[LAU] AMD Ryzen Processors for Linux audio

[Moshe Werner]

On Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 12:47 AM Len Ovens <len at ovenwerks.net> wrote:

>
> I think there are a few things to look at regurding this, Intel has been
> recomended for a lot of people because graphics (at least the built in
> ones) are a non-issue (except the Atom ones which otherwise are quite nice
> Audio CPUs).
>
> The second thing is that people have been tweaking Intel machines for a
> long time. So the tweaks are well known. AMD has had a history of using
> tricks and hacks to at least look like they are out performing an Intel
> equivelent. Different speeds from core to core etc. And while none of
> these things should be a problem so long as they are easy to control,
> maybe not that many people know how. People have just used what is known
> and easy to use. Intel has tended to contribute to the linux kernel to
> make sure everything works. I am not so sure about AMD.
>
> So I don't think the AMD CPUs are bad, there is just less info on
> tweaking. Another thing to remember is that modern Intel mother boards are
> not as easy to get good performance on either. All the "affordable" Audio
> units are now USB which was never really designed to be low latency in the
> first place. So low latency has gone from being able to get solid sub ms
> latency to good 5ms latency so far as I can tell (one way jack latency
> only). Either the world has found out that 5ms is "good enough" or those
> who want more will have to spend more.


What is being said a lot on the web is, that AMD CPUs have a slower memory
controller.
I don't really know how to check that but that should be relevant for low
latency work.
On the other hand, it could be Intel spreading misinformation, I mean they
have done that before.
In the gaming world it seems that indeed AMD processors are about 10%
slower when compared against same spec Intel machines.
There the single core performance is said to be the most important factor.
I don't know if that is true also for the audio world.


>
>
Another thing that has changed is how USB is implemented. On a lot of
> mother boards it is impossible to get one's mouse and keyboard on a
> different USB bus from the audio interface. It seems to only sure way is
> to add a PCIe USB card for the audio box. It used to be that one side of
> the computer was one bus and the other side was another... not any more.
> The computer does internal routing to put all of them on one bus except
> may be USB3 stuff (which I have none of).
>
> That is true especially for laptops, as I had to find out.
Until now I have worked on a Lenovo laptop from 2014, and the all USB sits
on only one bus.

Best regards

Moshe
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