I have an answer.
I upgraded my computer to an i9-14900k with 64gb DDR5. My previous setup was an i9-11900kf with 64gb DDR4.
I ran tests to find out how well it performed, and to see how I could get the most out of this CPU. I didn’t “over-clock” the CPU, but I did change some Bios settings to change how many cores it uses and to over-ride some of the built in settings.
Test 1: Stock settings. With completely stock settings, the performance was only slightly faster than my old i9-11900kf for running RhinoCAM simulations. This underwhelming result is because it appeared that nearly all the processing was assigned to the E-cores, like it thinks rendering is a background task? So it was effectively running on 16 cores @ 4.4ghz. This saves energy, but reduces performance.
Test 2: To improve on performance, I went into Bios and manually set the CPU frequency. And in Windows I went to “Power and sleep settings”, and selected the “ultimate performance” setting. These two settings keep the clock speed at the maximum and prevents cores from being turned off, or “parked”.
The result was roughly 30% better than the i9-11900kf. In this case, the 8 P-cores only ran a single thread each, and the E-cores all ran normally. So 24 cores/ 24 threads total.
Test 3: I was frustrated that only half of the P-core capacity was being used. They have 2 threads per core, but only 1 was being used. So I went into Bios and disabled all the E-cores. I also manually increased the CPU frequency to 6.0ghz. (I did not attempt to go over 6.0ghz.)
With the E-cores disabled, RhinoCAM is running on the 8 P-cores (16 threads @ 6.0ghz). Now it is 40% faster than the i9-11900kf…for RhinoCAM simulations.
(This configuration gets a lower score on Cinebench R23 benchmark, but performs better for Rhino. So something to keep in mind.)
DDR5:
I did get a motherboard with DDR5. I saw a 5% speed difference between enabling and disabling XMP (i.e. factory memory overclock…), but I have no way of comparing DDR4 to DDR5 with the 14900k processor. But yeah, the faster DDR5 is a real improvement over slow DDR5.
Benefits:
The biggest benefit is that now I can easily manipulate Polygon simulations in RhinoCAM. That was my entire goal. I need to be able to run a high detail simulation in a reasonable amount of time, and then manipulate it so I can see what result I am getting.
I did some CAD and CAM work since upgrading. My overall impression is that RhinoCAM is much more stable and easier to use now. In the past I would plan to spend a weekend machining, and instead I would spend the majority of the weekend just trying to finish the programming! Now a project that I expect to take 20 min…takes about 20 min! Before upgrading, a 20min project would end up taking 2+ hours.
Rhino 7 runs better too. Its the little things like object snaps are more responsive, making it easier to find the one I want. Everything is a little bit faster.