Used 3960x vs new 6600k

[FNik]

So I have an opportunity to buy a new 3960x for 200 euros. A new 6600k in my country is around 240-250 euros. I can also get an X79 motherboard for the same price of a Z170 motherboard.
Now I know that a 6600k has better single core performance and it will give an extra few FPS in games, but there is something exotic about owning and using a 3960x. I also edit videos sometimes, but not on a daily basis.

I'm currently on a Q6600 and I know any of these 2 options would be a HUGE upgrade.

So what's your opinion on what I should do?

[Enderman]

6600k

its a lot more than "an extra few fps"

[RuLeZ]

Personally I would go for the 3960x, but at most cases the 6600k will perform better at games.

[glitchmaster0001]

3960x since you edit videos and render too. though what you can do on the LGA 775 motherboard is do the Xeon mod and OC it to 4.0GHz 

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

3960x since you edit videos and render too. though what you can do on the LGA 775 motherboard is do the Xeon mod and OC it to 4.0GHz 

you can edit and render videos on a i5 just fine

who made you think you need 12 threads to "occasionally edit a video" ?

[glitchmaster0001]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

you can edit and render videos on a i5 just fine

who made you think you need 12 threads to "occasionally edit a video" ?

i use 24 threads to render videos and it goes much faster than an i5 

[Ryoutarou97]

1 minute ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

i use 24 threads to render videos and it goes much faster than an i5 

Yes, but the older chip suffers a lot in games. Userbenchmark puts it 24/23% behind in single and quad core performance respectively with a 59% increase in multi-core. That said, the 130w TDP of the 3960x is going to limit OC potential, and it is already a four and a half year old chip that intel is is calling end of life status so you'll also be losing newer features (m.2 slot for example) by going with an older chip which just doesn't seem worth it when the only benefit is occasional video editing.

[Enderman]

11 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

i use 24 threads to render videos and it goes much faster than an i5 

yes

but OP just does it as a hobby not a job, and not on a daily basis

 

its better to have higher performance in games (which looks better to viewers) than to have a few minutes/hours shorter rendering time which viewers dont care about

he can even render during the night or when he's out of the house

[glitchmaster0001]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

yes

but OP just does it as a hobby not a job, and not on a daily basis

 

its better to have higher performance in games (which looks better to viewers) than to have a few minutes/hours shorter rendering time which viewers dont care about

he can even render during the night or when he's out of the house

but doesn't streaming or screen recording use alot of CPU power and its heavily multi threaded? 

[ARikozuM]

31 minutes ago, Enderman said:

6600k

its a lot more than "an extra few fps"

If you can get the 6600K (even if you don't overclock) it would be a wiser choice. You'll have access to newer technologies and you won't have to worry about upgrading for a long time whereas the 3960X is (I think) 2 years away from the "no longer supported" time frame from Intel

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

but doesn't streaming or screen recording use alot of CPU power and its heavily multi threaded? 

not if you use an nvidia GPU

and there are recording programs with little impact even if you dont have an nvidia GPU

also OP didnt mention anything about streaming

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

but doesn't streaming or screen recording use alot of CPU power and its heavily multi threaded? 

I don't know of any streaming programs that fully utilize hyperthreading as it relies on information being ready to be processed.

[glitchmaster0001]

27 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I don't know of any streaming programs that fully utilize hyperthreading as it relies on information being ready to be processed.

OBS does when i set the preset to faster or fast it will hammer all 24 of my threads 

 

30 minutes ago, Enderman said:

not if you use an nvidia GPU

and there are recording programs with little impact even if you dont have an nvidia GPU

also OP didnt mention anything about streaming

and you said above " its better to have higher performance in games (which looks better to viewers)" so i assumed that OP is either recording gameplay or streaming. which both when using OBS use up alot of CPU power. to get the best of both worlds id recommned OP to get a cheap B85 motherboard and get a Xeon E3 1240v3 on ebay and call it a day. that way he has 8 threads and 4 fast cores that will do great in gaming and workstation as well. 

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

and you said above " its better to have higher performance in games (which looks better to viewers)" so i assumed that OP is either recording gameplay or streaming. 

you dont render streams

so hes either playing games for himself (more fps is better) or hes recording the games then editing them (more fps is still better)

[glitchmaster0001]

6 minutes ago, Enderman said:

you dont render streams

so hes either playing games for himself (more fps is better) or hes recording the games then editing them (more fps is still better)

recording the game with OBS still use CPU power either way. unless he is getting an nvidia GPU then he can use shadowplay and not worry about CPU power. but if OP gets an AMD one then we have a different story. no duh you dont render streams but streaming itself uses CPU threads. 

[Enderman]

5 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

recording the game with OBS still use CPU power either way. unless he is getting an nvidia GPU then he can use shadowplay and not worry about CPU power. but if OP gets an AMD one then we have a different story. no duh you dont render streams but streaming itself uses CPU threads. 

if he is using AMD he can use this

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4rfxxn/guide_for_all_the_new_rx480_ownersand_any_other/

 

and he never mentioned streaming

only gaming and rendering

[RGProductions]

1 hour ago, FNik said:

So I have an opportunity to buy a new 3960x for 200 euros. A new 6600k in my country is around 240-250 euros. I can also get an X79 motherboard for the same price of a Z170 motherboard.
Now I know that a 6600k has better single core performance and it will give an extra few FPS in games, but there is something exotic about owning and using a 3960x. I also edit videos sometimes, but not on a daily basis.

I'm currently on a Q6600 and I know any of these 2 options would be a HUGE upgrade.

So what's your opinion on what I should do?

6600k for gaming, instead of the 3960x get an 8 core xeon if it is the same price

[glitchmaster0001]

15 minutes ago, Enderman said:

if he is using AMD he can use this

https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/4rfxxn/guide_for_all_the_new_rx480_ownersand_any_other/

 

and he never mentioned streaming

only gaming and rendering

but rendering takes advantage of more threads. so again back to where i recommended him a cheap B85 motherboard with a Xeon E3 1240v3 off ebay. 4 cores 8 threads, i7 4770 equivalent CPU so it is still a really good CPU just with 4 more threads than an i5 CPU. plus platform will be cheaper than a skylake OC platform but only downside to the Xeon platform is no OCing but honestly anything newer than sandy bridge doesnt really need to be OCed. its just for bragging rights and for shits and giggles. 

[Enderman]

36 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

but rendering takes advantage of more threads

the point is that higher fps is more important than a few minutes of rendering which can be done at night and nobody notices

[glitchmaster0001]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

the point is that higher fps is more important than a few minutes of rendering which can be done at night and nobody notices

games like BF4, GTA V, fallout 4, witcher 3, ect take advantage of multi thread CPUs. and the difference isnt just a few FPS either. back then an i5 and i7 would be identical in gaming but those days are slowly fading and going away with most current gen games today being able to use 8 threads. 

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

games like BF4, GTA V, fallout 4, witcher 3, ect take advantage of multi thread CPUs. and the difference isnt just a few FPS either. back then an i5 and i7 would be identical in gaming but those days are slowly fading and going away with most current gen games today being able to use 8 threads. 

the bad core performance of the 3690x is not making those extra threads give a big improvement

especially with DX12 and newer games making lots of cores useless

[glitchmaster0001]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

the bad core performance of the 3690x is not making those extra threads give a big improvement

especially with DX12 and newer games making lots of cores useless

why i said if you haven't been reading above get a used xeon e3 1240v3 on ebay with a cheap b85 motherboard and call it day 

[Enderman]

1 minute ago, glitchmaster0001 said:

why i said if you havent been reading above get a used xeon e3 1240v3 on ebay with a cheap b85 motherboard and call it day 

OP didnt ask for 1240v3 vs 6600k

he asked for 3960X vs 6600k

in which case a 6600k is a better choice for what he is doing

[glitchmaster0001]

2 minutes ago, Enderman said:

OP didnt ask for 1240v3 vs 6600k

he asked for 3960X vs 6600k

in which case a 6600k is a better choice for what he is doing

im pretty sure OP can get a e3 1240v3 for much cheaper than both the 6600k or the 3960x. that is if he wants best bang for your buck now if he is set on choosing either the 6600k or the 3960x only then id say get the 6600k although still would recommend the e3 1240v3 or a used i7 4770k or non k whichever is cheaper. 

[FNik]

Thank you guys for the input. I knew the 6600k is the more 'sane' choice, but having an extreme type CPU in your system is sexy as fuck . Basically I wanted style points, lol

And no one sells a Xeon e3 1240v3 in my country, used on the web or in the store.

I have the money to buy it now but by the time I buy a new rig (not in a hurry), both Kaby Lake and AMD Zen will come out so I'd probably wait.