SYSmark, WebXPRT, 7-zip

Testing Configuration

For this review, every single benchmark and test scenario we use has been updated or removed, including a couple of new entries. We are using the most up to date versions of each software as of last week, to make sure we account for any changes or architectural changes that have occurred. Here is the new suite, in alphabetical order.

  • 7-zip Compression
  • Audacity MP3 Encode
  • Blender
  • Cinebench R15
  • Euler 3D
  • Geekbench
  • Handbrake
  • POV-Ray
  • SiSoft Sandra
  • SYSmark 2014 SE
  • WebXPRT
  • X264 Encode

The full testbed configuration is listed below.

Test System Setup
CPU AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X
AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1920X
Intel Core i9-7900X
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
Intel Core i7-7700K
Intel Core i5-7600K
Intel Core i7-6700K
Intel Core i7-6950X
Intel Core i7-6900K
Intel Core i7-6800K
Motherboard ASUS X399 Zenith Extreme (Threadripper)
ASUS Prime X299-Deluxe (Skylake-X)
ASUS Crosshair VI Hero (Ryzen)
ASUS Prime Z270-A (Kaby Lake, Skylake)
ASUS X99-Deluxe II (Broadwell-E)
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200
Storage Corsair Neutron XTi 480 SSD
Sound Card On-board
Graphics Card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB
Graphics Drivers NVIDIA 378.49
Power Supply Corsair RM1000x
Operating System Windows 10 Pro x64

A big thanks to our friends at Corsair for hooking us with a collection of new RM1000x power supplies, Vengeance LPX 32GB 3200 MHz memory kits, and Neutron XTi 480 GB SSDs to upgrade all of our CPU testing platforms! They have helped streamline our testing process great.

SYSmark 2014 SE

SYSmark® 2014 SE (Second Edition) is an application-based benchmark that reflects usage patterns of business users in the areas of Office Productivity, Data/Financial Analysis and Media Creation. Joining these in SYSmark 2014 SE is a new Responsiveness scenario which models ‘pain points’ in the user experience when performing common activities. SYSmark 2014 SE features the most popular applications from each of their respective fields.

SYSmark results for the Threadripper 1950X aren’t stunning, though I don’t imagine many people are surprised by that. The overall score for it is in line with the Ryzen 7 1800X, though the sub-test scores do vary somewhat. The data/financial workload puts the 1950X as the fastest CPU tested by a wide margin, but in office productivity and responsiveness, it comes in dead last. Likely the memory architecture at work has something to do with this, giving a nod to the most consistent latency results of the Intel and single-die Ryzen products.

WebXPRT

WebXPRT 2015 uses scenarios created to mirror the tasks you do every day to compare the performance of almost any Web-enabled device. It contains six HTML5- and JavaScript-based workloads: Photo Enhancement, Organize Album, Stock Option Pricing, Local Notes, Sales Graphs, and Explore DNA Sequencing.

It runs these four tests seven times each:

  • Photo Enhancement: Measures the time to apply three effects (Sharpen, Emboss, and Glow) to two photos each, a set of six photos total.
  • Organize Album: Measures the time it takes to check for human faces in a set of five photos.
  • Stocks Option Pricing: Measures the time to calculate financial indicators of a stock based on historical data and display the result in a dashboard.
  • Local Notes: Measures the time to store notes securely in the browser's local storage and display recent entries.
  • Sales Graphs: Measures the time to calculate and display multiple views of sales data.
  • Explore DNA Sequencing: Measures the time it takes to filter eight DNA sequences for specific characteristics.

Each test uses different combinations of HTML5 Canvas 2D and Javascript, common elements in many Web pages, to gauge how well your device and browser work together in everyday Web browsing situations.

Overall WebXPRT results are actually pretty good for the Threadripper CPUs! The 1950X is faster than the Core i9-7900X but falls behind the highly-clocked Core i7-7700K and like parts. 

7-Zip Compression

Our 7-zip compression testing shows the advantages of higher thread count, though the 7900X from Intel does maintain the performance leadership position at 8 threads, falling behind the 1950X with 16 threads just 1.7%.

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