Dual Xeon E5-2620 v2 or Core i7 4960x

I7-4960X is much better then E5-2620

go buy i7-4960x

It's all about what your doing. The main advantage of the Xeon is the stability with the ability to use ECC ram, and the ability to use 2 CPU's together to increase processing power.

If your doing Game Design and Rendering, well, then I'd consider the Xeon as the CPU of choice. But your looking at a HEFTY price increase that I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I'm at a crossroads on this too as I'm studying animation at University, and need a new computer and my mother is helping me out. I have a budget of roughly $4,000. So I'm looking at either the i7 Extreme Edition 4960X, or the Xeon E5 2650 v2.

The Xeon is $1,429.00, where-as the i7 is $1,199.00.
The Xeon has 8-cores clocked at 2.60ghz (3.40ghz boost), where-as the i7 has 6-cores and is clocked at 3.60ghz (this doesn't even take into account that some people can OC it to upto 5ghz).

Now, the only "true" test is using cinebench for rendering, so it's the only one I will use.

The i7 4960x (at stock) has a score of 11.23
The i7 4960x (at 4.6ghz) has a score of 13.82

2x Xeon E5 2650 v2 CPU's has a score of 23.4

But, you read that right. 2x Xeon E5 2650 v2's. That's $1,429.00 x 2.
So your really looking at a roughly 10 point difference between $1,199 and $2,858

For me, I really just cannot afford that extra amount. So I'm probably leaning more towards the i7.

Hi,

Thanks for your input! When I started looking into getting a new PC for video editing, four weeks ago, I had no idea, that it really comes down to what you are going to be using it for?! I always thought that benchmark numbers are the only thing that matters?! Apparently not. Some CPU's are better than others for a given task, even if they have somewhat they same benchmark score. I obviously do not need to tell you this, ha ha.
Check out ppbm7.com (you have to register in order to be able to see the benchmark-results-table) and look at the Top Ten. You will notice that 8 out of 10 people use the i7-3930k. That particular CPU seems to be perfect for Adobe Premiere Pro CS6, as Premiere works better with a higher clock speed and not with a higher core count... Just like said! The i7-3930k also is a lot of bang for the buck + you can overclock it pretty good. However, the same CPU is found all the way down on the list, so it is not all about the CPU. Like I said, read the entire site and you will have a better understanding on what makes a PC "fast" or perform better! Well, you might actually know all of this already, but if you don't, the site is really helpful!!!

The reason I would like to get something other than the i7-3930k, is that I do not like most cases out there! To much "Gamer" looking, ha ha. The other thing is, you can always get a Dual E5-2620 v2 setup now, and upgrade down the road. I have seen Xeon E5 2687W ES 3.1Ghz 20MB 8 Core HT on eBay, for around $680 used! I believe that it is not a bad price, for a CPU that costs $1900 new. The other thing is, using Xeon processors will allow you to use more than 64GB RAM. Not sure if I will ever need that much, but you never know, ha ha. The only case I could life with is the Magnum STH10 from Caselabs. I really like the Dell PowerEdge T620 Server. It does not support Windows 7, but I checked and there are plenty of people out there, that use the T620 as a Workstation...

All that being said, the only thing that bothers me is, that I understand that a i7-3930k works "better" for Adobe Premiere, but what does that really mean?! How much "worse" is a Xeon setup going to be, that has the same benchmark results as a i7 setup?! Most of the times, we are talking second! Even if you compare both on an entire workflow, the Xeon might going to take twice as long... so what?! I like the case, basta! LOL

thanks

p.s. I am planning on getting the Dell T620 used. There are two sellers that I have been talking to, and they pretty much sell the same configuration for 35-40% lower than buying it directly from Dell. They come with full service and warranty for two years!!!