CPU/mobo upgrade/purchase for content creation

[vmem]

Hi Guys

So currently I'm happily gaming on my i5 at 4.6ghz. however, my projects at work has progressed over the years to a point where I need to do a lot of 3D rendering in Maya for presentations and stuff Anyway, things are going a wee bit slow and I'm thinking I might as well take the opportunity and upgrade to a CPU with hyperthreading and whatnot. currently the choices are:

1. Wait for Haswell and go for the i74770k (or whatever the unlocked sku is)

2. Get Sandy-E or the 3930k now

3. go for the AMD FX series, either pile-driver now or steamroller later (or get PD now and upgrade to SR, they're so much cheaper than intel XD)

So my big questions are whether Haswell will be worth waiting for (something like 10-20% step up from Ivy would be nice). and also if people have heard any useful news on Ivy-E and Haswell-E (the latest I've heard is Ivy-E in Q4 this year, which doesn't interest me since it probably won't be much faster than the 3930k?). the last question would be how good are AMD CPUs for content creation? I'm aware that it'll be a little bit slower than my i5 for gaming, but if those 8-cores really get the job done for making animations, I can live with that (or just build a separate AMD rendering machine lol)

 

[rolli59]

So you would see performance increase with upgrading to I7 3770K on your current rig which would be the cheapest option.

 

[vmem]

So you would see performance increase with upgrading to I7 3770K on your current rig which would be the cheapest option.

Yes, I would see performance increase going to a 3770K, it just feels a bit of a waste seeing as Haswell is just around the corner...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd like this machine to last a while. if that's not realistic, perhaps I'll build an FX based rendering machine on the side?

I only have one main machine at the moment, and it seems like big chunks of my gaming time is being taken up by rendering time :lol: tho of course the xbox360 isn't that bad

 

[rolli59]

Haswell is not going to be that much faster that I would consider a total upgrade to it. LGA2011 build would be the fastest and the FX rendering machine on the side is not a bad idea.

 

[vmem]

Haswell is not going to be that much faster that I would consider a total upgrade to it. LGA2011 build would be the fastest and the FX rendering machine on the side is not a bad idea.

hmm, isn't it true that the 3770K already beats the 3930K in some applications?

 

[rolli59]

Yes it is but that really comes down to threading (how many cores/HT in use) and difference in clock speed http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=552

 

[vmem]

hmm, the more I think/talk about it, the more building a separate FX machine seems to make sense, especially since occasionally Maya will favor AMD (this isn't consistent, but I'm not going to pay $200+ for an intel 3930k to have it faster only some of the times ).

Thanks for the advice and letting me bounce off a few ideas! for those of you who're curious, I'm going to set this thing up as an HTPC, as the CPU will still be fine with HD-playback even while rendering :hehe:

 

[vmem]

Best answer selected by vmem.