# Ryzen 1800x Build Log



## MarcusD (Dec 30, 2017)

​So all my parts finally arrived yesterday for my budget build. I put the system together easily enough, however, nothings ever easy...

My first impression is this could be a potentially sweet system. Unfortunately I've been plagued with numerous hardware issues preventing me from properly testing it out. My first issue was having a PSU failure (of all days for something to go wrong) which required me to run out and get another PSU.

After Ryzens first cold boot, which took ages btw, I entered the bios to discover only half of the RAM was being recognised, despite the two DIMMS registering. Which is something quite common with Ryzen apparently. For the most part, this issues normally relates to RAM that's not compatible with the motherboard but I made sure my kit was QVL approved. Another reason which could cause this, is an out-dated-bios.

After flashing the bios, I logged into Windows opened the task manager to find that 32Gb can be seen but only 16Gb was useable. The next step was to boot back into the bios and manually input the clock speed, timing and voltage. I spent a while playing around with the timings and voltages with no success. My next point-of-call was to remove the RAM and test each stick in each slot. I soon discovered that one of them wouldn't let me boot, suggesting a faulty stick.

Tomorrow I have a replacement kit coming, so hopefully that'll be the end of that (and all the blue screens) Despite this, I have decided to test further and found that the DIM that does work, still fails a Mem Test. My biggest frustration would be potentially having to replace the motherboard, so I do hope that these issues are not both RAM and MOBO related...

However, I have had the system running "OK" even with only 1 DIM installed. I've been doing some tests using DAW Bench across different buffer settings comparing it to my old rig. So far, it's handled things way better than I thought. I'll post some results in the new year. I'll continue to post updates on the on-going progress, some of you may find it useful. But from what I have managed to get working, it seems to be a great little CPU, a big leap in performance!


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## shomynik (Dec 30, 2017)

Very interesting! Following...


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## MarcusD (Dec 31, 2017)

Early this morning my replacement RAM came. I must admit, I was very anxious about this. After such a streak of bad luck with hardware, I was hoping nothing else bad would happen...

So, I took the old working stick out of slot 2 and replaced it with one new module then powered up the machine. Thankfully the system booted up fine, no errors and 16gb was showing. A good start. Next it was to power down the machine and insert the second module into slot 4, power the machine up and keep an eye on the motherboard.

The only thing about this motherboard I don't like, is there's no error code with numerical / alphabetical codes. Which would make it easier to diagnose anything because you'll have a big flashing code with something like "A4" or "00" showing. For this board there are 4 small lights located next to the 24pin power connector that flash in a sequence for CPU > RAM > VGA > BOOT. If any of the lights stay on it might indicate an issue.

As the machine booted it detected the new module and let me boot into bios (BTW the bios on this board is really good).I was getting ready for the worst then all of a sudden, there it was, 32gb of glorious RAM. Before I got too excited I logged into Windows to double check the task manager and CPU-Z. Everything looked great 32gb of useable RAM. Great success!



With it being NYE, I would sit and do the AMD Benchmarks using DAW Bench, but as you can understand, I've got a lot on today in preparation for next year. Mainly consuming ludicrous amounts of beer. Somehow I don't think the results would end up being too accurate... But for now here are the results from my old rig.

BTW for those of you who have not heard of DAW Bench, it's a set of project files you can download for Cubase, Pro Tools, Reaper and Studio One. Click http://www.dawbench.com/benchmarks.htm (here) for a link to the website and files.

_"This Benchmark is a combination of Low Latency, High Track Count, and Extreme DSP Loadings. Heavily dependant on CPU, Memory and Audio Interface Driver Efficiency"_

My old rig had an i7 4770 running at 3.4ghz (despite it showing as 3.8ghz in task manager) 16gb of DDR3 running at a blistering 1600mhz! Even though this rig is ancient by todays standards, it actually works really, really well. The thing with computers, you don't always need the latest and greatest to get the job done. My old setup was perfect for the kind of work I used to do.

Anyway, without walking off the beaten path... For these tests I'm only interested in comparing the CPU performance. With the old rig, I'd predominantly have Cubase running it's 32bit engine with projects at 48k in 24bit. But for this I decided to run Cubase with it's 64bit engine to really test things out.

Using DAW Bench, I opened the project file *DAW-Bench-DSP-C7-RXC-EXT* then enabled each instance of Rexacomp one-by-one (while playing back the project) until I got audio breakups and drop-outs. Then I'd disable an instance at a time, until the project stabilised, then count how many instances were enabled and record the number. This was tested across 6 different buffer settings.



As you can see, the results were underwhelming. But the question is, how much better will the 1800x be? You'll have to wait and see... I hope you enjoy the celebrations later on this evening and I'll be back next year to post the 1800x results along with a little video.

Happy New Year!


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## chimuelo (Dec 31, 2017)

Nice thread, very helpful for guys using DAWs.

Funny thing about the 4770/4790 CPUs is they have the S version, the plain as you speak of and the k versions.
Most folks believe Intels non k hype, but you see they OC w/o even trying.
Motherboard manufacturers bake it in the BIOS.
You could get 4.2ghz with a voltage bump.

Have Fun


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## MarcusD (Jan 3, 2018)

With 2017 now behind us, I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season and welcomed 2018 in with the people who matter most to you. In todays blog we'll be taking a look at some of the DAW Bench results for the new http://www.amd.com/en/where-to-buy/ryzen-processors (Ryzen 1800x) build and see how it compares to my old i7 4770 rig.

Despite this build having 32gb of RAM it shouldn't really make much difference to the numbers as this test focuses more on raw CPU performance. I also slightly overclocked the http://amzn.to/2CJLlBY (1800x) to 3.9Ghz instead running its stock setting of 3.6Ghz. Next, I loaded the same Cubase Pro 9.5 DAW Bench project used to test the Intel i7 4770 and tested Ryzen's performance across six different buffer settings.






As expected you can quite clearly see that the performance gains over the Intel 4770 with Ryzen coping very well in the Rexacomp CPU test. I also tested Ryzen using Cubase's 32 bit engine and Interestingly, Ryzen seemed to slightly underperform. I'll be conducting a couple more tests (which I'll post ) to confirm this, but initially at a buffer setting of 64 Ryzen only managed 284 instances of Rexacomp, and at a 2048 buffer setting it handled 352 instances.

*Ryzen 1800x: 44.1k Vs 96k*

At higher sample rates, Ryzen starts to dip in performance. When testing at 96k running Cubase's 64bit engine, the numbers drop significantly. Moving from a buffer setting of 64 to 128, gives you roughly 50% performance increase. Moving higher up the buffer ladder yields marginal gains with the maximum number of Rexacomp instances being 140 at a 2048 buffer setting.






*VST Instrument Performance*

In the tests conducted above we've only really spoke about CPU performance, but how well does the http://amzn.to/2CJLlBY (1800x)cope with large templates? Well, here's the thing. Single core performance is always going to benefit you for audio production, so if you compare the http://amzn.to/2CJLlBY (Ryzen 1800x) to Intel's http://amzn.to/2DZkUru (8700k Coffee lake), Intel is always going to have a clear advantage. Especially at lower latency settings.

If you're used to working on large projects at buffer settings of 32, 64 or 128 then you'll probably want to look at what Intel has to offer. If you don't mind working with higher buffer settings then Ryzen is going to really please you especially when it comes to price vs performance!

On my old rig running Cubase 9.5 in 32bit, the i7 4770 couldn't handle my test template which used 77 instances of Kontakt 5 playing 5 notes of MIDI (all at the same time), using a mixture of 3rd party orchestral sample libraries.

With Ryzen running Cubase 9.5 in 64bit, my template has got MUCH larger. At a buffer of 512 the 1800x can comfortably handle 153 instances of Kontakt 5 playing 5 notes of midi (all at the same time) using a mixture of libraries, with no audio drop-outs or performance issues.

Upping the buffer to 1024 and that number goes up to 229 instances of MIDI playing at the same time. Maxing the buffer out at 2024 lets me run 308 instances of Kontakt 5 all playing 5 MIDI (at the same time), although it's not 100% smooth sailing with some audio glitches, but still capable of playback.

*My Opinion*

For the average composer I would say the 1800x is more than capable for handling your projects, provided you have plenty of RAM. For me, this CPU offers more than enough performance for my own musical needs. For professional composers who work in the industry using 1000 + channel templates, I'd probably suggest giving the 1800x a miss for your main workstation. However, If you're looking to build a cheap Slave Computer I can see Ryzen being a no brainer for it's price to performance.

What really impresses me the most is how good the 1800x is for video editing, encoding and 3D rendering. For the price, It's an absolute monster! Right now in the UK, the http://amzn.to/2CxHbQL (Ryzen 1800x)is still cheaper than thehttp://amzn.to/2DZkUru (i7 8700k) with the Intel retailing at £366 and AMD Ryzen 1800x for just £299. If AMD can improve upon what they've delivered with the http://www.amd.com/en/where-to-buy/ryzen-processors (Ryzen 7) line by increasing single core performance, to rival or surpass Intel's coffee lake architecture, with their upcoming 2018 releases, then we might be in for another interesting year.


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