8 Core 3ghz VS 12 Cores 2.4ghz

[rolfcoppter]

Hey guys I'm looking to buy a new computer and my question is when it comes to simulating in Houdini what would be faster?

 

X 1 (Intel Core i7-5960X Haswell-E 8-Core 3.0GHz LGA 2011-v3 140W BX80648I75960X Desktop Processor)

or 

 

X 2 (Intel Xeon E5-2620 v3 Haswell 2.4GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache LGA 2011-3 85W BX80644E52620V3 Server Processor)

 

any feedback would be awesome thanks!

[malexander]

It really depends on the size of the simulation, and what type of simulation it is (volume, FLIP, RBD). Larger sims will spread across more cores than small ones. The dual processor would do better with mantra rendering as well.

 

However, I'd generally go for the faster, single processor. It'll handle the single-threaded portions much better, and after about 8 threads, thread scaling begins to fall off.

 

The other thing to note is the memory limit for the 5960X is 64GB, whereas the Xeons are not restricted to this (as long as you use registered DIMMs).

[rolfcoppter]

Thanks for the quick reply Malexander!

 

So if the Single Faster cores are better would it be even a better idea to run dual 4 core Xeons at 3.6ghz? 

 

That way its the best of both worlds. no memory cap and faster cores.

[malexander]

I'd go for a single 8-core Xeon over dual sockets. You run into a bit of a memory slowdown with dual-sockets sometimes due to "NUMA" (non-uniform memory access). Half the memory is accessed through socket #1, and the other half, socket #2.  So, if socket #1 needs memory from RAM attached to socket #2, the access is a little slower. Not hugely slow, but I wanted to point this out.

 

On the other hand, it's also more expensive for a fast 8-core Xeon than two 4-core Xeons, and dual-socket motherboards generally offer more memory slots. So I guess it depends on the tradeoffs you'd willing to make - price, installed memory, memory transfer speed.

[Guest tar]

I'm curious if we get V3 Xeons, does the AVX2 and FMA3 instruction sets come into play with Houdini automagically?  

 

This chart shows enormous benefits:

http://www.microway.com/knowledge-center-articles/detailed-specifications-intel-xeon-e5-2600v3-haswell-ep-processors/

 

 

Edited May 2, 2015 by tar

[rolfcoppter]

Thanks Again malexander sorry for replying so late but i have a few more things i was wondering. im getting that the faster 8 core processor is the better than the dual 6 cores but i am wondering if i was to pay the extra cash for dual 8 cores still at 2.4ghz would that be better. or is the fall off after 8 cores like you mentioned earlier a big factor? Also in the same rig can i use a quadro k4000 for viewport and a gtx780 ti for gpu calculation on open cl or can you only use dual GPUs if they are the same model? thanks again