Processor help

[geoff]

Hello
I'm looking at buying a cheap new workstation for home.
I currently have a 5 year old dual xeon E5462 @ 2.8 GHz mac pro. looking at cpubenchmark.net each processor has an average CPU mark of 4220. I am reasonably happy with this setup
The workstation I am looking at has an i7-4770 @ 3.40GHz average CPU mark of 9996
The Xeon has quad core processors, so 8 bucket rendering, whilst the i7 will have only 4

Are the 2 processors comparable in speed? ie is it a matter of 2x4220=8440 vs 9996? Meaning that the i7 single processor is faster that the dual xeon?

Thanks

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Its quite hard to compare it (in the time I have to write it atm ) but basically

I7 = 4 cores but its 8 buckers since cores have HT meaning 1 core = 2 buckers.

Either way
I7 power = 4x 3400mghz = 13600mghz
Xeon power = 8x 2800mghz = 22400mghz
So your xeon will be faster in rendering
However it will be slower in any 1 cpu based tasks - saving, loading, 50% of photoshop etc etc
Now given the technology advancements I could expect that I7 would perform at a speed of 14000mghz-20000mgz if it were compared using other specs than just cpu speed(ram, technology etc etc)

So it could be either very close fight or far away. Depends on software... I cant be sure for 100%. I saw insane performance boost over recent intel cpus and not so much more mghz so I'm bit lost.

Anyway hope that helps.

Try getting 6 cores i7 i3990K and OC to 4.5ghz -that will eat alive that xeon you have now.

[geoff]

Thanks DADAL
Can't find a 6 core i7 workstation at the moment.
My xeon is a mac pro with 10 gb RAM
the new one potentially a dell xps 8700 http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/xp...el_id=xps-8700

[flino2004]

Make sure that you have a very good case with a new cooler for the processor.... If you overclock it you could increase the speed by 50%... A gamer mother bother will help you to get maximum performance an affordable price.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Try Scan.co.uk or PCspecialist.co.uk

They both will build you PC to your specs and Overclock it on warranty. You will save 50% money and get 50% more power than Dell or HP. Also their warranty is very good.

[Subburb]

i suggest i7 3930K cpu. very good price/performance. 6 core = 12 buckets, and OC running here @4.2Ghz (with noctua NH-d14) 24/24.

[Morbid Angel]

I recently bought an old dell server, which is a dual quad (8 cores) without HT. @3.4 ghz. It renders about 1.5 times slower then i7 3930k. Not to mention that you can overclock the i7 and get it to probably double the speed of the xeon. I have my main workstation as a dual six core (12 total) xeon, and the i7 performs equally with just one cpu, I wish intel really allowed to seed two of those on one mobo, but that would kill the xeon

[YoyoBoy]

This might help: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

[YoyoBoy]

And I have no idea why a Xeon E5-2665 is nearly three times the price of an i7-3930K. It's only 3% faster.

[Morbid Angel]

Im guessing it has 8 cores, which is for now quite rare for xeon cpu, also perhaps its clock speed in turbo mode. And just because its a xeon cpu

[Morbid Angel]

And I have no idea why a Xeon E5-2665 is nearly three times the price of an i7-3930K. It's only 3% faster.

Also the sad thing about 3930k is that though it has 6 cores vs the 2600k 4 cores, its only marginally faster. I bought two of the 3930k, and for some reason I cannot overclock them, and so under the stock speed they run slightly faster then overclocked 2600. By slightly I mean 2%-5%

[YoyoBoy]

If you order a computer from www.cyberpowerpc.com they claim to be able to overclock a 3930k by "at least 20%" if you pay for that.

[Morbid Angel]

perhaps. I could get them to oc and run fairly stable. But they would bsod every couple of days, sometimes they would run for weeks but eventually bsod. I gave up for now...So they may overclock them, but I doubt that would qualify as stable.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

perhaps. I could get them to oc and run fairly stable. But they would bsod every couple of days, sometimes they would run for weeks but eventually bsod. I gave up for now...So they may overclock them, but I doubt that would qualify as stable.

What motherboard did you pair with that i7? Some motherboards CANT overclock cpus.

As to shops like I said b4 scan and pcspecialist will OC them to 4.5 ghz stable with no bsod...

[geoff]

Thanks for all the replies. I will try scan and pcspecialist and see what I can get.