Best 65W TDP CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900 vs. Intel Core i7-14700

[Darkguy]

Hey everyone,

 

I am currently planning to build a new server and was initially set on using a Ryzen 9 7900. I decided to look at Intel as well and found the Core i7-14700 to possibly be a viable alternative.

 

This new machine will probably be in use for the next 7-10 years, so I want it to have enough power to run a number of VMs and containers without having to worry too much about resources. I will probably run at least two or three Windows VMs (an "on-the-go" semi-production Windows I can access through Guacamole, another one for a Mac-Only relative who needs to run some Windows software for his business) and a few Linux VMs (server and client machines, possibly including Nextcloud AiO) and some homelab-stuff to fool around with. I might also run VMs for Home Assistant (currently on an Odroid N2+), Frigate with a Coral TPU, a backup/failover OPNsense machine and other stuff down the line.

 

The Ryzen has 12 cores, 24 threads with a 65W TDP and up to 88W "max socket power". The i7 has 8 "power cores", 12 "efficiency cores" and a total of 28 threads at 65W TDP and up to 219W "maximum turbo power". The Intel has lower frequencies on all cores in base/turbo mode than the AMD, but I would guess the difference would rarely be detectable in everyday use cases.

 

There is also the i7-14900 with four more efficiency cores and slightly higher frequencies, but at 1.5× the price of the 14700.

 

The Intel iGPU seems to have better support for transcoding in Jellyfin (not using Plex), but then again I also never had the need for transcoding (currently only streaming inside my own LAN/WLAN 99% of the time) and the iGPU would possibly be attached to a VM anyway, so that is not a main concern. What worries me is the 219W vs. 88W max turbo/max socket power draw. I am running my current server on an ancient Phenom X4 9950 (125W TDP) and would like for the new system to draw less power/produce less heat.

 

As a mainboard, I would go with the latest AM5/LGA1700 Supermicro workstation-class boards with ECC support and IPMI (AMD: Supermicro H13SAE-MF; Intel: Supermicro X13SAE-F), RAM would be 4×32 GB ECC Kingston Server Premium (DDR5-5600 for AMD, DDR4-4800 for Intel)

 

The rest of the hardware would look like this:

 

• Cache/VM Storage drives: 2× Samsung 990 Pro, 2 TB (M.2, PCIe 4.0 x4); 2× Crucial Crucial MX300 525GB (2,5", re-used from my current server)
• HDDs: re-use from my current server, a mix of 10× 2.5/3.5" drives ranging from 1 TB to 8 TB (dual-parity); possibly add 2× 16/18/20 TB parity drives early in order to add the current 8 TB parity drives to the main storage pool
• HBA: Broadcom SAS 9305-24i (PCIe 3.0 x8, SAS3224 chipset, 6× SFF-8643 for a total of 24 SAS/SATA drives over two backplanes), 6× breakout cables SFF-8643 to SFF-8087
• Chassis: Inter-Tech IPC 4U-4724 (4U, 24× 2.5"/3.5" Hot-Swap, plus 2× internal 2.5"), plus rails for my 19" rack
• PSU: be quiet! Pure Power 850 W
• Fans: 3× Noctua NF-A12 120mm PWM, 2× Noctua NF-A8 80mm PWM
• CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 (still have to check if the height fits the chassis)
• UPS: TBD; currently using an APC Back-UPS (950VA/480W), that recently received a new battery

 

The price differences in CPU, mainboard and RAM pretty much even each other out for AMD and Intel configs, coming in at about €3.200 here in Central Europe, including value added tax.

 

Any thought from people who have experience running either or similar CPUs? Any alternate suggestions for my use case?

[_cjd_]

Intel seems to have the edge on absolute minimum power draw builds... The question is whether that'll be the case for your build, especially with so many VMs.

I don't have specs for latest Gen memorized but I'd also consider pcie lanes and available ports. That swayed my decision.

I needed mATX when I had to choose so ended up with an amd 5600x - mean idle is still ~45w with drives spun down, no VMs, and a USB device drawing a few W (power meter reader). Home assistant docker adds a few on its own. Only 32gb ECC so even two windows VMs at once becomes a challenge. Used to run HA as a VM, more stable as docker for me. IPMI also adds to my power draw.

Multiple VMs may prefer the AMD but not sure how the Intel core strategy shapes up with heavier virtualization.

[YujiTFD]

On 5/15/2024 at 4:13 PM, _cjd_ said:

IPMI also adds to my power draw.

Hi. What MB did you choose? I'm looking at the similar setup (5600x, ECC, etc), but struggling with MB: they are either expensive or too few PCIe or SATA.

Thank you.

[_cjd_]

6 hours ago, YujiTFD said:

Hi. What MB did you choose? I'm looking at the similar setup (5600x, ECC, etc), but struggling with MB: they are either expensive or too few PCIe or SATA.

Thank you.

ASRock rack x570d4u - only add ones for me are m.2 sata adapter (likely will change to pcie and mirror nvme some day) and x710-d2 SFP+ 10gb network card (DAC to switch). I ran an HBA for a long while but changed to improve power efficiency.

[YujiTFD]

8 hours ago, _cjd_ said:

ASRock rack x570d4u

Figured as much. Unfortunately, it's ridiculously priced these days, simply outrageous, while other mATX Ryzen 5000 motherboards are mostly joke due to very few SATA or PCIe ports.

I think of boosting my rack from Supermicro X11SSM-F + Xeon E3-1240 v5 (4C/8T, 80W) towards something modern without costing me arm and leg. I found your comment, did some reading (5600x is 2.5 times more productive than 1240 v5, according to cpubenchmark.net), found used 5600x, but motherboard situation is killing me. I can survive w/o IPMI (if needed, PiKVM is at my service), but need PCIe for 10GbE NIC and GPU at least, while having 3+ PCIe much more preferable. Asrock has X470D4U2-2T with 2x10GbE NICs, but the price...

Edited May 29 by YujiTFD
Typos

[_cjd_]

I've never seen it this cheap which is barely more than the low end x570 gamer oriented boards were not that long ago ... but certainly there are options, you just have to weigh needs against what is available.

 

Also remember to count pcie lanes, not just slots. There's a limit on consumer/desktop oriented parts. rj45 10gb was not really helpful for me as I wanted SFP+, but also I have no need of a video card. In the end, I also amortize price when I'm budgeting stuff like this - lots of storage isn't cheap either, but it probably has a longer life of use than my the average gaming setup. It's just the prioritization and balancing game, and for every person it plays out differently. I'd probably pick parts slightly differently today too, based on other things learned since I initially put this server together.

[YujiTFD]

Thing is I can't find X570 boards freely these days, B550s are plenty but their PCIe lanes are pain. Another concern is that budget consumer B550 in terms of stability and life expectancy won't do as good as a 24/7-ready server board. Which leads me to the conclusion I gotta stop looking for replacement until I get my funds straight. Gotta compromise again 😭