Going from 8320 to 4790k. Is it worth it?

[crashtech]

Haswell-E might be worth waiting for, but I don't think we have a clear idea of how much time is being wasted right now because you are waiting on the CPU. My impression was that is was just some transient slowdowns, not that you had to walk away while your machine finishes something. The former can be fixed with mainstream Haswell, the latter with Haswell-E.

 

[ironmask]

Haswell-E might be worth waiting for, but I don't think we have a clear idea of how much time is being wasted right now because you are waiting on the CPU. My impression was that is was just some transient slowdowns, not that you had to walk away while your machine finishes something. The former can be fixed with mainstream Haswell, the latter with Haswell-E.

I guess I'm really complaining about small potatoes or maybe not. The other day, I was processing some NEF photo files in lightoom to take them over to PS for background elimination to make them eCommerce ready. There were about 50 high resolution images. About a third way into the process with PS, everything I typed in PS showed up as if I was holding the shift key down the entire time. I closed out my template PSD file that I was pasting all of the jpgs on to and reopened it. Instead of just opening the PSD, it opened the PSD and ALL of the jpg files that were pasted into the PSD. I ended up completely closing out PS and starting over, and things went back to normal. sigh

 

[crashtech]

It would be interesting to have Resource Monitor running during these "incidents" to help get a better idea of what's going on.

 

[cytg111]

I am with crashtech on this one. You find it sluggish but your really dont know why, finding the actual bottleneck in those situations is smart. Upgrading the cpu cause you think or feel it might be the culprit is .. playing the lottery .

 

[ironmask]

I am with crashtech on this one. You find it sluggish but your really dont know why, finding the actual bottleneck in those situations is smart. Upgrading the cpu cause you think or feel it might be the culprit is .. playing the lottery .

My problems are, in reality, minor inconveniences and first world problems. My hidden agenda is finding validation in purchasing a new toy.

 

[crashtech]

My problems are, in reality, minor inconveniences and first world problems. My hidden agenda is finding validation in purchasing a new toy.

If you are looking for validation in this band of cynics, you are bound to be disappointed. I think you should do it if you feel like it. But at least post a build thread in General with your budget and what software you run so that you can make the best choices.

 

[cytg111]

My problems are, in reality, minor inconveniences and first world problems. My hidden agenda is finding validation in purchasing a new toy.

and after investing in an octocore haswell it still feels sluggish in those special first-world circumstances , then what? Gonna think "oh well, just needed a reason to pull the trigger" or "godda* piece of* still lagging grrr" ?
If it is nr.1 then by all means, you sir are validated (no judgment here whatsoever).. if it is nr.2, then sir, you have been warned.

 

[sandorski]

Kinda sounds like you are using up your RAM at times. If you could recreate the issue, check the hardware monitor to see how much is being used.

 

[davie jambo]

I done this but with an 3770k , did not notice any difference in games really. Or anything really. Well the turns are a bit faster in Civ5

So no don't bother "upgrading"

 

[ironmask]

and after investing in an octocore haswell it still feels sluggish in those special first-world circumstances , then what? Gonna think "oh well, just needed a reason to pull the trigger" or "godda* piece of* still lagging grrr" ?
If it is nr.1 then by all means, you sir are validated (no judgment here whatsoever).. if it is nr.2, then sir, you have been warned.

Well, Tianhe-2 would be the next step, I guess. I hate lag, even if it only lasts for but a second. I hate it. Hate it.

 

[cytg111]

... suppose sandorski is right and it is a RAM issue, no amount of CPU processing power is going to fix that. It could be software as well ie. flash can do that to you, no matter how many cores and idle cpu time u have, play a game and it would lag (some flash versions ago) even if it wasnt playing. Ending the flash process fixed it right up. There can be many causes for your experienced lag.

 

[sandorski]

... suppose sandorski is right and it is a RAM issue, no amount of CPU processing power is going to fix that. It could be software as well ie. flash can do that to you, no matter how many cores and idle cpu time u have, play a game and it would lag (some flash versions ago) even if it wasnt playing. Ending the flash process fixed it right up. There can be many causes for your experienced lag.

Indeed. Which would suggest that Upgrading the RAM first would be the wiser choice. If it doesn't solve the issue, then update the CPU/Mobo and use the RAM as well.

 

[crashtech]

Right now we have no idea what the problem is. Even if a new platform is to be purchased just because OP wants to upgrade, a bit of detective work to verify the nature of the problem would be the smart thing to do.

 

[ironmask]

Sorry. I thought I clarified earlier that my lag isn't really a "real" problem. Photoshop acting funny is potentially a software issue, as the remainder of the computer runs fine when the funk occurs. My definition of lag is having to wait half to a whole second for something to happen in photoshop, rather than instantaneously. Don't get me wrong, I can live with it, but if I can make most of my processes instant, I'll do it, and I was hoping that the 4790k would give me some real life performance differences.

I am always monitoring my resources, and I usually stay in the 80% to 90% ram usage range.

In the end, if it clarifies my thread, if I can cut a photoshop action from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds, I would be willing to upgrade away from AMD to Intel. I'm going to do a new build soon anyway but not right now unless there is a clear advantage from Intel for what I am doing. My computer is not slow. I just expect more from it.

 

[Techhog]

Sorry. I thought I clarified earlier that my lag isn't really a "real" problem. Photoshop acting funny is potentially a software issue, as the remainder of the computer runs fine when the funk occurs. My definition of lag is having to wait half to a whole second for something to happen in photoshop, rather than instantaneously. Don't get me wrong, I can live with it, but if I can make most of my processes instant, I'll do it, and I was hoping that the 4790k would give me some real life performance differences.

I am always monitoring my resources, and I usually stay in the 80% to 90% ram usage range.

In the end, if it clarifies my thread, if I can cut a photoshop action from 5 seconds to 2.5 seconds, I would be willing to upgrade away from AMD to Intel. I'm going to do a new build soon anyway but not right now unless there is a clear advantage from Intel for what I am doing. My computer is not slow. I just expect more from it.

In that case, forget Haswell-E. If the lag bothers you enough or slows your work down enough that you really feel you need something better, get the 4790K. Otherwise, just keep what you have for the moment.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am always monitoring my resources, and I usually stay in the 80% to 90% ram usage range.

Chances are that you are actually running out of RAM then. Windows pre-emptively pages stuff to the HDD/SSD, and tries to keep a certain percentage of RAM free at all times.

I would invest in more RAM, even if it means that you would have to change platforms or motherboards in order to get more slots for RAM.

 

[SlickR12345]

I think just getting a new bigger and faster SSD will be better.

Opening high resolution pics in any application is more dependent on HDD/SDD rather than CPU.

Chances are your CPU finishes all processing and the problem is the loading on the HDD/SDD.

Especially since you have older generation SSD which loses over 60% performance within a month, so its basically operating at HDD speeds and lower.

Also bigger SDD also means better performance as that is how SDD's are designed and work.

 

[Headfoot]

In regards to efficiency, I think a lot depends on your particular CPU and how you tweak it.

And it depends significantly more so on the process technology and architecture of your CPU. E.g. Atom is lowest power, then Jaguar, then Haswell, then Ivy Bridge, then Sandy Bridge, then Nehalem tied-ish with Piledriver

 

[Headfoot]

Also, I agree with the prior posters that you are likely running out of ram by the time you see 90% usage. Your use cases also probably get some small gain from higher memory bandwidth (e.g. x79 quad channel)

 

[Techhog]

I agree with adding more RAM.

 

[crashtech]

A 32GB kit could be bought that is specced to transfer to an LGA 1150 system if needed.

 

[Makaveli]

Especially since you have older generation SSD which loses over 60% performance within a month, so its basically operating at HDD speeds and lower.

huh?

 

[ironmask]

I was wondering the same thing

 

[SlowSpyder]

And it depends significantly more so on the process technology and architecture of your CPU. E.g. Atom is lowest power, then Jaguar, then Haswell, then Ivy Bridge, then Sandy Bridge, then Nehalem tied-ish with Piledriver

Absolutely, of course, there are much more power-efficient options than anything available for AM3+. But I was responding to his post where he said that he read above 4.3GHz Vishera efficiency starts to take a hit. In my experience with my setup, it isn't until I get well into the upper 4GHz range that I see power use start to really jump and additional clockspeed requires ever more voltage (using 1.35v as a baseline).