Windows 10 vs Windows 11 for Content Creation: 8 Month Update
Written on July 6, 2022 by Matt BachWindows 11 has officially been out for 8 months, and most applications now have official support for the new operating system. When it initially launched, we saw measurable performance issues with Windows 11 in content creation applications, but have those gone away now that the OS has had time to mature?
AMD Threadripper PRO 5000 WX-Series Content Creation Review
Written on June 23, 2022 by Matt BachAMD's new Threadripper PRO 5000 WX series of CPUs are here, providing greater performance over the previous generation while maintaining the large memory capacity and high PCIe lane count that Threadripper Pro is known for. But just how much faster are these new processors in content creation applications, and how do they fare against their main competition: the Intel Xeon W-3300 series?
AMD Ryzen 5800X3D vs 5800X for Content Creation
Written on May 17, 2022 by Matt BachAMD has recently released the Ryzen 5800X3D, which is their first desktop processor using 3D-stacked L3 cache. This CPU has been very clearly marketed towards the gaming industry - and not content creation - but we wanted to see how well it holds up in content creation applications like Photoshop and Premiere Pro.
Impact of DDR5 Speed on Content Creation Performance
Written on March 7, 2022 by Matt BachThe latest Intel 12th Gen processors officially support a range of DDR5 RAM speeds between DDR5-3600MHz and DDR5-4800MHz depending on a number of factors including how many RAM slots are on the motherboard, how many sticks are used, and whether the sticks are single or dual rank. But if you stick with JEDEC specifications for frequency and timing, how much does this actually impact performance in common content creation applications like Photoshop, Premiere Pro, and Unreal?
Should you upgrade to Windows 11 for Rendering?
Written on October 8, 2021 by Kelly ShipmanWindows 11 is finally here, however, many popular rendering applications like Redshift and V_ray have not officially offered support for the new OS. So what kind of performance could be expected as of the launch of Windows 11?
Ryzen XT and Core i9 10850K for Rendering: Are They Worth It?
Written on July 27, 2020 by William GeorgeAMD and Intel have both released small revisions to their latest-gen consumer CPU lines, in the form of the Ryzen XT models and Core i9 10850K. On paper these appear to be identical to current products except for very slight adjustments in clock speed, but how do they stack up in real-world rendering benchmarks?
AMD Threadripper 3990X: Does Windows 10 for Workstations improve rendering performance?
Written on February 19, 2020 by William GeorgeWhen AMD launched the 64-core Threadripper 3990X, some reviewers reported that performance of this 128-thread beast was hindered by running a normal version of Windows 10 Pro - and that using Windows 10 Pro for Workstations or Windows 10 Enterprise instead gave better results. We have investigated that claim using Cinebench and V-Ray benchmarks to see if the choice of operating system could impact our customers.
What is the Best CPU for Rendering (2019)
Written on December 20, 2019 by William GeorgeFor CPU-based rendering engines, the processor is by far the most important hardware choice when building or buying a workstation. What is the best choice among all the new CPUs that were launched in 2019, though? We've tested a wide range of chips so that we can provide that answer to you, so read on to find out!
First Look at AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen CPUs for Rendering
Written on July 7, 2019 by William GeorgeAMD launched their third generation of mainstream Ryzen processors today, but we were only provided with the low-end Ryzen 5 3600 ahead of time. We have ordered the Ryzen 7 3800X and Ryzen 9 3900X, and should be testing them soon, but until then we can at least look at how the overall architecture is doing with the example we do have.
CPU Rendering: Intel Core i9 9990XE vs Xeon W-3175X
Written on February 22, 2019 by William GeorgeIntel recently released a pair of rather odd high-end processors: the 14-core Core i9 9990XE and the 28-core Xeon W-3175X. Both have higher clock speeds than other models with similar core count, run much hotter, and have other peculiarities. Because of that, neither of these processors will have a home in our product line at this time - but they are still interesting to test for insight into what current CPU designs are capable of when pushed beyond what is practical.
Testing Dynamic Local Mode on AMD Threadripper 2970WX - Rendering
Written on December 12, 2018 by William GeorgeDynamic Local Mode is a new feature on AMD's biggest Threadripper processors. These CPUs have cores grouped internally, some with direct access to system memory and some which have to communicate through those other cores to access data in memory. DLM prioritizes running code on the cores which have a direct line to the memory, helping to improve performance in situations where not all of the cores are in use. How does that translate to real-world workloads, though? Let's take a look at two CPU-based rendering applications and see how the 24-core 2970WX behaves with this feature on and off.