i5 8xxx or R7 1700 for development ?

[Zeinone]

Hi LTT!

 

I'm waiting for the end of the year (yeah I know there were sick deals on "Black friday" but nevermind) to build myself a more of a workstationy PC than a gaming one, but I need help.

Long story short, i thought about going with a build like this:

 

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6BxDD8
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6BxDD8/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($269.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350-GAMING 3 ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($196.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Toshiba - 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($61.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: MSI - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB ARMOR OCV1 Video Card  ($288.89 @ OutletPC) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($59.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic - 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($83.89 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1031.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-29 14:22 EST-0500

 

But then i got a recommendation to go with an i5 8400 paired with a 1070. That would be great if i focused only on gaming but i consider the extra power of the R7 coming in handy since I'm working in "Android studio", "Visual studio", "Unreal Engine 4", "AUTOCAD". . . a lot.

 

Now what I'm wondering:

- Will the 1060 bottleneck the R7 ?(down the line i plan on upgrading to a 1080 or something and a better monitor, but the prices are crazy now

- Should I consider switching for an i5 and a better GPU/SSD/Something ?

 

Thanks in advance !

[Essence_of_Darkness]

4 minutes ago, Zeinone said:

-snip-

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($269.99 @ Amazon) 
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($28.90 @ Newegg Marketplace) 
Motherboard: Asus - PRIME X370-PRO ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($109.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Team - Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: SK hynix - SL308 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($66.88 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card  ($239.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($55.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1004.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-29 14:32 EST-0500

[nishe1]

4 minutes ago, Zeinone said:

- Will the 1060 bottleneck the R7 ?(down the line i plan on upgrading to a 1080 or something and a better monitor, but the prices are crazy now

 

Nope.

 

From what I've heard Ryzen is better for anything, but games.

[Zeinone]

1 minute ago, nishe1 said:

Nope.

 

From what I've heard Ryzen is better for anything, but games.

At 1080p everything will work properly, so ryzen it is then. Thank you!

[minibois]

Lets do a more fair comparison, Ryzen 5 1600 with a GTX 1070, vs i5 8th gen with a GTX 1070.

I love my R7 1700, but the 1600 is just such a good bang for your buck. Only two cores less (and the same core count as the i5, but double the threads) and a very nice price for it.

 

Comparing those two (i5 and R5), gets a little easier, since you have the same GPU in both scenarios. i5 is a bit better in games (mainly high refresh rate), but the R5 with double the threads is a great value for workstation applications (the programs you mentioned before).

 

But otherwise, R7 1700 + GTX 1060 is nice too. I have a 1700+RX 580 (similar in power GPU) and I couldn't be happier with performance: both in games and some more highly threaded workloads.

[just_dave]

get a better mobo.

 

[Indus Monk]

13 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Lets do a more fair comparison, Ryzen 5 1600 with a GTX 1070, vs i5 8th gen with a GTX 1070.

I love my R7 1700, but the 1600 is just such a good bang for your buck. Only two cores less (and the same core count as the i5, but double the threads) and a very nice price for it.

 

Comparing those two (i5 and R5), gets a little easier, since you have the same GPU in both scenarios. i5 is a bit better in games (mainly high refresh rate), but the R5 with double the threads is a great value for workstation applications (the programs you mentioned before).

 

But otherwise, R7 1700 + GTX 1060 is nice too. I have a 1700+RX 580 (similar in power GPU) and I couldn't be happier with performance: both in games and some more highly threaded workloads.

More specifically, RX 580 is comparable to a GTX 1060 6GB

[minibois]

6 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

More specifically, RX 580 is comparable to a GTX 1060 6GB

Yea, I know. OP's initial PCPartPicker list showed a 6GB 1060, which is why I said that..

But the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 isn't a ton less poweful.

[brob]

@Zeinone

 

For most development work and Autocad, IPC is more important than high core counts. https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Unreal-Engine-4-16-CPU-Comparison-Skylake-X-Kaby-Lake-X-Broadwell-E-Skylake-Ryzen-7-984/ doesn't include Coffee Lake processors, but I think the pattern is pretty clear. 

 

If it could be squeezed into the budget an i7-8700 would likely be the best choice.

 

SSD storage is a must for a development environment. Such work does fairly heavy storage i/o.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($158.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card  ($259.99 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1144.93
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-29 15:09 EST-0500

[Tom Cat]

I would recommend an I7 8700k 

[Zeinone]

1 hour ago, brob said:

@Zeinone

 

For most development work and Autocad, IPC is more important than high core counts. https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Unreal-Engine-4-16-CPU-Comparison-Skylake-X-Kaby-Lake-X-Broadwell-E-Skylake-Ryzen-7-984/ doesn't include Coffee Lake processors, but I think the pattern is pretty clear. 

 

If it could be squeezed into the budget an i7-8700 would likely be the best choice.

 

SSD storage is a must for a development environment. Such work does fairly heavy storage i/o.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i7-8700 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($129.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($158.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ B&H) 
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB GAMING Video Card  ($259.99 @ B&H) 
Case: NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($48.99 @ Amazon) 
Total: $1144.93
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-11-29 15:09 EST-0500

I see UE4 is quite poorly optimized for Ryzen. Will the i7 be able to handle multitasking across the desktop good enough? (Coding on one IDE, Modeling something on cad, exporting/importing stuff, listening to spotify on chrome etc. etc.) ?

[brob]

1 minute ago, Zeinone said:

I see UE4 is quite poorly optimized for Ryzen. Will the i7 be able to handle multitasking across the desktop good enough? (Coding on one IDE, Modeling something on cad, exporting/importing stuff, listening to spotify on chrome etc. etc.) ?

Yes. Most coding and cad work is single or very lightly threaded. Export/import varies, but a Coffee Lake i7 offers twelve logical cores so there is a fair bit of horsepower available.

 

[Indus Monk]

9 hours ago, Minibois said:

Yea, I know. OP's initial PCPartPicker list showed a 6GB 1060, which is why I said that..

But the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 isn't a ton less poweful.

I was considering the 3GB 1060 as well. From what i have heard, it's a little more powerful than a R9 280x (my previous GPU) The 280x is behind the RX 470 (quite a bit)