FX 8120 or i5 2500k

[viridiancrystal]

So building a new rig, and i will say first off I know the 2500K is faster in benchmarks, and uses much less power. I want to know, how would they compare while doing some HEAVY multitasking? (Rendering video while gaming or rendering with music playing, skype window, and photo edits) Will the extra cores of the FX help with multitasking, or does the IPC advantage of the i5 give it the nod?

If any of you have a FX 8xxx/i5 2500k and could input how either runs while doing some multitasking like such that would be awesome!

I do plan to do a moderate overclock.

Thanks in advance!

 

[CDdude55]

It really depends on the software, sometimes you'll have software that prefers more cores to execute across rather then stronger cores. And sometimes you'll see software perform immensely better on CPU's with less cores but they can turn out more work per cycle.

If multitasking is the main goal, then the FX chip might give you what you need and for a better overall price. But if you plan to do a lot of work that's CPU intensive and you need something that will suffice in heavier work loads then the 2500K would probably be the better pick.

 

[Raidur]

What GPU(s) are you using? The FX will bottleneck certain high end multi-card setups.

What do you mean exactly when you say rendering video/audio?

 

[viridiancrystal]

The budget I'm at will put the FX setup with a 7770, and the i5 with a 6850.

The 6850 is cheaper and better, but it uses more power and doesn't OC as well from what I understand, so i would rather have a 7770, unless i can squeeze a 6870 in the same price range.

EDIT: Missed the second half of your question . I would be editing video in Pinnacle studio or audio in Audacity and exporting them.

 

[FALC0N]

So building a new rig, and i will say first off I know the 2500K is faster in benchmarks, and uses much less power. I want to know, how would they compare while doing some HEAVY multitasking? (Rendering video while gaming or rendering with music playing, skype window, and photo edits) Will the extra cores of the FX help with multitasking, or does the IPC advantage of the i5 give it the nod?

If any of you have a FX 8xxx/i5 2500k and could input how either runs while doing some multitasking like such that would be awesome!

I do plan to do a moderate overclock.

Thanks in advance!

A very thoughtful question.

Unfortunately, nobody really tests this in benchmarks. I wish they would as real world usage isn't one app at a time. There is always something going on in the background that gobbles up cpu cycles. Bulldozer may well be stronger in that area.

My guess is the 8120 extra integer cores would benefit more from a heavier load than the 2500k. Not sure if the difference would be that noticeable though.

 

[loneninja]

The 2500K usually does better even when the task can use all 8 cores of the FX, but like already mentioned no reviews really show what happens when multiple programs are running at once. I'm thinking the 2500K would be the better choice, especially if overclocking, but I can't state it as a fact when multitasking.

 

[viridiancrystal]

The 2500K usually does better even when the task can use all 8 cores of the FX, but like already mentioned no reviews really show what happens when multiple programs are running at once. I'm thinking the 2500K would be the better choice, especially if overclocking, but I can't state it as a fact when multitasking.

A very thoughtful question.

Unfortunately, nobody really tests this in benchmarks. I wish they would as real world usage isn't one app at a time. There is always something going on in the background that gobbles up cpu cycles. Bulldozer may well be stronger in that area.

My guess is the 8120 extra integer cores would benefit more from a heavier load than the 2500k. Not sure if the difference would be that noticeable though.

XD seems like i'm at the question no one has an answer too. Thank you for the insight though.

I would guess myself that the eight cores would be better in my workload, but once overclocked they may become even more closely competitive.

Either way, i'm upgrading from an AMD sempron 2.2 Ghz, so it will seem like a supercomputer to me