Is a new PC with i7-3930K a bad idea?

[BrightCandle]

The OP is the target audience of the 3930k without a doubt. Now I don't think a 3960k is worth its money but the little brother with 6 cores pays itself back pretty quickly when you are doing real work that uses it. I have noticed a sizeable reduction in compilation times that has allowed me to stay in flow where previously I had to take a break. That 50% has made a noticeable difference to my productivity and I upgraded from an i7 920.

Sounds like the OP values his/her own time. My advice is to not to worry about it and buy the 6 core. For pros that make money from their PC's and have a problem that can use those cores its a bit of a no brainer. I would happily spend more if more performance was on offer, because I can use it and you can too.

 

[T0bias]

Hi again
I kinda decided for a i7-3930k, but I haven't bought anything yet because I'm really in doubt about gpu - The GTX580 seems to be a nice card, but I feel it's a little stupid to buy it now when the next generation of nvidia gpu's will be released quite soon?

There's also the 7970, but it's more expensive than a 580 and I also think I prefer nvidia because I've often read about issues with ati and Maya, it may not turn out to be an issue with an ati card for me, but the 7970 is a little too expensive anyways.

I really don't know what to do because I could use the new computer now, but it would just be a shame if a significantly faster card for the same money was released in 2-3 months

What do you think? I know it's a little offtopic, maybe I should make a new thread

 

[mfenn]

A GTX 580 is a bad decision at any point in its lifecycle. You're better off getting a GTX 570 which has 90% of the performance for 66% of the cost.

The 3930K over 2600K still comes down to whether or not you are getting paid to produce content on this machine. It is certainly faster, but unless you can quantify how much more $$$ you can earn by rendering faster, it is probably not worth it.

 

[T0bias]

Hm okay I thought the difference between 570 and 580 was more like 30% in performance.

But I guess the problem is still the same, since I assume a new 670 (or whatever it's called) will be relased soon too?

The thing about the 3930k is that when I render I really do use 100% of all threads which means the 3930k would actually be a lot faster than a 2600k - and in Denmark a 3930k is 80-90% more expensive, and if we say 50% more performance I don't think it's too bad

 

[mfenn]

Yes, Nvidia's next GPU series (Kepler) is just around the corner. Though something new is always just around the corner.

 

[T0bias]

Yeah I know - but seeing that it's like 1 year ago since the 570 and 580 was released I can't stop thinking that it's getting quite old, and that it's a bad idea to buy an expensive card now. If it was like 3 months ago I was buying a new comp, I wouldn't be so much in doubt, it just seems like it's really close right now - some say February? I don't know what is realistic though - is it generally only the most expensive card that is released first? Or how?

I was also considering to buy the PC now and just use my old (crappy ) GTS250 until Kepler is released - but in some way it just sounds a little wrong

 

[Topweasel]

Yeah I know - but seeing that it's like 1 year ago since the 570 and 580 was released I can't stop thinking that it's getting quite old, and that it's a bad idea to buy an expensive card now. If it was like 3 months ago I was buying a new comp, I wouldn't be so much in doubt, it just seems like it's really close right now - some say February? I don't know what is realistic though - is it generally only the most expensive card that is released first? Or how?

I was also considering to buy the PC now and just use my old (crappy ) GTS250 until Kepler is released - but in some way it just sounds a little wrong

It's not a bad idea. In the end, I mean either way Nvidia or AMD its a bad time to buy last years models. I mean if someone is seriously looking at the 580, I would say that the 7970 would be a better buy. Completely new architecture and GPU strategy and already in the lead so driver wise its only going to get better (I know AMD's drivers are a joke but its true). With that is the 7950 around the corner, Kelper shortly after. Buy the time we see the top single GPU Kelper, you could be talking about almost 30-40% increase in performance and some of the as good if not better then 580 cards will cost less, put out less heat, and use less power.

 

[T0bias]

I'm reluctant to buy AMD because it seems a lot of people are recommending to go with nvidia when working with Maya and other 3D software. It's very important for me that the performance in this area is good and that there are not any very annoying issues - of course there may be problems with nvidia cards too, it just seems that there are more people complaining about issues with amd cards.

Maybe also physx and cuda will be a benefit later - though I'm not doing anything that takes advantage of this right now

And I was looking at the GTX580 as the maximum in my budget - the HD7970 is around 20-30% more expensive which I think stretches it a little bit..

Will the top single gpu kepler be released in the beginning or is that later this year? I'm a little confused about this as some are saying it will be the first to be released while I've even seen people talking about Q4 2012.

 

[jacktesterson]

2600k and GTX 570/ ATI 6950 2GB

This is all you need. Anything above this is usually not worth the extra cost for the performance you gain.

 

[mfenn]

I'm reluctant to buy AMD because it seems a lot of people are recommending to go with nvidia when working with Maya and other 3D software. It's very important for me that the performance in this area is good and that there are not any very annoying issues - of course there may be problems with nvidia cards too, it just seems that there are more people complaining about issues with amd cards.

Maybe also physx and cuda will be a benefit later - though I'm not doing anything that takes advantage of this right now

And I was looking at the GTX580 as the maximum in my budget - the HD7970 is around 20-30% more expensive which I think stretches it a little bit..

Will the top single gpu kepler be released in the beginning or is that later this year? I'm a little confused about this as some are saying it will be the first to be released while I've even seen people talking about Q4 2012.

Nvidia is generally better supported by professional apps because they pretty much own the high-end 3D workstation graphics market with their Quadro line.

Kepler is probably going to be Q1 this year, early Q2 at the latest. However, if you wait for that, you might as well wait for Ivy Bridge. If you're waiting for Ivy Bridge, you might as well wait for the next generation of 2x nm SSDs. If you wait for those... I think you get my point.

 

[darckhart]

op: i think you will be happier with the 3930k. i do a lot of math simulation work and more cores working on the problem always pays off simply because you can get more done in the long run. with x79 you also get quad channel memory and up to 8 dimm slots which can be quite helpful.

as for the video cards, if you're doing opencl or cuda and can benefit from the additional vram and SPs, then the gtx580 is great. or if you're doing CAD/maya/etc, it's also slick since the extra power lets you flick between views very smoothly. but if you're playing games, then there's probably other cards that offer "better value." and if you just need to display things on a monitor and will look at the renders after, then there's much better value cards.

just my 2 cents. hth.


@mfenn: there's the waiting game and then there's the jumping in at the right time. ie, yes there's always something newer and better, but if you plan for the tick or tock correctly (choosing the features that you want the most), then no, it's not always wait wait wait. like i skipped core, but got nehalem. and it looks like i'll pass on ivy bridge, BUT lower prices on sandy bridge *could* compel me.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

You can't build two 2600k systems for the price of one 3930k system.

You can definitely get 8c/16t with two systems for less than 6c/12t in a single 3930k system. But we wouldn't be talking 2600k anymore, but instead stock e3-12xx chips on budget h61/h67 boards.

 

[T0bias]

I haven't been thinking so much about ivy bridge because it seems like the i7-3930k will be faster than ivy bridge too since it won't bring that much extra performance and still just 4 cores.
I just find the gpu choice harder to decide on because I don't know when kepler will come and at what price.

Another thing is that extra memory on the gpu is probably going to be useful in terms of viewport performance in maya if I got a lot of high res textures etc.? And the kepler gpu's will probably have more than 1.5gb memory?

 

[Apoplexy]

I don't know much about the issues with rendering programs and AMD graphics cards, but if you absolutely had to buy right now I'd say the 7970 is your best choice. In the long run though it would be better to do what I'm doing and buy some "meh" video card (Nvidia 460 GTX in my case) and upgrade to Kepler when it finally comes around.

If you end up getting the 3930k you shouldn't even consider upgrading to Ivy, even Ivy-E when it comes out. I think Haswell is going to be the architecture that most SB users upgrade to.

 

[mfenn]

as for the video cards, if you're doing opencl or cuda and can benefit from the additional vram and SPs, then the gtx580 is great. or if you're doing CAD/maya/etc, it's also slick since the extra power lets you flick between views very smoothly. but if you're playing games, then there's probably other cards that offer "better value." and if you just need to display things on a monitor and will look at the renders after, then there's much better value cards.

Or you could be just telling yourself that to help you sleep better at night. Using GTX cards for serious GPU computing is a complete joke because of how crippled they are compared to the Teslas. It is definitely NOT worth it for the extra compute power.

 

[T0bias]

Im considering to buy a cheap card for now and then upgrade relatively soon when Kepler has arrived (assuming it's good ) - the main reason is that there actually aren't a lot of pc games that I just "must" play and know I'll be playing for some time - the only candidate is BF3, but I actually haven't tried it yet.

I'm waiting for games like Guild Wars 2 and Diablo 3.

I'm also considering this since I'm only playing on a 22" monitor in 1680*1050 (and not 3d or anything) - what graphicscard is needed to run bf3 on high (maybe some on ultra) settings with a stable framerate (like no drops below 40 or something) in multiplayer? Preferably nvidia

 

[mfenn]

At 1680x1050 and high settings, you should be fine with a GTX 560 Ti.

 

[T0bias]

What about a GTX 560? If it's just a temporary card that I'm going to replace this year, a 560 is about the maximum I'd wanna pay

Can it be done even cheaper with decent medium-settings?

 

[mfenn]

For pure bang for the buck, a 6870 is a better deal than a 6850. Overall though, I think that spending ~$150 for a GTX 560 or 6870 with the intention to replace them within a year with a higher-end card is a bad idea. You might as well spend $200-250 or a GTX 560 Ti or 6950 2GB and not have to replace it for the next 2 years.

 

[T0bias]

Isn't 2 years a little too optimistic for a 560 ti or 6950? It doesn't look like even a GTX570 or GTX580 have lots of headroom in BF3 on ultra in 1680*1050, then a GTX560ti may run into a little trouble in 1 year (at least according to this chart http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/11/10/battlefield-3-technical-analysis/3) ?

I was also thinking about getting a GTX570 and then adding in another one for sli when/if the prices goes down - in case I could use extra performance What's your opinion about that?

 

[mfenn]

I guess it depends on your framerate tolerance and/or willingness to turn down some detail settings. I personally usually buy a $200-250 every 18-30 months and am happy with the performance. A GTX 570 is a bad deal for gaming IMHO because it performs basically the same as a 6950 2GB but costs $50-100 more.

I would definitely NOT plan on "upgrading to SLI/CFX" with any card. The thing about higher-end graphics cards is that they do not go down in price as they get older. They stay constant or go up in price as supplies dwindle and then go out of stock. It's not like Nvidia and AMD are sitting on huge stockpiles of these things that they have to get rid of. Stock depreciates so fast in this business that companies need to run a lean JIT supply chain or their net margins will we consumed by inventory write-downs.