Motherboard + CPU Recommendation

[mhfrandsen]

Hello,

I'm looking for someone to help with advice on upgrading my PC. The benchmark (from this forum) is 29.6 FPS.

Basically there are three main areas I want to speed up:
- Faster rendering in Keyshot
- Faster Projection Master in Zbrush
- Faster Decimation Master in Zbrush

If I can keep most of the hardware I've got and only change the CPU, that would be ideal since everything else is working. If I also need to change the motherboard, I just need to know my RAM will work on it too, since I recently got those. Any help recommending a new CPU that works with my setup and would increase the points made above, would be greatly appreciated!

My Specs are:

Operating System
   Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1

CPU
   Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67GHz
   Bloomfield 45nm Technology

RAM
   12,0GB Triple-Channel DDR3 @ 681MHz (9-9-9-24)

Motherboard
   ASRock X58 Extreme (CPUSocket)   38 °C

Graphics
   DELL U2711 (2560x1440@60Hz)
   DELL U2412M (1920x1200@60Hz)
   1024MB ATI AMD FirePro V4900 (FireGL V) (ATI)   47 °C

Storage
   465GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 500GB ATA Device (SSD)   32 °C
   1397GB Western Digital WDC WD15EARS-00Z5B1 ATA Device (SATA)   30 °C

Optical Drives
   TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S223L ATA Device

Audio
   AMD High Definition Audio Device

[TpwUK]

What's your budget ?

Martin

[mhfrandsen]

Well preferably around 500 USD for a cpu if possible? but I know that's too low I'd I need another motherboard on top. So if I can find a cpu that'll work with my current set up and still get a lot of extra speed, then that's preferred.

[TpwUK]

If the board supports the X5680 Xeon processor you can get the CPU for less than $500. The E5675 is massively cheaper but a little slower.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/socketType.html#id4 take a look at that page, prices are outdated but the performance stats still hold

Martin

[mhfrandsen]

I think my board would support a Xeon like that. Outdated compatibility list:http://www.cpu-upgrade.com/mb-ASRock/X58_Extreme.html
Can I really get the 5680 for 500 bucks? If this is the right one it's way more expensive in Denmark. Guess I can Amazon it.http://www.pricebait.dk/computer-og-it/hardware/processorer-cpu/intel-xeon-x5680-333-ghz-processor

[TpwUK]

Go shopping with google

http://www.pinnacledata.co.uk/product/intel-xeon-cpu-6-core-x5675-12m-cache-306-ghz-640-gts-1/ = Retail boxed
http://www.pinnacledata.co.uk/product/intel-xeon-cpu-6-core-x5680-12m-cache-333-ghz-640-gts-0/ = OEM Brown Box

Martin

[mhfrandsen]

What speed increase could I expect?

Also you seem to know what you are talking about...you know a way I can be completely sure its compatible with my asrock x58?

And I'm astounded wirh the UK prices. If the first link I posted is the same cpu one...the Danish price is 10 Times the price. Lol

[TpwUK]

You should be able to get pretty close with the following equation

Your CPU i7-920 @ 2.67Ghz x 8(threads) = 21Ghz approx. (29fps) so you get 1.3fps per Ghz

X5680 @ 3.33Ghz x 8(threads) = 26.5Ghz approx. so multiply this result with 1.3fps and you should get close to 34.5fps, so about 22% increase in render speed.

Martin

[TpwUK]

If you can afford to go with some faster RAM it would make a significant speed improvement too. I have seen Dual X5680's getting like 130fps so dividing that by two gives 65fps approx. So i am guessing that you need faster RAM too to get better performance.

Martin

[mhfrandsen]

These are the ram I got http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-12gb-triple-channel-ddr3-memory-kit-cmz12gx3m3a1600c9

They are 1600MHz. Thought that was rather fast? Don't know why speccy says 681mhz maybe they are not configured correctly? Just plugged them in , didn't do adjustments.

[TpwUK]

1600Mhz should be all you need - They are the same as I use here but mine are single blocks and not matched. It would be better if someone that uses the same CPU as you are currently using was to join the thread and post what FPS they get with KS. If i remember rightly my upgrades gave results that pretty much doubled my performance each time, but i went from 4 cores to 8 and now 12. And I went i5 to i7 to dual Xeons.

If you are rendering as a business then invest in newer faster hardware, it will soon pay for itself if your pricing is structured correctly. If you're a hobbyist then small gains with spare cash is a sensible route to go. What you propose with the CPU upgrade would be a sensible step.

Martin

[mhfrandsen]

Just out of curiosity. How come this reaches a much higher fps than what I would aechive changing to xeon 5680?
I found it in this same forum.
Win7 / 64 bit  16GB memory  GT 440 2GB GPU
Intel I7 3930K 6-core overclocked to 4.4 GHz
FPS:  86.1 with KeyShot ver 3.1.48

Also if I decided my budget was a bit higher like 700...would that dramatically change my options?

[TpwUK]

The i7 processors are socket LGA-2011 which would also mean a change in motherboard. The i7-3930K is an unlocked CPU for over clocking and the base speed is 3.2Ghz to 3.8Ghz, the one you mention has been over clocked to 4.4Ghz and I would assume has some super cooling going on too. The 3930K also has an additional 2 cores/4 threads.

If you are willing to purchase second hand or clearance stock, then you could go E-Bay and get the W3690 which would be the quickest CPU that your motherboard could support which would give you 6 cores/12 threads at 3.47Ghz

For 700USD you would easily be able to afford an LGA-1155 motherboard and an unlocked i7-4790K @ 4.0Ghz to 4.6Ghz with 4 cores/8 threads

The equation to use is total threads multiplied by CPU max speed so for the following CPU's you would get ...

i7-3930K = 12 x 3.8 = 45.6Ghz
i7-4790K = 8 x 4.6 = 36.8Ghz

The above two examples require a new motherboard. As you can see a lower CPU Speed with more cores/threads can give better performance.

Xeon W3690 = 12 x 3.47 = 41.64Ghz with no over clocking required and no new motherboard
Xeon W3680 = 12 x 3.33 = 39.96Ghz with no over clocking and again no new motherboard required

The over clocked CPU you give as an example would be ....

12 x 4.4 = 52.8Ghz but would require a new motherboard, better cooling solution, a thorough understanding of over-clocking and load balancing of your RAM GPU CPU etc

Martin