Can't decide on desktop processor for rendering

[Machine73]

Being and AMD fanboy I am in the process of building a new workstation but have hit a wall in regards to which CPU will work the best. I just picked up the Autodesk 2012 package and it works fine on my AMD Phenom X4 BE, but i need to improve my render times. So....would it be safe to say that the # of TRUE cores is better than # of threads. ( comparing AMD Bulldozer 8 core - intel 6core/12 thread procs).
With all the leaks and benchmarks available out there it gets harder and harder to keep up. I just read about the upcoming LGA 2011 procs coming out soon and it seems that a 6core/12 thread would be faster than AMD'S BD procs, but has also been stated that # of cores is better than # of threads.
I know that My best choice would be Xenon procs but i'm trying to keep this build to less than 3K.
Main programs that will be used is Autodesk 3d studio max 2012, Adobe Premiere CS5 and After Effects CS5.
Any further input to steer me in the right direction would be helpful.

 

[Onus]

Bulldozer was a big disappointment. Maybe it can be "fixed" with a BIOS update, new stepping, and/or Windows v8 optimizations, but that's a "maybe," hence a gamble. OTOH, an i7-2600K would be a lot faster than your BE. Check benchmarks; there's an outside chance an AMD X6 might be a little better at rendering, but not likely, and not by much. You might also use a SSD; a $3K budget has plenty of room for a nice-sized SSD in it.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Being and AMD fanboy I am in the process of building a new workstation but have hit a wall in regards to which CPU will work the best. I just picked up the Autodesk 2012 package and it works fine on my AMD Phenom X4 BE, but i need to improve my render times. So....would it be safe to say that the # of TRUE cores is better than # of threads. ( comparing AMD Bulldozer 8 core - intel 6core/12 thread procs).
With all the leaks and benchmarks available out there it gets harder and harder to keep up. I just read about the upcoming LGA 2011 procs coming out soon and it seems that a 6core/12 thread would be faster than AMD'S BD procs, but has also been stated that # of cores is better than # of threads.
I know that My best choice would be Xenon procs but i'm trying to keep this build to less than 3K.
Main programs that will be used is Autodesk 3d studio max 2012, Adobe Premiere CS5 and After Effects CS5.
Any further input to steer me in the right direction would be helpful.

Most of those programs can use CUDA, OpenCL\GL, so your GPU will matter more for most ops. I know Adobe supports CUDA and OpenCL with nVidia GPUs. I believe AutoDesk added support also.

 

[caqde]

The 8150 is between the i7-2500K and the i7-2600K for your uses sometimes beating the 2600K but another thing to think about is the time it takes to move your models around in 3ds max as your render time decreases you might think of putting more into your models which would slow down the FPS that you get when running 3ds MAX so make sure you have a good Pro card probably a Quadro considering they support CUDA for your other 2 Applications. Considering your processor though I think the 8150 would likely be the cheapest upgrade route. It would shave off a lot of time regardless. The quickest would obviously be using a Dual Processer Xeon or Opteron, but remember you will need to keep these systems up to date in the future so also consider how much you will be willing to spend on maintenance each year so that your system stays with the times.