We’re looking to invest in more power for rendering in Vray. Our tech provider recommended the Xeon E5-2643v4 - which is 6 cores (12 virtual) @ 3.4ghz for a cost of 5,408 euros each. We would get four of these taking our slave count to 8. My question is - would it be better going for more cores at a lower clockspeed? The E5-2680 v2 has 10 cores with 20 virtual @ 2.8ghz for under half the price of the E5-2643. Is there really much of a performance increase in the 2643’s that warrant the extra cost?
Thanks!
a few weeks ago we got 2 used xeons 2670 for 50 euros each to test. 5k euro will buy you at least 5 machines like that. that is 2008 points in cinebenchR15 times 5. pretty sweet deal if all you need is rendering power.
Yeah that’s not a good recommendation from your tech provider. That cpu for rendering will not yield a good result. Lets do the math 6 cores * 3.7 ghz 22.2 ghz * 2 (cpus) 44.4 ghz during full load. E5-2680 v2 is 10 cores * 3.6 ghz * 2 (cpus) 72 ghz during full load.
Even if the new e5-2643v3 is newer cpu, core per core it will be little difference.
And in terms of rendering, the more cores the better, even if they are slower a bit.
It all depends on how much RAM you need
If you need a lot, less computer with high CPU is better
The 2696 V4 seems awesome 
5400 cinebench score for 2k$ per CPU
Juraj Talcik wrote a blogpost that you might give a read:
xeons are not very good value for money vs i7 2011-3 cpu’s imo. Especially if you overclock the i7. I have not crunched the numbers this generation but in previous generations it always worked out to be better to just have more single cpu, ‘consumer grade’ i7 systems vs dual or quad cpu ‘pro’ xeon systems.
The only time I would recommend xeon’s is when density of the computers is more important than money. But since you only want 8 that is unlikely.
the issue with i7 is if you oc it you can’t put a passive heat sink on it. Stacking them in a server rack in a tight configuration might be a difficult thing. Not an issue you have tons of space to turn those user style boxes into render nodes.
even with i7’s, I’ve got some quad cores beating 6 cores in some limited for scenes for animations. only works on scenes that use less the 32gb ram. heavier stills work better on the 6 cores.
i not completely sure on model, but i think its something like the 4790 vs 4930k. but they still come close to 5930k.
so if your going for animation. you may do a lot better with more 6700k. providing you can keep everything inside 64gb. otherwise for stills bigger i7’s or xeons are worth looking at.
