6-core Render Speeds: 3930K vs. 980X?

TheRhino wrote on 7/1/2012, 5:59 PM

Has anyone used Vegas Pro on both the older 6-core I7 980X CPU and the newer 6-core Sandy Bridge 3930K? If so, how did the Vegas render speeds compare?

Our fastest workstation is a 2 year-old 980X overclocked to 4ghz. However, we would like to upgrade a second I7 920 workstation to 6-core performance but the older I7 990X CPU still costs $1000. For $1000 we can get the newer 6-core Sandy Bridge 3930K ($550), Socket 2011 motherboard ($350) & more RAM.

The benefit of the 990X is that I can swap the CPU in 10 minutes. If go the Sandy Bridge route I need to re-install all of our software & test-out the system for a couple days. I am willing to do this but need to know the speed benefits are worthwhile from those who have used Vegas on both & have consistent numbers.

Ideally Intel would have released an 8-core Socket 2011 chip to make this decision a no-brainer in favor of Socket 2011. However Intel seems to be reserving their 8-cores for Xeon platforms... Thanks in advance!

Comments

NicolSD wrote on 7/1/2012, 6:36 PM

Over all, the 3930K is a better CPU. I have never used a 990X but all performance tests indicate the 3930K is better. If you invest $1,000 in a 990X, you know your hardware will have reached the end of its line. The mobo will not be good enough to upgrade to a newer CPU later on. Meanwhile, $1,000 on a 3930K system means you will still be able to upgrade the CPU at a later time.

Not only that, the X79 mobos are PCIe 3.0 ready. That means you'll be able to upgrade your video card to whatever comes out within the coming years when you still have your system. Keeping an older mobo limits your possibilities in the future if you want to upgrade the GPU.

There are very valid arguments that can be used for both points. I don't think too many people end up replacing their CPUs. But the part about GPUs, plus the fact that it is faster should push the scale in favor of a newer system.

As far as mobos go, I would highly recomment you go for the ASUS X79 WS. It is a workstation mobo and allows for the use of XEON as well as I7 processors. Not only that, they are more compatible with serious hardware like RAID cards.

Go to the ASUS web site and take a look at how much support goes behind the WS mobo versus all the other X79 mobos. It is quite impressive.

Nicol

TheRhino wrote on 7/2/2012, 9:02 AM

For those interested: A while back it was rumored that Intel was going to release an 8-core 4ghz 3980X in the 2nd half of 2012 as their "Extreme" Socket 2011 processor. This would have been ideal as it would have provided a decent bump in rendering speeds without the high prices of a dual Xeon platform. However, with no competition at the high end except themselves it now looks like Intel is reserving the 8-cores for Xeon forcing folks to pay a premium to go beyond the 3930K/3960k.