# Dual 2697 v2 or single 3900x?



## Audio Birdi (Jul 16, 2019)

Hi All,

I plan on upgrading my build in future but wondered what the best route would be in terms of upgrading.

I have 64gb DDR3 1333 MHz RAM already. So a motherboard + Dual CPU upgrade would work out to around a similar price to having to go full motherboard + CPU + RAM upgrade for a new architecture.

I roughly worked out that a dual 2697 v2 overclocked to 3 GHz on all cores and threads (24 cores, 48 threads) would be similar in performance to a Ryzen 3900x overclocked to 4 GHz on all cores and threads (12 cores, 24 threads).

Would more cores and threads with lower clock speed be better in terms of running a DAW or less cores and higher clock speeds work out better overall?

Since overall performance would be similar. But wondered what would be best in this case.

Thanks in advance for your help!


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## Andrew Aversa (Jul 16, 2019)

Are you talking the Xeon E5-2697? If so, that's outrageously expensive. You could build like 5 3900x based machines for the price of that. I would consider waiting a few months for the new generation of Threadripper CPUs to come out, plus the 16-core Ryzen 3950x.


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## Audio Birdi (Jul 16, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> Are you talking the Xeon E5-2697? If so, that's outrageously expensive. You could build like 5 3900x based machines for the price of that. I would consider waiting a few months for the new generation of Threadripper CPUs to come out, plus the 16-core Ryzen 3950x.


Can find the E5-2697 v2 on eBay for around £200-£300 each usually. So in terms in terms of cost. Both systems would be similar as I'd have to buy DDR4 RAM for Ryzen too.


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## Andrew Aversa (Jul 16, 2019)

Ah OK, that's a lot more reasonable. In any case, I would consider waiting a little longer on these new Ryzen/TR chips, since they have already shown to match (or beat) Intel in the latest ScanPro tests.


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## Audio Birdi (Jul 16, 2019)

zircon_st said:


> Ah OK, that's a lot more reasonable. In any case, I would consider waiting a little longer on these new Ryzen/TR chips, since they have already shown to match (or beat) Intel in the latest ScanPro tests.


Good thinking there Andrew, since the newest Ryzen chipset literally just released, it's reasonable to just wait and see what happens next. 2021 = the next gen of Intel CPU's so I feel I may go all-in on AMD Ryzen or Threadripper. 

Want to try and find out if I can find a DawBench Score for the E5-2697 V2 to get a rough idea of Polyphony, then multiply it by 2 to get an idea vs the 3900x that Scan Pro Audio has done!


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## fraz (Jul 26, 2019)

Hi,

Have you got a board to go with 2 x Xeon E5 2697 V2 - ? - I'm not a big fan of dual CPU's but they do give more performance - The Ivy Bridge CPU's do not support AVX2 but do support AVX.

E5 2697 V2 gets a Passmark of around 17,000 but not a great deal more with 2 x CPU's - How accurate this is I don't know.

Xeon E5 1680 V2 beat AMD 2700 X in gaming by some margin but that was at 4.3 Ghz - The E5 2697 V2 can OC to 3.4 Ghz all cores with something like Asus Turbo Ratio Lock - I put one on Asus X79 Rampage Extreme 4 Black Edition with 1 x CPU and got Passmark of 20,000 with base clock OC of 114 x 30 (or something similar.

I would imagine the 3900 X would win.

Having a CPU like E5 2697 V2 or E5 1680 V2 is for posterity as well as it "iconic" to a degree but both will lack single threaded performance compared to 3900 X as 3900 X is only 7% less than 9900 K supposedly


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## Audio Birdi (Jul 27, 2019)

fraz said:


> Hi,
> 
> Have you got a board to go with 2 x Xeon E5 2697 V2 - ? - I'm not a big fan of dual CPU's but they do give more performance - The Ivy Bridge CPU's do not support AVX2 but do support AVX.
> 
> ...


no board or CPU's yet. As I'm researching what may be best. As you've said, the passmark for dual 2697 v2's would work out to 34,000 (2 x 17,000) and one 3900x works out to ~ 32,000.

CPU efficiency would be much less on the 3900x but still pondering over the upgrade as price wise it works out to around £200-£300 difference (with the 2967's being pre-owned from ebay as well as the asus dual CPU motherboard).

It's cool to see almost double the CPU performance with half the cores and threads coming from AMD after about 5 years.


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## fraz (Jul 27, 2019)

I don't think 2 x E5 2697 V2 would be 34,000 please see below



PassMark - [Dual CPU] Intel Xeon E5-2697 v2 @ 2.70GHz - Price performance comparison



Now if this is correct to have only 5,000 extra for an extra CPU is not good.

Now in the real world with VSTi / sample libraries / FX - Can all the threads / cores be used to the full over 1 x CPU? - Some users say you get 75% of 2 CPU's but not 100% of 2 CPU's.

Due to this I only have one board with 2 x sockets and concentrate on 1 socket boards so if I use an E5 2697 V2 I'll get the full 100% of what ever it can do but bear in mind it is old technology.

Old tech is not always bad - as there was one of the tech journalists / programmer / compller who compared an E5 2690 V2 against a new 7900 X or similar and due to differences in "architecture" the older IVY BRIDGE CPU - beat it in some games - unbelievable ------so this could work out in favour in some music uses ????????

Getting hold of good X79 motherboards at a good cost is not easy ----and remember the IVY CPU's do not do AVX2

One of the good X79's is the Deluxe II with lots of room for SATA expansion - and would be very nice with E5 2697 V2 or similar CPU's.

If you like older tech then you may enjoy having an older CPU but the newer AMD's like 3900 X may be better overall


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## Audio Birdi (Jul 27, 2019)

I’ve got a Gigabyte X79-UP4 motherboard with a 6 core e5-1650 V1 right now. The passmark score is quite alarming since you’d think that you’d get 100% out of 2 CPUs but this appears not to be the case here it appears . Will have a think of what to do as a single 12 core ITX build would to great!


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## fraz (Jul 27, 2019)

E5 1650 V1 is 6 core right? - So is IVY BRIDGE? - And similar to the 4930K - Or if it is SANDY B then it's like the 3930 K -

I've not put it to the test yet - but I do have an Asus Z10 PE D8 WS (2x E5 2620 V4)___and some 2nd hand Xeons E5 V3's such as 2690 E5 V3 / E5 2697 V3 - At lesser prices as I couldn't afford XEONS.

Its worth noting there are cheap "chinese motherboards" such as Huanan & X79 T (don't know the make)___the boards are not that cheap £80 GBP - But I was able to get E5 2690 V0 (£60 EBAY_with a little import fee)___8C/16T__XEON___very happy to get these even if they are older__bad single threaded but great multi_____13,000 points for £60___OK on a very average board that won't OC (unless there is a BIOS update_)

This is more adavnced as I've built numerous machines for myself and others who need assistance|__but am not a PRO.

So "Audio Birdi" - If you were prepared to spend over the odds for another X79 board or buy another CPU then you could do this from EBAY - but your E5 1650 V0 would be too close in performance to E5 2697 V2??? as it is overclockable.

On the dual CPU issue - someone would need to test a 1x CPU board and then a 2 CPU board and compare total number of loaded instruments etc.......

I've decided wrongly or not to PREFER single socket boards as 2 machines with 1 CPU will beat 1 machine with 2 CPU's.

Some enthusiasts want a dual CPU board while others want a single CPU board


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