Best CPU for Rendering & Video Encoding: Spring 2021

[PAGETITLE=Introduction][Top Ad] It's been a little while since we last dove into CPU workstation testing in a meaningful way, so we're going to get things up to speed here, and see where things stand in early 2021. With Intel's 11th-gen Core processors set to land soon, we'll follow-up on this article after that series' release to see where Intel's latest fits into the mix. In this article, we're going to take an in-depth look at CPU performance revolving around many different workloads, with encoding- and rendering-type tests representing the bulk. If you've read through our CPU performance evaluations before, you'll recognize many of the tests, but as always, all of our software was updated to the latest versions before getting down to retesting. For those interested in CPU performance in Linux, we're planning to follow-up on this article in the near-future with comprehensive tests there. As this article focuses on workstation performance, gamers can check out our semi-recent look at performance on four platforms. We've been feeling an itch lately to do more comprehensive game tests, so we plan to revisit that soon, as well. The tables below give a quick run-down of both AMD's and Intel's current line-ups. Bear in mind that not all models are listed in every case, but the most crucial ones are. AMD's Ryzen & Ryzen Threadripper Lineup Cores Clock (Turbo) Cache Memory IGP TDP Price Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64 (128T) 2.9 GHz (4.3) 288MB Quad No 280W $3990 3970X 32 (64T) 3.7 GHz (4.5) 144MB Quad No 280W $1999 3960X 24 (48T) 3.8 GHz (4.5) 140MB Quad No 280W $1399 Ryzen 9 R9 5950X 16 (32T) 3.4 GHz (4.9) 72MB Dual No 105W $799 R9 5900X 12 (24T) 3.7 GHz (4.8) 70MB Dual No 105W $549 Ryzen 7 R7 5800X 8 (16T) 3.8 GHz (4.7) 36MB Dual No 105W $449 Ryzen 5 R5 5600X 6 (12T) 3.7 GHz (4.6) 35MB Dual No 65W $299 Ryzen 3 R3 3300X 4 (8T) 3.8 GHz (4.3) 18MB Dual No 65W $120 R3 3100 4 (8T) 3.6 GHz (3.9) 18MB Dual No 65W $99 Ryzen w/ Radeon Vega Graphics R5 3400G 4 (8T) 3.7 GHz (4.2) 0.5+4MB Dual Yes 65W $149 R3 3200G 4 (4T) 3.6 GHz (4.0) 0.5+4MB Dual Yes 65W $99 Intel Core & Core X Processor Lineup Cores Clock (Turbo) Cache Memory IGP TDP Price Core X-Series i9-10980XE 18 (36T) 3.0 GHz (4.8) 24.75MB Quad No 165W $979 i9-10940X 14 (28T) 3.3 GHz (4.8) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $784 i9-10920X 12 (24T) 3.5 GHz (4.8) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $689 i9-10900X 10 (20T) 3.7 GHz (4.7) 19.25MB Quad No 165W $590 Core Series i9-10900K 10 (20T) 3.7 GHz (5.3) 20MB Dual Yes 125W $488 i9-10900 10 (20T) 2.8 GHz (5.2) 20MB Dual Yes 65W $439 i7-10700K 8 (16T) 3.8 GHz (5.1) 16MB Dual Yes 125W $374 i7-10700 8 (16T) 2.9 GHz (4.8) 16MB Dual Yes 65W $323 i5-10600K 6 (12T) 4.1 GHz (4.8) 12MB Dual Yes 125W $262 i5-10600 6 (12T) 3.3 GHz (4.8) 12MB Dual Yes 65W $213 i5-10500 6 (12T) 3.1 GHz (4.5) 12MB Dual Yes 65W $192 i5-10400 6 (12T) 2.9 GHz (4.3) 12MB Dual Yes 65W $182 i3-10320 4 (8T) 3.8 GHz (4.6) 8MB Dual Yes 65W $154 i3-10300 4 (8T) 3.7 GHz (4.4) 8MB Dual Yes 65W $143 i3-10100 4 (8T) 3.6 GHz (4.3) 6MB Dual Yes 65W $122 While this article will focus on the overall performance to be derived from our tested CPUs, it's really difficult to sum-up a single chip and have those thoughts apply to everyone. Our workloads are all different, so you need to analyze yours to some extent to gauge what exactly is important to you. As more rendering workloads have become so darn fast on our GPUs, many will be best-suited with a smaller core-count CPU that has great clocks over a many core-count CPU with modest clocks. The better or more efficient a CPU's clock speed, IPC (instructions-per-clock), and general single-threaded performance is, the faster responsiveness will be - from the OS to the software within. If you're in need of many cores, either because of heavy rendering, encoding, or perhaps even the tendency to run many virtual machines, it will be worth sacrificing a bit of clock speed just to gain plenty of breathing room. Or, in the case of Core X or Ryzen Threadripper, users would also gain the advantage of a quad-channel memory controller for greatly improved bandwidth. We have a lot to cover, so we'll dive straight into things on the next page. First up is a look at our testing methodology, as well as detailed configuration specs. If you don't care about the methods to our madness, you can skip right to page three to kick things off with a look at rendering performance. [PAGEBREAK][PAGETITLE=Test Methodology & Systems][Top Ad] Benchmarking a CPU may sound like a simple enough task, but in order to deliver accurate, repeatable results, strict guidelines need to be adhered to. This makes for rigorous, time-consuming testing, but we feel that the effort is worth it. This page exists so that we can be open about how we test, and give those who care about testing procedures an opportunity to review our methodology before flaming us in the comments. Here, you can see a breakdown of all of our test machines, specifics about the tests themselves, and other general information that might be useful. Let's start with a look at the test platforms. For testing AMD's Ryzen, we use ASRock's X570 TAICHI motherboard, while for Threadripper, we use ASUS' Zenith II Extreme Alpha. On the Intel side, Core chips are tested in ASUS' ROG STRIX Z390-E GAMING, while Core X uses the ASUS ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING. The same 64GB kit of Corsair DOMINATOR memory is used on each one of the test platforms. After XMP is applied, the DRAM speed is reduced from DDR4-3600 to DDR4-3200. All of the tested CPUs and their respective platforms should be able to run DDR4-3600 memory speeds without issue, but we've encountered enough time-wasting behavior in the past to simply stick to 3200. Neither of the AMD motherboards we use for testing apply an automatic overclock to the CPUs, and for the sake of testing reference clocks, Precision Boost Overdrive is left disabled. On the Intel motherboards, ASUS' MultiCore Enhancement acts as an automatic overclock, so after enabling XMP, we change the option to enforce reference clocks. Both PBO and MCE will deliver a decent improvement to performance at the expense of additional power draw and higher temperatures, but it's worth considering if your PC's cooling is up to the task. We used the latest version of Windows 10 (20H2) for our testing, ensuring that the latest bits are pulled in by Windows Update. We also ensure that the platform-specific chipset driver is up-to-date, and in all cases, the settings that driver applies are left alone. All of the tests in this article were run with the help of our automated test scripts which ensure the same settings and actions are applied each and every time. This generally means we don't need to run a test too many times to generate an accurate and repeatable result, but generally speaking, most tests are run at least 3 times over. Here's the full breakdown of the test platforms: Techgage's CPU Testing Platforms. AMD AM4 Test Platform Processors AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (3.4GHz, 16C/32T) AMD Ryzen 9 5900X (3.7GHz, 12C/24T) AMD Ryzen 7 5800X (3.8GHz, 8C/16T) AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (3.7GHz, 6C/12T) Motherboard ASRock X570 TAICHI CPUs tested with BIOS P4.00 (Jan 19, 2021) Memory Corsair VENGEANCE (CMT64GX4M4Z3600C16) 16GB x4 Operates at DDR4-3200 16-18-18 (1.35V) Graphics NVIDIA RTX 3070 (8GB; GeForce 460.89) Storage WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB (SATA 6Gbps) Power Supply Corsair RM850X (850W) Chassis Fractal Design Define C Cooling Corsair Hydro H100i PRO RGB (240mm) Et cetera Windows 10 Pro (20H2, Build 19042) AMD TRX40 Test Platform Processor AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X (2.9GHz, 64C/128T) AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3970X (3.7GHz, 24C/48T) AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X (3.8GHz, 32C/64T) Motherboard ASUS Zenith II Extreme Alpha CPUs tested with BIOS 1303 (Nov 11, 2020) Memory Corsair VENGEANCE (CMT64GX4M4Z3600C16) 16GB x4 Operates at DDR4-3200 16-18-18 (1.35V) Graphics NVIDIA RTX 3070 (8GB; GeForce 460.89) Storage WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB (SATA 6Gbps) Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid (1300W) Chassis NZXT H710i Cooling NZXT Kraken X63 (280mm) Et cetera Windows 10 Pro (20H2, Build 19042) Intel LGA1151 Test Platform Processors Intel Core i9-10900K (3.7GHz, 10C/20T) Intel Core i5-10600K (4.1GHz, 6C/12T) Motherboard ASUS ROG Maximus XII HERO Wi-Fi CPUs tested with BIOS 2004 (Jan 13, 2021) Memory Corsair VENGEANCE (CMT64GX4M4Z3600C16) 16GB x4 Operates at DDR4-3200 16-18-18 (1.35V) Graphics NVIDIA RTX 3070 (8GB; GeForce 460.89) Storage WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB (SATA 6Gbps) Power Supply EVGA Bronze 600B1 (600W) Chassis Corsair Crystal X570 RGB Cooling Corsair Hydro H115i PRO RGB (280mm) Et cetera Windows 10 Pro (20H2, Build 19042) Intel LGA2011-3 Test Platform Processors Intel Core i9-10980XE (3.0GHz, 18C/36T) Motherboard ASUS ROG STRIX X299-E GAMING CPU tested with BIOS 3301 (Nov 5, 2020) Memory Corsair VENGEANCE (CMT64GX4M4Z3600C16) 16GB x4 Operates at DDR4-3200 16-18-18 (1.35V) Graphics NVIDIA RTX 3070 (8GB; GeForce 460.89) Storage WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB (SATA 6Gbps) Power Supply Corsair Gold AX1200 (1200W) Chassis Corsair Carbide 600C Cooling NZXT Kraken X62 (280mm) Et cetera Windows 10 Pro (20H2, Build 19042) Testing Considerations. As covered earlier, we use an up-to-date Windows 10 (20H2) for our testing, as well as the latest chipset driver for each respective platform. In the pursuit of accurate, repeatable benchmarks, here are some basic guidelines we follow: Disruptive services are disabled; eg: Search, Cortana, User Account Control, Defender, etc. Overlays and / or other extras are not installed with the graphics driver. Vsync is disabled at the driver level (and in any tested game). Balanced power profile used for AMD and Intel (with screen timeouts disabled). OSes are never transplanted from one machine to another. We validate system configurations before kicking off any test run. Testing doesn't begin until the PC is idle (keeps a steady minimum wattage). All tests are repeated until there is a high degree of confidence in the results...

Best CPU for Rendering & Video Encoding: Spring 2021

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Rob Williams