overall vs. single thread performance?

[asklepian]

So, should I go with the 5960X or 4790K? What considerations are there in deciding between overall vs. single thread performance?

[Guest]

Depends on what you want to do with them

[niofalpha]

Single threaded performance would be about the same...

 

What are you doing with the system?

[flibberdipper]

What do you want to do?

[wyattzx]

You can buy three 4790ks for the price of one 5960X.. Right now, X99 really is for the more.. enthusiast, heavy-workload video editors and such. Not really a gaming platform. 

[LeChef]

mostly how you use the CPU.
When overclocking both CPUs you'll get really close clockspeed wise. the 4790k goes a bit higher (4.6-4.8) while the 5960x goes to 4.4-4.5.
If you have the money for the 5960x and if you actually use the extra cores I say go for it.
I'd suggest going for a lower tier haswell-E though for better price/performance like the 5820k

[dadasmithywinkle]

So, should I go with the 5960X or 4790K? What considerations are there in deciding between overall vs. single thread performance?

A 4790K is more sensible unless you're doing heavy gaming/editing/rendering and even then I'd recommend the 5820K or 5930K but not the 5960X.

[Fate]

Unless you're making serious dough from content creation or other things of that nature, don't get the 5960x. The 4790k will be plenty for most people (5820k is also a good option for serious content creators). If you're just gaming you could also go with the 4690k and save $100 for a little less performance in most games, but since you're considering a 5960x $100 probably isn't much.

[sgloux3470]

It depends on your workload needs.

 

Do you spend all day rendering and encoding to the point where +- a few minutes in render times is a huge pro?  Then go for lots of cores in Haswell-E or Xeons.

 

Are you a normal person who just wants a performance grade PC?  Go with an i5/i7.

 

Chances are if you really need to ask, you don't really need those extra cores.  It's kind of like pants.  When you need bigger ones, you'll know.  If you're not bursting at the waist for more cores, you probably don't need them.

 

 

[asklepian]

I'm basically looking to have the most powerful rig I can afford with room for improvement by buying the least amount of shit in the future. If "upgrading" my rig in the future means basically swapping out every component, I might as well just buy a whole new system. I like the idea of upgrading but only if you're actually upgrading not spending $4k now only to spend $3k in 3 years...

[Faceman]

I'm basically looking to have the most powerful rig I can afford with room for improvement by buying the least amount of shit in the future. If "upgrading" my rig in the future means basically swapping out every component, I might as well just buy a whole new system. I like the idea of upgrading but only if you're actually upgrading not spending $4k now only to spend $3k in 3 years...

I'm confident in saying that a 4 core, 8 thread processor with a 4.0Ghz stock clock will last you a decade.

 

Heck, I have a single core AMD 3200+ that still works great as a basic function HTPC.  Microsoft office, anything done on the internet, flash games, etc..