Got CPU knowledge? - Help

[rasesh]

Hey guys, I'm going to be building my dad a PC & confused on which CPU to get for his particular needs at certain price point.

One thing that has me confused at the moment despite doing research is "CPU Cores". What I mean by that is my dad mostly spends his time on the PC with multiple (near 10) word docs or excel sheets open at once & simultanesoulsy has 20 tabs open on a browser like Firefox & has multiple browsers open with another 5-10 tabs each. He uses those 2-3 browsers with 20 tabs each & 10-ish word/excel doc's back to back.

 

From my research so far I have read that net browsers only use a single core or put load on a single core & that load is not distributed to other cores so multiple cores for this is not helping despite having multiple tabs open.

1) Is this true?

2) Is the concept changed if u opened multiple browsers instead of multiple tabs leading to the cpu load distributing to other cores?

 

Extra research showed that even Microsoft word, excel, etc... puts load on a single core and doesn't distribute the load to other cores.

3) Is this true?

 

 

Now, having stated the above (what my dad does on his PC) for the same price point of around $400-ish CAD would you go for the 6700k/7700k (4 core) with extra speed per core, the Ryzen 1700/1700x (8 core) as they are around the same price point or wait a month or 2 and grab the 8700k (6 core)?

 

Again, my concern is with what my dad does & how it effects each core or multiple cores.  This is what I'm confused about hence not being able to choose between these.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Edit:

Dad does A-LOT of work from home sometimes using that "virtual" thing in which he access's his work places PC at home.

When he's doing that he uses that virtual screen to work on it + he has his own stuff I mentioned in my original post earlier on the side running aswell.

[Lurick]

You need lots of RAM, browser tabs love RAM more than anything, Chrome especially loves RAM.

[doomsriker]

With that work flow, ram is more important than a powerful CPU. A 6th or 7th gen i5 will be pleanty (I would go with a non K). I would recommend 32gb of ram just to be safe, which really won't break the bank with DDR4.

[rasesh]

4 minutes ago, Lurick said:

You need lots of RAM, browser tabs love RAM more than anything, Chrome especially loves RAM.

Ill have 16gb of that.

But what do u think about the cpu perspective of it?

[rasesh]

Just now, doomsriker said:

With that work flow, ram is more important than a powerful CPU. A 6th or 7th gen i5 will be pleanty (I would go with a non K). I would recommend 32gb of ram just to be safe, which really won't break the bank with DDR4.

For what my dad does & only between the 3 options I gave above which 1 would u go with & why?

[doomsriker]

Just now, rasesh said:

For what my dad does & only between the 3 options I gave above which 1 would u go with & why?

I would save the money on a non K i5 instead and use the extra money for anather 16gb of ram.

[rasesh]

Just now, doomsriker said:

I would save the money on a non K i5 instead and use the extra money for anather 16gb of ram.

Makes sense but my main question/concern was about the EFFECT on CPU CORES regarding what my dad does.

Could u explain this clearly if possible? 

[doomsriker]

1 minute ago, rasesh said:

Makes sense but my main question/concern was about the EFFECT on CPU CORES regarding what my dad does.

Could u explain this clearly if possible? 

Yes, word processing and web browsing do not take a lot of compute power. A locked i5 from the last two or so generations has pleanty of power for that (and pleanty of cores). What his workflow will use up is ram as browsing the web will mean storing lots of stuff in ram and if you don't have enough it has to page to the hard drive which takes forever and makes for a tirrible experience.

[rasesh]

Just now, doomsriker said:

Yes, word processing and web browsing do not take a lot of compute power. A locked i5 from the last two or so generations has pleanty of power for that (and pleanty of cores). What his workflow will use up is ram as browsing the web will mean storing lots of stuff in ram and if you don't have enough it has to page to the hard drive which takes forever and makes for a tirrible experience.

Right, but is that multiple word processing & multiple browsing tabs and browsers being shared through each core or is it loading on 1 core as my research so far states? 

[Inversion]

11 minutes ago, rasesh said:

Makes sense but my main question/concern was about the EFFECT on CPU CORES regarding what my dad does.

Could u explain this clearly if possible? 

CPU cores don't make a huge impact on those sort of tasks unless you're watching full HD or higher videos online but with 4 cores or more you'd be fine. What you really need is a lot of RAM. If you find that some programs use barely any power while others need a lot more you can restrict lighter tasks to specific cores. If you get a Ryzen 5 you'll have more cores and threads than you'll probably need but it will be fine.

[doomsriker]

1 minute ago, rasesh said:

Right, but is that multiple word processing & multiple browsing tabs and browsers being shared through each core or is it loading on 1 core as my research so far states? 

1 core does not necasarily = 1 task at one time (this is a complicated subject however) besides its not like he is going to be actively viewing all this stuff at the exact same time. Even if he did somehow tile all that stuff on the screen at one time, it should still be ok. I have 4 monitors and often have near that level of stuff up and my i7 4770 has never been a bottleneck, and my i7 is probably a bit slower than a modern i5.

[Inversion]

6 minutes ago, rasesh said:

Right, but is that multiple word processing & multiple browsing tabs and browsers being shared through each core or is it loading on 1 core as my research so far states? 

Even if it does put it all on one core you can set affinity in task manager to tell tasks to use a specific core or set of cores

[Sauron]

23 minutes ago, Lurick said:

You need lots of RAM, browser tabs love RAM more than anything, Chrome especially loves RAM.

but that doesn't mean you need more than 8gb unless you have 400 tabs open. it's a myth that it absolutely requires 16 or even 32gb. for an office build that would make no sense.

[rasesh]

1 minute ago, Inversion said:

CPU cores don't make a huge impact on those sort of tasks unless you're watching full HD or higher videos online but with 4 cores or more you'd be fine. What you really need is a lot of RAM. If you find that some programs use barely any power while others need a lot more you can restrict lighter tasks to specific cores. If you get a Ryzen 5 you'll have more cores and threads than you'll probably need but it will be fine.

 

Just now, doomsriker said:

1 core does not necasarily = 1 task at one time (this is a complicated subject however) besides its not like he is going to be actively viewing all this stuff at the exact same time. Even if he did somehow tile all that stuff on the screen at one time, it should still be ok. I have 4 monitors and often have near that level of stuff up and my i7 4770 has never been a bottleneck, and my i7 is probably a bit slower than a modern i5.

 

Makes sense, so if those 3 are your only options (6700k/7700k, ryzen 1700/1700x, or wait 1-2months for 8700k) as they are in my ball park price wise and the only 3 I would get which 1 would u recommend for my dad the most & why?

[Fardin]

2 minutes ago, rasesh said:

Right, but is that multiple word processing & multiple browsing tabs and browsers being shared through each core or is it loading on 1 core as my research so far states? 

if think logically, when one core reaches to its max , then another idle core will be utilized. afaik yes they use single core means they require less cpu power. Here still people run offices daily with even core 2 duo cpu. anything above 3.0 ghz cpu should be more than fine. personally i think you would be okay with ryzen5 1500x/ 1600 but yes plenty of ram for browsers & SSD..yes SSD that makes it snappy.    

[rasesh]

2 minutes ago, Inversion said:

Even if it does put it all on one core you can set affinity in task manager to tell tasks to use a specific core or set of cores

I don't want to deal with doing all that.

[HZapperz]

With what your dad does, getting 3200mhz and 16gb of ram is a must. 

[rasesh]

Just now, HZapperz said:

With what your dad does, getting 3200mhz and 16gb of ram is a must. 

Okay & cpu wise between the 3?

[Inversion]

Just now, rasesh said:

 

 

Makes sense, so if those 3 are your only options (6700k/7700k, ryzen 1700/1700x, or wait 1-2months for 8700k) as they are in my ball park price wise and the only 3 I would get which 1 would u recommend for my dad the most & why?

Of those, I'd say Ryzen cause there are enough cores for any task he'll likely throw at it but I'd recommend getting a Ryzen 5 cause for your tasks there's no point spending so much.

[Inversion]

1 minute ago, HZapperz said:

With what your dad does, getting 3200mhz and 16gb of ram is a must. 

Yeah get a Ryzen 5 and spend the extra on more RAM

[doomsriker]

2 minutes ago, rasesh said:

 

 

Makes sense, so if those 3 are your only options (6700k/7700k, ryzen 1700/1700x, or wait 1-2months for 8700k) as they are in my ball park price wise and the only 3 I would get which 1 would u recommend for my dad the most & why?

Get whatever is cheapest/ has the cheapest motherboards out of those. It essentially does not matter which one as all of them are well above the amount of power you need. And make sure the system has at least 32gb of ram.

[HZapperz]

Just now, Inversion said:

Yeah get a Ryzen 5 and spend the extra on more RAM

Ryzen doesnt come with onboard graphics so you would need to spend money on a gpu. 

[HZapperz]

Just now, doomsriker said:

Get whatever is cheapest/ has the cheapest motherboards out of those. It essentially does not matter which one as all of them are well above the amount of power you need. And make sure the system has at least 32gb of ram.

32gb of ram is a little overkill. pretty sure 16gb would be enough

[rasesh]

1 minute ago, Inversion said:

Yeah get a Ryzen 5 and spend the extra on more RAM

 

Just now, doomsriker said:

Get whatever is cheapest/ has the cheapest motherboards out of those. It essentially does not matter which one as all of them are well above the amount of power you need. And make sure the system has at least 32gb of ram.

 

Okay, but don't u guys think getting my dad a ryzen 7 instead of 5 would future proof him for a long time?

[rasesh]

Just now, HZapperz said:

Ryzen doesnt come with onboard graphics so you would need to spend money on a gpu. 

Yeah, gonna grab a used 1.