Is it worth it to upgrade?

[Bikerider12]

Hello everyone! Before I say anything, I wasn't sure what section to put this, I just joined and I need to get used to the different areas.
I was wondering if it is worth it to upgrade from my current CPU to one of the newest intel's cpu.
The tasks I do the most is lots and lots of rendering in after effects and 3D rendering in Autodesk maya using solidangle's arnold, along with lots of video and photo editing using most of adobe's software. To put it simply, I do a lot of CPU intensive things.

My current CPU has been completely discontinued, It is called the I7 950 and is still a good cpu. The thing is along with just wanting some more power, I have been getting blue screens with the message "HARDWARE_FAILURE" and the only thing I have not been able to test is the motherboard and CPU.

The cpu I want to upgrade to is the Intel Core i7-5960X, which I have heard that it is very good for the types of activities that I do.
So, my question is how much increase in performance that I will see?

Another question that isn't as important, I know that I need a new motherboard (the X99 series) and RAM, but is there anything else I need?

[WereCat]

Yes it is worth it for your purposes. You will need X99 motherboard and DDR4 memory.

 

Another thing you may consider to do is not getting X99 but Z97 instead and money you save by doing that put into GPU with CUDA and GPU accelerate your task. It will be much better option in my opinion. (If applications you use can take advantage of that).

[SirRoderick]

I would support WereCat on that, for that sort of workload the X99 platform is pretty good. However it is also a lot more expensive, so keep that in mind. Especially for professional work it's something that you can get a lot of use out of.

[WoodenMarker]

Whether it's worth the money depends on how big of an issue money is to you, how much you have or are looking to spend, and the amount of power you would actually need. 

The multithreaded 3D Particle movement benchmark shows the relative performance quite well: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the-intel-haswell-e-cpu-review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested/5

 

Considering how performance deals with diminishing returns, it's generally best to get what you need and to save any extra money for future upgrades when the same performance is cheaper. It would help to get a better idea of how much power you'd actually need if you described the types of projects and at what scale with some more detail. How's your current cpu holding up?

[cisto1999]

but is there anything else I need?

 

Depends on your current PSU and GPU... but if you go with a 5960X and x99, i would also upgrade GPU and PSU if those parts are also from "950"-era to deliver best possible performance of the new setup.

[Bikerider12]

Thanks for all your replies. extremely helpful .

To answer your questions, For my GPU I have a AMD 290X. I know that cuda can be helpful, but I am leaving the GPU for later because the one I have now doesn't have any problems.

I forgot to mention that I have never ran it OC- it caused a lot of problems.

WoodenMarker, I have been saving up for an upgrade for a while now, and can spend up to 2,000-3,000 USD. The reason why I have been saving up for so long is because I was waiting for things to be outdated (not just by a year) I can tell that the CPU I have no just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. It struggles with almost any of the things I need to do, and always takes a unreasonable amount of time to do it. Along with the proper cooling (fans and liquid cooling) the temps go up into the unsafe range within 20 minutes (almost 100C). I have checked everything that i can get to make sure everything is installed properly, and got a few knowledgeable people to check it too. 

 

And Cisto, I guess I need to upgrade my PSU because I have a 900.

Edit: I just saw that link in your signatureWoodenMarker, here are all the points: 

1)      I have a budget of 2,000USD

2)      I mostly do a lot of 3D work and rendering, along with some gaming which is mostly racing and shooters. Gaming isn’t important though.

3)      For my monitors, I have a 1080P monitor as my primary, and a 13inch cintiq.

4)      The cintiq can go under the peripherals too, along with a razor mouse and mechanical keyboard.

5)      I want to upgrade because I feel like I don’t have near as much power as I need for my work.

[WoodenMarker]

WoodenMarker, I have been saving up for an upgrade for a while now, and can spend up to 2,000-3,000 USD. The reason why I have been saving up for so long is because I was waiting for things to be outdated (not just by a year) I can tell that the CPU I have no just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. It struggles with almost any of the things I need to do, and always takes a unreasonable amount of time to do it. Along with the proper cooling (fans and liquid cooling) the temps go up into the unsafe range within 20 minutes (almost 100C). I have checked everything that i can get to make sure everything is installed properly, and got a few knowledgeable people to check it too. 

 

And Cisto, I guess I need to upgrade my PSU because I have a 900.

Edit: I just saw that link in your signatureWoodenMarker, here are all the points: 

1)      I have a budget of 2,000USD

2)      I mostly do a lot of 3D work and rendering, along with some gaming which is mostly racing and shooters. Gaming isn’t important though.

3)      For my monitors, I have a 1080P monitor as my primary, and a 13inch cintiq.

4)      The cintiq can go under the peripherals too, along with a razor mouse and mechanical keyboard.

5)      I want to upgrade because I feel like I don’t have near as much power as I need for my work.

Part of the reason why your cpu is struggling might be throttling due to high temps.

What Cisto is referring to are the psus of an era that just aren't as good as today's.

It would help to provide more detail about the types of rendering you're doing. All you've explained so far is that you're doing 'a lot of heavy renders.'

 

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

[Bikerider12]

You need to quote a post or tag a member or else they won't get a notification you replied to them.

Sorry, completely forgot to hit that DX

Anyways, When I say "rendering" I do a lot with 3D, animations with full scenes that are optimized, but are still complex with at least a few thousand polys. large textures are used along with things such as reflection and refraction with a area light as the main light source. The result I usually look for is something like dreamworks  I use the same renderer as Gravity and guardians of the galaxy. I don't use as many effects as they do so its not hours per frame. 

For my 2D stuff, I do motion graphics, which is all compositing effects.

So, I know that it is really complex and crazy, but I need to in order to keep up with rest of the team, (6 others)

I have done some testing, and I tried rendering the same exact scene with a cube room, sphere with a reflective and refractive material on it. It took me about 4-5 minutes to render out something it took my friends 40 seconds using almost new hardware including an intel I7 4770K and half the ram (6 gigs)

So, I guess the temperatures are limiting the performance. 

I have 4 120mm fans, 2 pulling in air, the other 2 pushing it out. I also have a liquid cooler for the CPU powered with it's own fan/radiator. I tested all of them, and they are working without a problem.

Would this be enough for cooling? if not, what would I need?

[WoodenMarker]

Anyways, When I say "rendering" I do a lot with 3D, animations with full scenes that are optimized, but are still complex with at least a few thousand polys. large textures are used along with things such as reflection and refraction with a area light as the main light source. The result I usually look for is something like dreamworks  I use the same renderer as Gravity and guardians of the galaxy. I don't use as many effects as they do so its not hours per frame. 

For my 2D stuff, I do motion graphics, which is all compositing effects.

So, I know that it is really complex and crazy, but I need to in order to keep up with rest of the team, (6 others)

I have done some testing, and I tried rendering the same exact scene with a cube room, sphere with a reflective and refractive material on it. It took me about 4-5 minutes to render out something it took my friends 40 seconds using almost new hardware including an intel I7 4770K and half the ram (6 gigs)

So, I guess the temperatures are limiting the performance. 

I have 4 120mm fans, 2 pulling in air, the other 2 pushing it out. I also have a liquid cooler for the CPU powered with it's own fan/radiator. I tested all of them, and they are working without a problem.

Would this be enough for cooling? if not, what would I need?

In that case, it may be well worth getting the 5960x if you can afford it. If it feels like your budget is being pushed though, you might want to just do as your team has and go with an oc'ed 4770k/4790k since it's currently quite a bit cheaper to get loads of ddr3 than ddr4 or get a 5820k. 

It would help to list your current specs. Using the same cooling that has the 950 reaching 100c for a potentially hotter chip might not be the best idea.