New Machine Specs - Xeon vs Core i7

Altzone wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:14 PM

I'm looking to get a new machine to replace my current i7 3770K.
The choice is either:
Dual Xeon 2630 v2's (I am getting these for FREE!)
That would be 12 cores total.
A new dual CPU Xeon MB which will cost about $800
http://www.asus.com/au/Motherboards/Z9PED8_WS/

Or the latest Intel Core i7 5960X that costs about $1300 for the CPU alone + a new matching MB.

I'm thinking the 12 cores in the dual Xeons will likely beat the single 8 core i7 in many things to do with Sony Movie Studio and Handbrake rendering. Or at least be the same or not much different?
Some Handbrake benchmarks are here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/1052
But of course that's going to vary with all sorts of factors.

Anyone running any similar hardware and can comment on which is the best?
Bare in mind of course I'm getting the Xeon CPU's for free, so it's a much cheaper machine, and I'll be going that route unless there is a compelling reason to go with the latest core i7?

Thanks
Dave.

Comments

OldSmoke wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:28 PM

That's a tough decision. The 2630 with 2.6GHz will be much slower in single core single thread situation but 12 cores will do a good job when the software fully supports it. I doubt anyone here will be able to give a clear answer on which one to build.

If it's me in your situation, I would build the dual cpu system first and if it doesn't work out, sell it off and get the single flu system. I am not sure if I would go for the 5960X or the next lower 6 core cpu. Since I upgraded my 3930k system with two R9 290 I can actually work well with 4K footage and renders are very fast too except for MC AVC or Sony AVC but I don't use those anymore and frame serve to Handbrake instead.

Altzone wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:37 PM

Thanks. Perhaps best to simply go for the lowest cost solution and try it. As you say, can always sell the built-up machine, but in any case should be a lot quicker than my current machine.
The R9 290 seems to be the highest performance card supported by Sony, so thinking of getting one of those, but like you will be going to x264 anyway, likely via x264vfw, or frameserver to Handbrake.
I currently do an intermediate render and then drag the file to a Handbrake script on my desktop.

Altzone wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:38 PM

BTW, the E5 2630 v2 does turbo boost to 3.1GHz
http://ark.intel.com/products/75790/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2630-v2-15M-Cache-2_60-GHz

john_dennis wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:48 PM

If the processors were free, I'd build the Xeon system without hesitation. I ran a Windows 10 trial with Vegas Pro 13 on a 24 core HP DL-380 server. While it might not have been the fastest machine in the earth, I never found it slow. This machine had no video acceleration to speak of.

BruceUSA wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:50 PM

Dual Xeon 2630 v2's will not beat the i7 5960X Overclocked let say, 4.4-4.6ghz . Based on multi threaded application (Benchmark scores etc) 5960X will be way ahead. Video works is a multi threaded but it is limited to so many threads that vegas uses. To be in the same lead as the 5690X OCed, you need 2X Xeon 2687W V3.

OldSmoke wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:54 PM

Yes I know it does 3.1GHz but it still is far off from the 5960X that will run at 4.6GHz or more. CPU speed plays a big roll in performance.

I have not found an encoder plugin that will provide the same quality as frame serving to HB especially at lower bit rates.

BruceUSA wrote on 1/4/2015, 6:58 PM

Xeon CPU does turbo boost but it is only limited to 2 cores turbo boost. It will not tubo boost on all cores. 5960X run turbo boost on all 8 cores.

Altzone wrote on 3/22/2015, 12:12 AM

UPDATE:
I got a new Dual CPU 2.6GHz Xeon 2630 v2 machine setup with a SuperMicro server motherboard, and it is SLOWER than my old i7 3770 machine at 3.5GHz.
What gives?
Brand new install of Win7 with nothing else on it but MovieStudio 13.
Passmark software shows the machine CPU speed is much quicker than the i7 on almost every test, so it should be faster at rendering, yet it is slower on Sony AVC, Mainconcept, and XDCAM encoders.

Anyone have any clue what's happening?

EDIT: Damn, I notice that MovieStudio only allows for a maximum of 16 render threads. Could this be the problem? My dual Xeon's have 24 cores total (12 physical)

Thanks
Dave.

Stringer wrote on 3/23/2015, 2:03 PM

Do you have GPU support disabled?