New hardware - what has the best price/efficiency ratio today?

[yyk]

Once again it's time to upgrade hardware and I'd appreciate insight from people who are more up to date with current tech.

I think I'm gonna go with building the new rig from scratch as I usually do. I've got a graphics card I'm satisfied with so all I'm really after are the processors and preferably a motherboard that supports (and can actually make use of) at least 64 gigs of RAM. Now, the CPUs, last time I upgraded was in 2009 and back then the i7 920 was the best bang for the buck. Anyone got any suggestions as to what would be the current equivalent?

Any help would be appreciated!

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

Nothing. Every1 is waiting for 8-12 core i7 desktop PCS that we OC like crazy. Either wait for that or get 24 core dual xeon for £6k.

[Morbid Angel]

12 core i7........my dream..........! better yet dual 12 core i7!

[YoyoBoy]

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

[yyk]

8-12 core i7, huh? I'm in no hurry, maybe I should wait a while then.

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

Thanks, this is useful. I gotta say, with the i7 920 having been released in Q4 of 2008 and thus being 5 years old I'm kind of disappointed at how CPU performance has increased since.

[yyk]

Ok so judging by this http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html the Intel Core i7-4960X would be pretty much even with the Intel Xeon E5-1660 both in price and performance, the only difference being there's no way support for dual i7, right? So I could fit two Xeons to my rig and get a benchmark score of ~25 which would be a huge leap from the ~5 my current i7 core is getting.

Does this make sense or am I missing something?

[DanielBrew]

Ok so judging by this http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html the Intel Core i7-4960X would be pretty much even with the Intel Xeon E5-1660 both in price and performance, the only difference being there's no way support for dual i7, right? So I could fit two Xeons to my rig and get a benchmark score of ~25 which would be a huge leap from the ~5 my current i7 core is getting.

Does this make sense or am I missing something?

Yes that makes perfect sense.

I don't know if you've found it already but there is a chart for dual CPU PCs on the same site:
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/multi_cpu.html
I don't know how well V-Ray scales compared to PassMark software. For example a single Intel Xeon E5-2687W gets a score of 14634 whereas a dual only manages 21217. Maybe Vlado would know?

[alexyork]

I'm holding out for 8-core desktop processors to come out before upgrading otherwise the jump from 3930k @ 4.0ghz will not be significant enough to justify the cost.

[Morbid Angel]

Keep in mind that with a little forward thinking you can OC your i7 to outperform the xeon, while the $ point is a lot lower

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

8-12 core i7s ))
that will be a long wait and the entry price will not be so welcoming.
We just bought the successor to 3930K and its about 10-15% faster, still 6 core though, but same price as 3930

M

[yyk]

Ok so judging by this http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html the Intel Core i7-4960X would be pretty much even with the Intel Xeon E5-1660 both in price and performance, the only difference being there's no way support for dual i7, right? So I could fit two Xeons to my rig and get a benchmark score of ~25 which would be a huge leap from the ~5 my current i7 core is getting.

Does this make sense or am I missing something?

Just to correct my previous, quoted post - E5-1660 is, apparently, not a multi-socket CPU. Just wanted to clear this so no-one reads this and takes wrong information out of it.

[ior=0]

Well I'm in the same boat too, with an old i7920.

My build specs are going to be this:
i7 4930k - 6 core 3.4Ghz-3.9Ghz turbo (not sure the 4960k is worth the extra dosh for an extra 0.2Ghz!!) and you can always OC.
X79 (s2011) motherboard. The Gigabyte GA-X79 UP4 has 8 RAM slots so you can buy two 32GB 4 Channel sets or the UD3 is cheaper but only have 4 slots.
Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler
650W cosair PSU
Fractal Design Define r4 case
256GB SSD
4GB MSI GTX 760 (I've never seen the advantage of a Quadro card or could never afford one that might even come close to a gaming card but that is a completely different thread
plus a few other bits n bobs.

This will add 12 new threads to rendering and like me you add the old i7920 onto the farm where it will still count when doing DR or BB rendering.
Remember a lot of MAX is still single threaded and other s/w too, so it is really only rendering where those extra cores are really coming into there own. Yes 8(16)+ core in a desktop would be nice but you will pay through the nose for them - look at thew XEONs. You could get this system build yourself for around £1k. Need more cores build another and add it to the farm. Of course the new Vray 3.0 render node pricing policy will need to be accounted for but like most smart up-graders they'll be getting a deal with the 5 or 11 node up-grade depending on current farm assets. (but that also is another lively thread)

[yyk]

Well I'm in the same boat too, with an old i7920.

My build specs are going to be this:
i7 4930k - 6 core 3.4Ghz-3.9Ghz turbo (not sure the 4960k is worth the extra dosh for an extra 0.2Ghz!!) and you can always OC.
X79 (s2011) motherboard. The Gigabyte GA-X79 UP4 has 8 RAM slots so you can buy two 32GB 4 Channel sets or the UD3 is cheaper but only have 4 slots.
Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler
650W cosair PSU
Fractal Design Define r4 case
256GB SSD
4GB MSI GTX 760 (I've never seen the advantage of a Quadro card or could never afford one that might even come close to a gaming card but that is a completely different thread
plus a few other bits n bobs.

This will add 12 new threads to rendering and like me you add the old i7920 onto the farm where it will still count when doing DR or BB rendering.
Remember a lot of MAX is still single threaded and other s/w too, so it is really only rendering where those extra cores are really coming into there own. Yes 8(16)+ core in a desktop would be nice but you will pay through the nose for them - look at thew XEONs. You could get this system build yourself for around £1k. Need more cores build another and add it to the farm. Of course the new Vray 3.0 render node pricing policy will need to be accounted for but like most smart up-graders they'll be getting a deal with the 5 or 11 node up-grade depending on current farm assets. (but that also is another lively thread)

Thanks for this, sounds promising. I'll take a closer look tomorrow!

[urbanite]

I am buying similar spec as node:
Intel Core i7 4930K @ 4,3Ghz
ASUS P9X79 Intel X79
4x 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX 1600 (32GB)
128GB SSD Samsung 840 PRO
WD Red 1TB WD10EFRX 64MB
Chieftec 650W Nitro2 Modular
Fractal R4 Black
DVD-RW x24 ASUS
Thermalright SilverArrow SB-E
and some cheap graphics card, I have not decided yet.

[Dariusz Makowski (Dadal)]

6 Core
32 gb ram
Asrock M4 Micro motherboard
120gb hdd ssd
550W PSU
then a flat case and u have great render slaver. Ill send pictures later. Its sub 900£