i7 6700K or i7 5930K for new computer build

Cassie_E

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I am a content creator in two virtual world platforms (such as Second Life ). My current desktop has an i7 3770 CPU with 16gb RAM and a GTX 970ti graphics card. Heavy usage for me includes being at an event with 40 or 50 other avatars while being logged into another virtual world and creating content and working with Photoshop, and doing a search on the web. From the forums I've ready, both of these processors are very good and should upgrade my performance slightly. But my real question is, am I doing enough multi-tasking to justify a 6 core processor? If you are familiar with Second Life, I've been told that gamers are surprised at how it reduces their frame rates, especially when there's a large gathering of avatars since all the content is user created.
 
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The single core benefits of skylake are not that much over Haswell E. based on this diverse workload I feel more cores are needed over a...
Based on just how much work you are doing at once I can say that a six core would be put to use. it might still be slightly over kill but a five core CPU is not yet a thing. have you considered the 5820K and then OCing? that could save a fair amount of money.
 
Much will depend on how well your game is coded. Many depend on the performance of a single master thread.
If that is the case, the superior core speed of the 6700K will be a nice boost.

If, on the other hand, your game is well threaded or you are running 6 copies, then a 6 core cpu might be better.
How to tell:

experiment with removing one core. You can do this in the windows msconfig boot advanced options option. set the number of processors to less than you have.
This will tell you how sensitive your games are to the benefits of many cores.

If your performance drops significantly, it is an indicator that your cpu is the limiting factor, and a cpu upgrade to more cores is in order.

As a backhanded way to see how important core speed is,
Limit your cpu,in windows power management, limit the maximum cpu% to something like 80%.
Go to control panel/power options/change plan settings/change advanced power settings/processor power management/maximum processor state/
This will simulate what a lack of cpu power will do.
Conversely what a 20% improvement in core speed might do.
 

CBender

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Everything depends on the software you run and if you do a lot of rendering. Between the 5820k and the 5930k the onlhy difference of the pci lanes (28<40) would be utilized only in two scenarios: four way sli or extreme storage solutions with multiple intel pci drives.

Between x16 and the x8 speeds of the PCIe there are virtually no differences in performance. So even in 3 way sli the 5820k build would perform almost the same as the 5930k.

As for the 6700k it would outperform all X99 cpus in single core performance. Which could quite important.

Please mention some of the software u use.
 


The single core benefits of skylake are not that much over Haswell E. based on this diverse workload I feel more cores are needed over a slight single core boost.
 
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Cassie_E

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CBender

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Without being entirely sure Firestorm uses Havok?? that should translate to more cores is better. I would go for the 5820k unless you are going all out on the GPU (means four of them), then 5930k or 5960x are the superior options.