6700k vs 5820k, Quad-core vs Hexacore

[coletheo]

I've been debating over which CPU/MoBo to buy for my build. I do some video editing and photo editing casually and working with heavy load programs like Adobe Premier and Photoshop seems to be the hexacore's strength, but I also use emulators for consoles like GameCube and PS2, which requires a pretty beefy CPU to emulate properly.

Some people say the 6700k's four cores are stronger while the 5820k's six cores are weaker. If this is true, then would going for the 6700k be the better choice than the 5820k?

 

[SchizTech]

Individually the newer cores of the 6700 are slightly faster, though it's not a big difference. The difference in performance depends on the workload and how well it uses multiple cores. Video editing is the ideal case for many-core systems (it's fundamentally a perfect fit for multiple processes running concurrently so adding cores scales as well as any task will). There are few (possibly no) cases in which the 5820 will be significantly slower though.

 

[CTurbo]

The 5820k is better in video editing, but the 6700k would be better in most cases.

 

[coletheo]

Individually the newer cores of the 6700 are slightly faster, though it's not a big difference. The difference in performance depends on the workload and how well it uses multiple cores. Video editing is the ideal case for many-core systems (it's fundamentally a perfect fit for multiple processes running concurrently so adding cores scales as well as any task will). There are few (possibly no) cases in which the 5820 will be significantly slower though.

Oh I see, so despite being slower, the 5820k generally still works better altogether rather than just for heavy work loads?

 

[SchizTech]

Individually the newer cores of the 6700 are slightly faster, though it's not a big difference. The difference in performance depends on the workload and how well it uses multiple cores. Video editing is the ideal case for many-core systems (it's fundamentally a perfect fit for multiple processes running concurrently so adding cores scales as well as any task will). There are few (possibly no) cases in which the 5820 will be significantly slower though.

Oh I see, so despite being slower, the 5820k generally still works better altogether rather than just for heavy work loads?

It's more about how well the load is adapted to large core counts vs individual core speed. There are some loads that will peg one core to it's maximum but not do much (or even anything) on others. In some part it comes down to the design of a particular program, though certain tasks are fundamentally easier or more difficult to parallelize - the more parallel a task can run the better it will like a processor with more cores.

It's also true that the individual 6700 cores are faster, but the difference in single core performance isn't terribly great.