CC3+ and CPUs
Rosemont_Line
🖼️ 1 images Traveler
Ahoy all. So I've been thinking I might start a new desktop PC build soonish, and to that end, figured I'd get the CPU now since a few of the ones I've been looking at are on sale. While I will also be gaming on whatever I build, one of the big things I want to do of course is maximize the speed for redraw and rendering with CC3+.
These two - the Ryzen 5 7600X and the Ryzen 7 7700X - are the main candidates I've narrowed down to when considering my overall uses and wants for this build and looking at current pricing.
Link to PassMark comparison between the 7600X, 7700X, and my current CPU (Intel i5 9600K): https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/3337vs5033vs5036/Intel-i5-9600K-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-7600X-vs-AMD-Ryzen-7-7700X
Based on the specs, is there any reason to suspect that CC3+ performance will be better to any significant degree on one vs. the other between these two? Or that one or the other will be a more significant jump over my current CPU? i.e. with my current machine, I can work with effects on with some mapping styles (very simple ones without a lot of bitmap fills, generally), but annual styles like Fantasy Worlds or Modern Political, absolutely not - the redraws that occur so frequently when mapping are just way too slow to keep effects on while working. So I'd love to be able to change that, but I have no idea if "speed up redraws in detail-heavy styles enough to work with effects on" is even on the table with either of the above CPUs. Or with ANY new CPU I might buy.
(Just for reference, my current machine is Win10 and the new one will be Win 11. GPU and RAM would be the same in both machines - I currently have an RTX 3070 and 32GB. When I build the new PC, I will transfer the 3070 to it and also put in 32GB. I know CC3+ can't use more than 4GB and also doesn't extensively use the GPU, but I figured I'd supply that extra info anyway).
Obviously these two CPUs are not wildly different from each other in specs and price in the first place so there may not be a definitive answer for which would be better for CC3+, but I thought it was worth asking before I buy one. Thanks!
Comments
For CC3+, there will not be much of a difference between those two. A lot of operations in CC3+ are single threaded, in which those two score pretty much the same (but about 50% better than your old one).
Some processes, like some effects do take advantage of multiple cores, but it is unlikely to fully saturate your CPU, so even if the 7700 is better, I doubt you would observe much difference between them. But the 7700 do have two extra cores that can work on other things the same time as CC3+ works though, which can be an advantage.
Monsen is completely right. CC doesn't use any of the fancy differences between the two. I'd like to point out that the 7600 is 0.2GHz faster. The clock speed is probably the only difference between the two relating to CC3+. That probably won't be a noticeable difference. The 7600 might be faster by 4.4% at most. It's almost backward: the cheaper processor would run CC3+ better.
Thanks to both of you for the replies!
This is the kind of thing I wasn't sure about. That small clock speed difference was the only major thing I could find that I thought might impact CC3+; most benchmarks and tests apply to either games or to 64-bit apps.
Though... the 7600X is advantaged for base clock speed, but the 7700X takes it for boost/"turbo". So I'm not sure what to make of that in terms of actual performance, lol. If the CPU is under load, wouldn't it be the boosted speed, not the base, that would come into play more?
But then, the difference is likely to be pretty small either way since it's 0.1 or 0.2 off.
Usually, the better number to look at is the value listed under "Single Thread Performance", not the MHz numbers. The performance numbers are computed from actual tests ran on the CPU and gives a number easier to compare than the MHz ones.
(The main "CPU Mark" number in that table is the multi-core performance)
Going back to the MHz numbers, also note that the CPU can only maintain turbo speed for a limited amount of time (unless you are fond of playing around with overclocking) so it is generally helpful for short burst of activity needing a bit of extra push, but is useless for longer computations.
Turbo speed can be automatic or manual depending on the motherboard and drivers.
Fair point, that makes sense. On my current CPU, I have found that it tends to idle somewhere between the base and boosted speed (right around 4.1-4.2). I don't know how AMD CPUs work in regard to where that idle "hover" speed is likely to be, but even the base speed of both is as high as the boosted speed (roughly) of my current, so I should see an improvement regardless.
Not planning to do any true overclocking, no matter what I get. That single-thread performance rating in the comparison gives a slight edge to the 7700X, but it's a pretty minor difference (just like the base clock speed is minor in the other direction). So the end result seems to be "any differences will be negligible and either of these CPUs will be a big improvement over my current one."
Which is good news! Either one will likely work out great. It's also bad news, because there's no clear advantage and I'm back to trying to decide which one to go with lol But I do lean toward the 7700X, I think. It's really hard to imagine any CC3+ performance gains of the 7600X over the 7700X being truly noticeable, and on the other side, an extra $66 dollars (with the current prices, they are both on sale) gets me a CPU with 2 more cores that will likely last longer before needing to be upgraded again.
Anyway, thanks for the insights guys!