Xeon vs i7 - which should I go with?

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alex_MTR

alex_MTR

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Jun 23, 2014
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Hi everyone. I've been checking various resources out and I still can't make my mind up.
I don't know what CPU I should go with.

Priorities in order of importance :
After Effects rendering / video editing / Photoshop (all 3 are equally important)
Gaming
Multimedia

i7 5960x (8 real cores + HT) 3.0GHz vs Xeon E5-2650-v3 (10 cores + HT) 2.3GHz (T: 3.0GHz)
I know there's a difference in terms of clock speed and the fact that the Xeon is multiplier-locked.

I checked Anandtech's Bench section and I couldn't find convincing data. I looked for some benchmarks with the 2650-v3, but could hardly find any in After Effects or Video editing...or similar tasks at least.
In my opinion, pros would be:
Xeon: 10 c / 20t, support for 128GB of RAM (I would definitely go for that amount in a few months' time)
Core i7 - unlocked, a bit better in gaming.

Motherboards I'd use in each case:
Xeon: http://www.asus.com/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/X99E_WS/
i7 : http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/X99DELUXEU31/

I've already checked this thread out:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2331626/5960x-x99-build-rendering-editing-compositing-gaming.html

BTW, I am not interested in any 6 core CPUs.
Initially the Xeon would have 16GB of RAM (1xDIMM) while the i7 would have 32GB. It doesn't matter, as the Xeon would have that with just another DIMM shortly after purchase.
Other relevant hardware in the system: Intel SSD 750 / HD6950 2GB CF/


What would you suggest I should go with, given these circumstances?
 
Solution
James Mason
It would depend on the size of what you're rendering.

128Gbs of ram won't help if you only using 50. Find out how much your projects are actually capable of using and then decide from there,

It may be smarter to just build a rendering farm/machine, with only the xeon and the ram, and have an actual seperate gaming machine, so you can game while you're rendering, or work on other projects. And just use Remote Desktop to drop files on it and have them process it.

The i7-5960x is so overpowered for gaming, that if you bought it solely for a gaming computer you'd be seen as a giant doodoo head.

If you want to game, just build an i5 system with 8-16gbs of ram.

Here's an actual review of the xeon that compares it with the i7-5690x...
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James Mason

James Mason

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Jan 2, 2014
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I would actually say the i7.
The xeon is a smigen faster than the i7 in multicore tests and memory tests, but only like 2-5%.
But the i7 is like 25-35% faster than the xeon in single core tests, which is what a great deal of games are, and also all other non-video rendering tasks. And if you OC it will probably make up the difference.


The xeon would be the better choice if you were going to be running it 24/7 and were concerned about power draw.
 
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alex_MTR

alex_MTR

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Jun 23, 2014
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Thank you very much for replying to my question. What do you think about the RAM capacity? It is one of the main reasons I'm even considering the Xeon.

I mean, RAM is cheap enough to consider multiple 16GB ECC DDR4 sticks.
The i7 would only accept 8GB DIMMs. So far, I see it this way:

After Effects CC removed the 3GB per CPU core limit. I have 24GB of RAM right now and I can only select maximum 6GB of RAM per CPU core in AE.
i7 - 8Cores -> 8GB per core if RAM's maxed out on motherboard (64GB), which would be 12+GB per core with a Xeon & 128GB of RAM.

What is your opinion on this, master? Do you think it's not gonna make any difference in rendering times and PC usage while rendering?
 
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James Mason

James Mason

Titan
Jan 2, 2014
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74,965
It would depend on the size of what you're rendering.

128Gbs of ram won't help if you only using 50. Find out how much your projects are actually capable of using and then decide from there,

It may be smarter to just build a rendering farm/machine, with only the xeon and the ram, and have an actual seperate gaming machine, so you can game while you're rendering, or work on other projects. And just use Remote Desktop to drop files on it and have them process it.

The i7-5960x is so overpowered for gaming, that if you bought it solely for a gaming computer you'd be seen as a giant doodoo head.

If you want to game, just build an i5 system with 8-16gbs of ram.

Here's an actual review of the xeon that compares it with the i7-5690x:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8584/intel-xeon-e5-2687w-v3-and-e5-2650-v3-review-haswell-ep-with-10-cores/3
the first benchmarks are video rendering benchmarks. But again, the difference between the two is very small.

Again to restate.
The Xeon is better at work related tasks by like 5%
The i7 is better at gaming tasks by like 30%
Multimedia tasks are irrelevant because even the cheapest of CPUs has no problem with them.

And it's also important to compare to what you have currently, as either option could be like a 1000% improvment.
 
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Solution
alex_MTR

alex_MTR

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Jun 23, 2014
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Since I've seen After Effects CC has no limits to RAM/CPU core, I immediately found how to put RAM to good use (RAM disk + RAM / core). That's why I was wondering.
I thought about a rendering farm, but the problem is my budget wouldn't allow me to go for both a rendering machine + a powerful system for gaming&multimedia. Of course the main reason behind even considering the 5960x is After Effects and rendering in general. Otherwise I would've gone with either an i5 or a 5820K.

I've checked that review out and you are right, the i7 looks more adequate, despite the lack of results from After Effects. Right now I'm definitely more keen on the i7 configuration, even though it hits RAM limits halfway through. I don't plan on upgrading the computer (mainly mobo + CPU) for some time (for some years) after this upgrade, but even like that, it looks like 8 core i7 with less RAM might be the way to go.

Full specs of my current set-up:

Intel 486, 1MB of RAM, S3 GPU, 20MB HDD

I'm kidding, it's a bit better:

NOX URANO 850W
FX-8350 @4.4GHz
Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
24GB DDR3-1600MHz(@1400MHz)
Sapphire HD6950 2GB CrossFire
Samsung SSD830 128GB
3x1 Eyefinity


I know the configurations we're talking about are probably close to that 1000% improvement you were talking about, but I need a system as perfectly tailored for my needs as possible.
 
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