CPU for 3D work

[xmifzan]

just a simple question really, it's just that i don't know the actual answer to it.

when looking for a cpu that will be used on rendering and modelling 3d, what is the most important thing ? i read that the number of cores and frequency decides the speed of rendering and smoothness while working on it. but i also found out from numerous benchmarks that that is not the case, which is kinda weird. for example, i tried comparing amd fx 8350 (8c 8t 4ghz) with i7 6700k (4c 8t 4ghz) and the result is so out of my expectation (including cinebench and geekbench)

so my question is, what determines a cpu speed ?

[Enderman]

too many variables

to find out which CPU is best, look at real world benchmarks of the program you will be using

and yes the 6700k is far better than the 8350, so if you can afford it get the i7

after that, the 5820k is better, but you may as well wait for the broadwell-e CPUs then if you want to go x99

[CyberneticTitan]

Cinebench scores will provide a rough estimate in the performance of different CPUs in rendering workloads:

 

http://www.cbscores.com/index.php?sort=rend&order=desc

 

Note that GPUs also play a major role here.

 

The only 6700k on that list outperforms the 8350 with a dedicated GPU. Note that the 6700k was using its internal GPU.

 

Also consider the Xeon 1230/1231 V3. It's basically a cheaper, locked i7.

[Biggerboot]

Straight up frequencies and the number of cores don't determine your overall performance anymore, let alone what you'll get in 3D work.  Intel's Skylake is a much newer architecture and will be better than FX in most scenarios.

 

Benchmarks are your friend.

(Both CPUs running AutoCAD and Maya)

[19_blackie_73]

basically, the fx8350 isn't a real 8 core either because each two cores share some units inside the cpu. Additionally, the fx chip has weaker single cores so it will take longer for 1 Thread to render a tile. Cinebench gives you a good estimate how good a chip performs while rendering. If you have the money, I'd go with the 6700k.

[FloRolf]

What kinda of 3D work are we talking? 

Something like Blender or Maya or more the engineering end with Catia? 

 

Cuz at work we are working with Catia on hyper threaded quad core xeons and it works fine for the modeling part. Rendering will always benefit from more cores and higher speeds. 

I'd say either a 6700k or go pro socket with 5820k

[stconquest]

Rendering/loading a project will typically use many cores.  GPUs can takeover the task of rendering a project and this would mean that an i3 would do just fine.

 

Actual modeling will, a lot of the time, use a single core.  I don't even know of any programs that utilize more than a single core for this task.  I am not a 3D modeler in any way though.

 

This is what I learned from helping others decide.  

 

What you want to find is real world examples of the differences between rendering on CPUs and GPUs for any desired program... good luck with that. 

 

You will want an Intel for doing the actual work, this is a given.

[stconquest]

1 hour ago, xmifzan said:

just a simple question really, it's just that i don't know the actual answer to it.

when looking for a cpu that will be used on rendering and modelling 3d, what is the most important thing ? i read that the number of cores and frequency decides the speed of rendering and smoothness while working on it. but i also found out from numerous benchmarks that that is not the case, which is kinda weird. for example, i tried comparing amd fx 8350 (8c 8t 4ghz) with i7 6700k (4c 8t 4ghz) and the result is so out of my expectation (including cinebench and geekbench)

so my question is, what determines a cpu speed ?

The CPU clockspeed, the encoding/architecture(Instructions Per Cycle - IPC), bus speed to and from the CPU and the RAM, and the RAM speed.

 

FX CPUs are around 5 years behind Intel in terms of architecture... in other words:  slow as hell at any clockspeed.

[xmifzan]

32 minutes ago, FloRolf said:

What kinda of 3D work are we talking? 

Something like Blender or Maya or more the engineering end with Catia? 

 

Cuz at work we are working with Catia on hyper threaded quad core xeons and it works fine for the modeling part. Rendering will always benefit from more cores and higher speeds. 

I'd say either a 6700k or go pro socket with 5820k

something along the line of blender or maya, like c4d, zbrush, xstream etc.

gotcha. i'll try getting the 5820k, but the price ratio with performance seems a bit too much

6700k v5820k

but yeah i'll look more into it