Upgrading workstation around 1k

#1

Greetings. I’m planning to upgrade my CPU, motherboard, RAM, and videocard (optionally).

For RAM, I’m planning to take 32 gb. I guess 64 is overkill for now.
The main question, should I wait for the next Intel CPU to arrive? I didn’t follow its announces, could you please tell me is something new on the horizon? I heard there will be the next 6-core proc soon?
The videocard is not important I guess, any goes, they are all fast in my opinion of the last 1-2 years.
I use zbrush, vray and 3ds max mainly.

#2

the haswell CPU’s just came out and the new 6-core ivy-bridge-E’s turned out to be duds. It’ll be over a year before haswell CPU’s come out with more than 4 cores. Even then, you’ll pay a premium for those extra 2 cores

IMO I wouldn’t wait. I’d get a 4770k and be done with it. Intel CPU development is slow as hell now with AMD gone.

#3

Thank you.
Why not i7-3930K then? It seems just a bit pricier, but faster. Though, as I can see, 4 cores are faster, so rendering should be quicker, as a single core should render slow buckets faster?
I thought Intel will be releasing its 6-core version in the nearest months. What a disappointment.

#4

the 4930k isn’t quite out yet and is about 5% better than the 3930k. It’s not a huge difference.

Overall rendering power will be better than 4770k, but the 4770k will be a bit faster at single-threaded tasks, so I guess it depends on how much rendering vs other things you do and if it’s worth the extra $300 for the CPU

#5

I guess 3930 will be a better choice as I’m planning on a lot of rendering. From what they say, it’s better for overclocking, and raw performance is higher. Anyway, the last time I upgraded was 2007-2008, so it’s not that I do it too often. I was waiting for a bigger boost from Intel, but I see they have slowed down the thing. 300$ is investment, but in the long run… whatever.

#6

Go for 4770 if you planing no more than 32GB, 4770K is almost near 3930k /check the test over the net/, and with easy sport OC to 4.0-4.2GHz it is even egal or faster, and MUCH cheaper!
best R!

#7

Thank you. Where are those tests? I checked benchmarks, and 4770 is 1\4 slower, plus if you overclock 3930k, it should be faster as well. Isn’t it? The price is not the main issue to me, as it’s a long-term upgrade.

#8

As you probably know, the 4770K is faster in single-core usage. But the 3930K simply has more cores. Which means that during regular working the 4770K will be faster, but come rendertime the 3930K will make up for the difference. Both can be overclocked well so in the end it’s the same. Here’s a detailed benchmark comparison: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/836?vs=552

I would say that the extra cores for rendering make up for the lower single-core speed. But then again it’s also quite more expensive. It’s up to you to decide if a ~20% decrease in render time is worth the extra investment.

It’s really too bad that the new Extreme processors suck.

#9

http://techreport.com/r.x/core-i7-4770k/comp2-cinebench.png

http://techreport.com/r.x/haswell-oc/cinebench.gif

http://scr3.golem.de/screenshots/1305/Test-Haswell/thumb620/01-cinebench-r11.5-64-bit-chart.png

http://media.bestofmicro.com/I/6/386862/original/cinebench.png

http://www.eteknix.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Cinebench_4770K_edit.png

#10

Thank you guys. So 3930k overclocked will be still faster than overclocked 4770k? I didn’t see though by how much, and which is easier to overclock in terms of stability and heat.

#11

Might want to watch this-

//youtu.be/0cxElqyjXvY

According to Newegg the Ivy Bridge-E or Sandy Bridge-E is geared more towards working with rendering tasks and mutli-threading tasks. The Haswell can be used for these but don’t perform as fast when it comes to rendering.

In the video there’s a comparison table for the i7, according to that the new Ivy Bridge-E supports memory with 4 channels 1866 DDR3. While the haswell i7 4770k only 2 channels 1600 DDR3. So you can get faster RAM and utilise more channels in the memory for the Ivy Bridge-E or Sandy Bridge-E( only up to 1600 speed but has 4 channels).

Edit: I forgot to mention due to dual channels, there’s only 4 Ram slots, meaning the maximum Ram you can have on a 1150 motherboard is 32GB Ram. The x79 motherboards have 8 Ram slots up to 64GB Ram due to quad channel.

#12

Thank you. So 64gb will be supported by 3930k motherboards?

#13

First of all, the newest RAM comes in 8GB per stick of RAM, with the previous modules, 4GB per stick of RAM. The newest motherboards have 8 RAM slots, meaning 8(slots)x8GB RAM=64GB RAM to get the maximum amount. You can also use the 4GB RAM to fill up all 8 slots to get 32GB RAM. Alternatively you can fill up only half of the 8 slots with 8GB RAM to get 32GB RAM.

If you’re going for a i7 3930k also known as Sandy Bridge-E, it supports quad channel that has a maximum of 64GB RAM. The i7 3930k uses motherboards with x79 chipset and socket 2011 LGA, most of these new x79 motherboards will support 64GB Ram. I only found some older models of this type of motherboards with only 4 RAM slots but nearly all new boards have 8 slots, check the spec of the boards in the details.

With i7 4770k Haswell supports only dual channel memory, this has a maximum of 32GB RAM. This is why their boards only have 4 slots giving a maximum of 32GB (4x8GB).

In the CPU specs for the memory on the intel site, it tells you how much it supports too, here-
i7-3930K
http://ark.intel.com/products/63697

i7-4770K
http://ark.intel.com/products/63697

#14

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