Xeon Max Turbo Frequency and Houdini

[logix1390]

Does Houdini Benefit from The 'Max Turbo Frequency' or should I be looking at a higher base clock instead?
I am doing research on my new build.

Thank you

[malexander]

A good portion of Houdini (and most DCC apps) is still single threaded, especially UI, GL drawing, and "managerial" type work. The Turbo frequency should kick in for these cases.

[logix1390]

Thank you malexander

So it won't effect simulation stuff at all ?

[lukeiamyourfather]

Most of the simulation tasks use multiple threads most of the time. There are some single threaded tasks in between frames and such that will take advantage of the turbo frequency. I wouldn't shop around based only the turbo frequency but it's a nice feature to have.

[malexander]

Besides the turbo and base frequencies, there are several speed steps in between. When running multithreaded you'll sometimes get a higher clock than the base, either for short bursts or if some cores are idle. However you can generally assume that a heavy threaded task using 100% CPU will run at the base frequency. A well-threaded task will benefit more from the extra cores than the slight clock boost from a lower-core part, though.

[logix1390]

Appreciate the help, thanks guys.