is pretty damn good, though still much behind the 8700k in single-thread workloads.

Edit: when I say much behind, I mean its usually 20-30% behind, which can mean a drop in framerate from 90fps down to 70 when in VR. Game-breaker for me.

 

[Turk]

Your best bet is the 8700K @ 5ghz for the best experience in simulation racing games (as of 2018)

They have bundles on Amazon that are already overclocked to 5ghz too.

Hopefully they aren't about to release some new line of CPUs that are twice as fast and half the price.

EDIT: I do have one more question. Is the 8600K top of the range? With my current setup there was no where to go with the motherboard, it was maxed out with the 2600k. Is that going to happen to me again?

 

[Dan Costa]

The 8600K is the top of line for the 4-core family (i5). If it can reach 5ghz, it will be as fast as the 5ghz 8700K in today's racing games, but barely faster than the 2600K in multitasking (you will have the same slowdowns).

There wont be cpus twice has fast as the 8700K in single-threaded workloads in the next 4 years, easily. But there are cpu's twice as fast as the 8700K today in multithreading both from Intel and AMD, with AMD having a big big price advantage and top performance.

On intel you are almost guaranteed to need a new board next year. On AMD the AM4 and TR4 platform will be compatible new products for at least 2020.

I'd wait for the 9700K and Zen2 in 2019 if your only problem is the occasional slowdown when editing photos etc.

 

[Turk]

Sorry I meant to say 8700k in that post not 8600k.

My slow down in lightroom isn't occasional either, it's fairly consistent at this stage. I'll have a number of videos to make over the next few months too.

So if I do get a 8700k it will be another dead end and I'd have to replace MB, CPU and RAM the next time I need to upgrade?

 

[Dan Costa]

I mean, it really depends on everyone's use case. For some applications, even the 2950X with 16 cores will have slowdowns like you experience. Its up to you to open taskmanager and check how much do your applications use.

I would argue the 8700K its a great CPU for gaming and multitasking. I bet it lasts you another 2 years until you feel the need to upgrade. If this timeframe is acceptable for you, do it. If you can wait until 2019, well, its always the best bet if you want the best bang for your buck.

 

[Sim Strata]

Interesting all this talk of 4.5ghz. I recently undervoltaged and down clocked my 3660k to protect it during the hot spell we had. But doing so I noticed CPU utilisation was never more than 35% with 4.5ghz anyway. In AC, RF2, and Insurgency. COH2 was perhaps 50%. Makes me wonder why we so obsessed with over clocking and how is upgrading an under-utilised CPU going to do anything?

 

[Dan Costa]

Because overclocking also increases single-core performance, which matters a lot for games like Assetto. The CPU will look like they are under-utilized because they have many cores and AC only uses two or three threads at best.

 

[Turk]

Interesting all this talk of 4.5ghz. I recently undervoltaged and down clocked my 3660k to protect it during the hot spell we had. But doing so I noticed CPU utilisation was never more than 35% with 4.5ghz anyway. In AC, RF2, and Insurgency. COH2 was perhaps 50%. Makes me wonder why we so obsessed with over clocking and how is upgrading an under-utilised CPU going to do anything?

For this reason.

I didn't overclock my cpu until I had to for AC VR. If it does no damage to the CPU then I guess there's no reason not to.

 

[Sim Strata]

Because overclocking also increases single-core performance, which matters a lot for games like Assetto. The CPU will look like they are under-utilized because they have many cores and AC only uses two or three threads at best.

Ah I see. Makes sense. So when I bought my i7-3660K (or whatever it is called), expecting to make full use of it, I am now facing the prospect of upgrading and I have never used more than 50% (ie. COH2 is actually 100%, using only 2 cores!?!). Cores 3 and 4 still have bubble wrap and foam packing as new look to them!

 

[Dan Costa]

thats right. Very few games use an entire i7 cpu. So the rule of thumb is to match your hardware to your gaming needs. If you only play racing sims, you wouldn't need to upgrade you cpu for the last 7 years (outch!). The wild card here is VR. For VR you will benefit from a 5ghz 8700k vs an 7 year old i7.