HQPlayer4 EC modulator tips and techniques

[tboooe]

I finally got around to upgrading to HQP4 today.  I have an i7-6700 (not K) and I also use HQP for 2 channel convolution.  After some fiddling around, I determined that the 6700 can only do DSD128 and poly-sinc-ext2 using the new ASDM5/7EC modulator.  Even after listening for only a few songs I have to say the hype surrounding these new EC modulators is justified!   Needless to say I am going to have to accelerate my plans to upgrade my audio pc to something more powerful.  I am thinking an i7-9700K + RTX2080 should do that trick.

 

Whats interesting is that the cpu utilization varies from 1% to 99%.  The cpu utilization graph has a very consistent sawtooth pattern with alternating peaks and valleys.  

[tboooe]

13 minutes ago, k6davis said:

I had that exact combo in my test EC server. It worked extremely well. The i7-9700k eats EC DSD256 for breakfast and since I don't do convolution, the RTX2080 turned out to be much more GPU than I really needed. I downgraded all the way to a GTX1650 for 1/4 the price and the only thing I lost was poly-sinc-xtr, which is a trade-off I was willing to make.

 

I expect the i7-9700K + RTX2080 will do everything you ask of it.

Thank you for letting me know the i7-9700k will do the job.  I am now re-thinking the RTX2080 though.  I am only doing 2 channel convolution so I am wondering if I can get away with a less powerful GPU.  I dont have any experience with GPUs so any input would be greatly appreciated.

[tboooe]

11 minutes ago, k6davis said:

 

... with a fan or active cooling. The automatic Turbo Boost clock speed may be limited with passive cooling.

Definitely!  My passively cooled cpu is hitting about 150F!!  My next build will be using one of those massive Noctua NH-D15  cooling fans.  

[tboooe]

On my i7-6700 playing redbook, I noticed CPU utilization went down a bit when I unchecked the Multicore DSP option.