What is the best processor for rendering

[asdfasdf_97]

Hello,
what is the best proccesor for 3ds max and other rendering programs. i7 vs xeon

 

[dogman_1234]

Question is, what is your budget?

 

[cjl]

As Psycho said, i7 and xeon are the same CPU for the most part. Xeons do support a couple of things such as ECC RAM and multiprocessor boards that you may be interested in, but it all depends on your budget.

 

[oby20]

Hello,
what is the best proccesor for 3ds max and other rendering programs. i7 vs xeon

-you dont need xeon, xeon are for servers, i7 best for 3d rendering. i use i7 950 18gb ram in 3d max + v-ray in 3D rendering.
very fast, huge memory support, even a very large file with lots of 3d models does not matter, it rocks!

 

[enzo matrix]

unless you intend to go multi-processor or unless ECC is important to you, the obvious answer is the i7. If you don't know what either of those are, then the answer is the i7. Consider the i7 2600.

Here is a benchmark list:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/30

Here is my list of CPUs that are worth their cost in order of performance for your application (based on newegg prices):
i7 2600
i5 2500
i5 2400
Phenom IIx6 1090t
Phenom IIx6 1075t
Phenom IIx6 1055t
Phenom IIx4 955
Athlon IIx4 640

Note that the "K" models of the i7 and i5 are only worth the extra cost if you intend on overclocking.