Xeon vs i7 - which should I go with?

[alx_MTR]

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/us/Motherboards/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-...

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?

 

[cbn]

You wouldn't want to use the Xeon on a X99 board? (EDIT: I'm surprised X99-DELUXE/U3.1 doesn't support the specific Xeon you listed)

P.S. Your workstation motherboard link is broken.

 

[myocardia]

The 5960X can use a maximum of 64GB of RAM, period. It sounds as if you will need to buy yourself a Xeon, if huge amounts of RAM are that important to you.

 

[Burpo]

Xeon with more cores & more ram FTW..

 

[Ajay]

I think they'll be pretty close performance wise for multi-threaded apps. I'd save the money on the Xeon and go with more RAM, if your video encoding software is good at using extra RAM. Video editing, IIRC, if often bottle necked by storage performance (in which case, SSD RAID or an M.2x4 SSD module would help.

 

[alx_MTR]

You wouldn't want to use the Xeon on a X99 board? (EDIT: I'm surprised X99-DELUXE/U3.1 doesn't support the specific Xeon you listed)

P.S. Your workstation motherboard link is broken.

Hi cbn,

You're right about the link. I've updated it.
CPU Support list has the E5-2650-V3 listed as supported.
http://www.asus.com/us/Commercial_Servers_Workstations/X99E_WS/HelpDesk_CPU/

The X99-DELUXE/U3.1 doesn't support it and doesn't seem to support ECC RAM either, hence the RAM being limited at max.64GB or 8GB per module.

 

[alx_MTR]

The 5960X can use a maximum of 64GB of RAM, period. It sounds as if you will need to buy yourself a Xeon, if huge amounts of RAM are that important to you.

Hi myocardia,

The latest version of After Effects (CC) has finally removed the per-core limitation when it comes to assigning RAM (it used to be 3GB / core).
Now AE CC goes further, so it can take advantage of RAM.
I was thinking of using a lot of RAM for rendering and the rest for a RAMDisk to speed up rendering.

64GB of RAM with an 8-core CPU means 8GB per core, whereas 128GB of RAM with a 10-core CPU would be around 12GB of RAM assigned to each core.

What I'm not completely sure about is the performance increase from such RAM assignment. I know AE can use as many cores you throw at it and the situation might be similar with RAM too.

 

[alx_MTR]

I think they'll be pretty close performance wise for multi-threaded apps. I'd save the money on the Xeon and go with more RAM, if your video encoding software is good at using extra RAM. Video editing, IIRC, if often bottle necked by storage performance (in which case, SSD RAID or an M.2x4 SSD module would help.

Ajay, I'm using After Effects and some Premiere Pro. Mostly AE, though.
Storage-wise, I was looking at an Intel SSD 750 on PCIEx.

 

[crashtech]

E5-2650-v3 with all cores loaded is at 2.6GHz, so just for reference lets say 2.6x10 cores equals 26 "performance units," and the 5960X is at 3.3GHz, so 3.3x8 equals 26.4 units. That's a really inexact way to compare, but the point is that the two may not be that far apart with all cores loaded, but the 5960X will have a decisive advantage at all but full load. Advantage, 5960X even at stock.

 

[swilli89]

Surprised no one has brought this up but CUDA would help you out a whoooole bunch in rendering time

Edit: slightly outdated but http://www.loopoutcontinue.com/cuda/ check that rendering time!

 

[happy medium]

I'd get the Intel Xeon E5-1660 v3, 8 cores @ 3.0 , and 3.5 turbo for about 1000$
That way you can have your 128gb ram and 8 cores @ 3.0 for your rendering and editing, and game @ 3.5 in turbo.

OK well make that 1150$ but I think its a good compromise.
http://www.amazon.com/Xeon-E5-1660-Octa-core-Core-Processor/dp/B00OH8WQ12

Edit: how many cores turbo? 4? I don't know much about xeons .

 

[Ajay]

Ajay, I'm using After Effects and some Premiere Pro. Mostly AE, though.
Storage-wise, I was looking at an Intel SSD 750 on PCIEx.

Ah, in that case (forgot the 750 was PCIe), you'll be fine on storage and RAM.

 

[cbn]

The X99-DELUXE/U3.1 doesn't support it and doesn't seem to support ECC RAM either, hence the RAM being limited at max.64GB or 8GB per module.

I was surprised because even some of the cheaper X99 boards ( like ASRock X99 Extreme 4) do support all the E5 Xeons, 128GB RAM, and ECC UDIMMs and even some ECC RDIMMs.

 

[alx_MTR]

E5-2650-v3 with all cores loaded is at 2.6GHz, so just for reference lets say 2.6x10 cores equals 26 "performance units," and the 5960X is at 3.3GHz, so 3.3x8 equals 26.4 units. That's a really inexact way to compare, but the point is that the two may not be that far apart with all cores loaded, but the 5960X will have a decisive advantage at all but full load. Advantage, 5960X even at stock.

Thanks for that! Max RAM aside, considering the Xeon is locked and the i7 isn't, it all comes down to whether the unlocked chip can make up for the couple of cores it lacks.

 

[alx_MTR]

Surprised no one has brought this up but CUDA would help you out a whoooole bunch in rendering time

Edit: slightly outdated but http://www.loopoutcontinue.com/cuda/ check that rendering time!

I know CUDA is a must-have in rendering. OpenCL is apparently nowhere near CUDA in terms of performance. I guess those HD6950s I have will get an upgrade down the road. I know the grass is greener on the green camp when it comes to rendering. I heard Maxwell isn't as good as Kepler in AE because of revamped tech at core level, which kind of makes the GTX780 attractive, but 3x1 Eyefinity / Surround gaming is also on the table... Anyway, that's not really my concern right now.