@aKnyght Re-evaluating the benchmarks again I’d like to correct the above to: don’t use anything less than an i5 for DSD512 upsampling.
Just wondering. As single core performance seems to be the prime determinant for Roon capabilities, is there anything wrong using this benchmark as a guide (sorted by single core performance)?
No, but it doesn’t say anything about Roon Core performance. And as is seen in reports, the “parallelize sigma delta modulator” lets the Roon Core use more than one CPU core for processing.
How much, in each situation, is still a bit foggy! 
Foggy, yes for sure.
Still, if I go down the list, the first 65W processor seems to be the i5-8600 with a score of 125. Six cores, decent multi thread performance.
i3-7350k comes in at 60W with a score of 122, but only has two cores. So the i5-8600 in theory looks like quite an efficient machine with good single core performance and lots of multi core potential.
Unfortunately I cannot contribute any practical experience to the discussion, I only run ROCK on a Pentium G5600.
Absolutely, you are quite right! It is a good overview of processors capabilites in general. What the scores translate into for Roon Core duties is still unclear though.
Remenber that i3-8350K and i3-9350K are more like gen 7 and ealier i-5 they are both quad cores.
And also not all CPU is in the list.
Here is another list that is also incomplete:
2019 cpu-hierarchy
or
CPU Rating
Among the current CPUs I agree that i5-8600 or i5-8600K has a good balance of single and multi thread performance.
Are the new Intel Nuc8 supported with Roon Rock? I’m planning to buy a NUC8i5BEK. It’s a quadcore. Is it able to do DSD512 Upsampling?
thanks!
an i5 or i7 T-designation CPU with 35W TDP seem to be the best alternatives for non-NUC fanless.
Streacom FC8 Evo Fanless is specified to handle 95W. Should be ok for 65W with a margin.
Hi
I have Intel NUC 8 i5BEH, and it can deliver DSD512 without any issues. Works perfectly also with some DSP work added.
the HDPlex case i am using is specified for 80W TDP CPU – so, 65W should be ok but the 35W T CPUs leave quite a margin. perhaps, this is over-spec’d on a non-binding constraint up to 80W?