Jeffrey O'Hara

Thank you for your insight. It's nice to know that Threadripper is an option performance-wise. The problems as you mentioned before are: 1. The price. The cost of entry is certainly higher than before. Even if were to migrate parts from my old Threadripper build and just get what's needed (Motherboard, CPU, RAM, and cooler) I'm already at $4,625 CAD. 😵 2. The TDP. Although I heard the efficiency is pretty good and that the reviews said that it is relatively easier to cool compared to the 3000 and 5000 series because of how the CCXs are distributed under the IHS, it's still a 350W TDP. And there aren't that many solutions out there that can cool it at it's best. They changed the orientation of the socket so I can't use my Prosiphon Elite in my tower setup anymore which is a drag. It seems like for strickly DAW use, the mainstream desktop platforms makes more sense. Unless you were doing some other stuff like video editing (to a point) and 3D rendering, it's hard to justify getting a Threadripper platform.... unless you want it. In which case that's not gonna stop you anyways. 😅😂

Hello Jim, In regards to the Threadripper 7000 system for DAW use, have you found them to be able get that ultra-low latency you always strive for, or are they still plagued by the same past issues? I checked the single threaded score for Cinebench and a few others and it seems to be on par with a 12900K which is an improvement compared to past Threadripper generations, but I know it doesn't always fully translate to real-world scenarios.

Hi Jim, I think the problem mentioned in the video (and the videos Steve did prior), is more prevalent in the X3D versions of the Ryzen 7000 series... notably the Ryzen 7800X3D.

Thanks for the response Jim. With many more reviewers concluding that undervolting or setting a power limit would be a worthwhile, I thought I would run it by you to see if the approach would make sense for our needs. It wouldn't replace the recommendation for the 350mm+ AIO, but I was hoping conjunction with the adjustments, it would lower the temperature and noise while losing... 10% tops of performance. At least from what I read. I do understand your point regarding the 7950X and i9-13900K. It wouldn't make sense to buy those chips and then say impose a power limit of 65W. One last question re: RAM support. I know when all 4 DIMMS are populated, the max supported RAM speed I believe is 3600MHz. Have you had any luck with higher speeds when they are all in use?

Greetings Jim, I was wondering of using the PBO feature to undervolt for the Ryzen 7950X would be especially beneficial for DAW use. Or would there be significant stability issues?

Noctua is one of my favourite brands for cooling. I also like the bequiet! Silent Wings 3 High Speed fans. I find the both of the perform just as good as one other. The Noctua is a bit more higher pitched compared to the bequiet! in my experience though.

Thanks @Jim Roseberry, I really appreciate the time you gave me with your reply. Thought I could avoid the latency issue with the 3960X but I guess that's a nope (I usually use 64 samples at 44.1KHz with my MADIFX). I will continue on with my Threadripper build, but I'll most likely wait till the Zen 3 Threadrippers hit the market this or early next year. I'm a bit more optimistic about that generation. I already have a bequiet! Dark Base 900 with some extra Silent Wings 3 140mm high speed pmw fans for airflow and a Corsair AX1200i PSU so I should be fine in that aspect. I consider myself decently tech savvy so I should be fine. When the new CPUs come out, I might do a comparison with the Dark Rock Pro TR4, one of the more popular AIOs, and the Prosiphon Elite when it's finally in my hands. That or I may cave entirely cause of build anxiety and just get the current Threadrippers lol. I really wish I had this information earlier. It's a shame that reviewers don't test with pro audio and musicians in mind. Thanks again for your input!

I took a look at Pete's results as I find them to be a great resource for pro audio builds. He said he was not able to get the Threadripper 3970X or 3990X to work well which is discouraging. There was another gentleman I spoke to who built his own computer using a 3960X for engineering and he is happy with it. I have the G.Skill Trident Z Neo 3600MHz kit that is currently occupying my old computer for testing purposes that I plan on putting in my future build. I also plan on using the Ice Giant Prosiphon Elite for cooling when it gets released hopefully in the summer. The results seem promising. https://www.icegiantcooling.com/reviews So I'm not in an immediate rush to build, but I would like some advice re: if I should wait for the 4000 series if it will help with low latency.

Hi Jim, I was wondering if during your testing, the 3960X faired better with overclocking. If not, would I be better off to see what the 4th Gen Threadripper would being when they come out this year in terms of performance? Zen 3 in general is rumored to have 10-15% increase in IPC and small speed bump. I already bought a Gigabyte Designare Trx40 so I'm pretty much committed to a Threadripper build. I would be upgrading from an i7-6800K and would continue to use an RME MADIFX PCI-E card.