I need to build an engineering workstation / compute server ASAP, hence the recently renewed battle between AMD and Intel interests me greatly. In particular, I’m looking at the Intel i9x-7900 vs. the (soon to release) AMD Ryzen Threadripper (12 core or 16 core), or in a less-likely case, the latest Intel Xeon vs. AMD Epyc.
The Intel i9X has better instructions-per-cycle (IPC) - and the fact that it is available NOW - going for it. However, it has no support for ECC RAM, and it is made with a cheaper, less reliable heat extraction system (Thermal paste vs. soldering). It is more expensive, too, but within a few hundred dollars, I’m willing to overlook that.
Threadripper has ECC support and will use soldering, making for better heat extraction from the device when under full load. However, has lower IPC than the i9X, and it isn’t available NOW.
I’m going to be driving this server HARD when I need to, and since the results will be going into chip designs, the results had better NOT BE CORRUPTED. That’s why I’m going to try to wait a few months for the Threadripper systems to become available.
Competition is a great thing!
Way more cores if the software will take advantage.
Interesting.
I just want to do heavy browsing and run multiple virtual machines.
Been playing around with Qubes...