i7 3820 or just go with 3770k?????

Bill Cosby · April 1, 2013

Hey guys, so i am going to begin to purchase new parts for a rig. I already have pretty much everything but my motherboard and CPU and i was looking at the 3820 and the 3930K. I cant seem to find much difference between the two... other than the additional 2 cores that you get with the 3930K.

I have seen numerous people get overclocks up to 5.0ghz, and say that it helps there performance.

I am a video editor, and programmer, so that is what this build is going for, but im not that heavy into it and right now i have a AMD 8120, and its not terrible, but i know that i can do better, and i know that when i upgrade it will make the world of a difference. So my question is this...

since they are about the same price, should i just go with the 3770k? I still think that the 2011 socket will allow me more room to progress with memory, and speed, and PCI lanes, etc. but im not that keen of the performance factors of the two processors compared to one another.

Any help here?

Thanks,

Gdog96 · April 1, 2013

It depends on your budget. If you are limted I would go with the 3770k because I don't think there will be much raw performance difference between that and the 3820, but due to the 2011 socket, if you buy a 3820, you will be forced to spend more on the motherboard than if you went with the 3770k. They both have 8 threads which is why I think they will be similar to eachother in terms or raw CPU power. Infact in a few becnhmarks I have seen, the 3770k outperforms the 3820. Here's a link to some benchmarks: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/6

You are correct in saying that socket 2011 will give more options for memory etc, but to be honest, you can get perfectly adequate memory and PCI lanes on 1155 motherboards, however you will have to sacrifice quad channel ram. The max amount of ram that you will need is 32 gigs, because only extreme stuff takes more than that.

Its a tough one, but I don't see any real benefit from going with an i7 3820 over the 3770k, unless of course you have enough money and want to upgrade to a 3930k/60x in the future.

fishymamba · April 1, 2013

At stock speeds, the 3770K wins in pretty much every benchmark, but if you plan to stick with video editing and go more in depth in the future, get the 3820.

Even thought the 3770K beats the 3820, if you go with the 2011 platform you have many choices to upgrade to in the future.

If you get the 3770K you will be stuck with it and will have to buy both a motherboard and CPU to upgrade in the future.

Another advantage of the 2011 platform is the increased bandwidth of quad channel memory and support for 64GB of RAM.

All in all go for the 3820 and then upgrade to a hex core in the future if you decide to get serious and/or have the money.

BTW the 3820 will be MUCH faster than your old AMD CPU. And if you get a good cooler and motherboard you will be able to overclock it quiet a bit.

Good luck!!

xeks · April 1, 2013

Going by the body of your post, get the 3930K, you get more cores and you can overclock it. Since you're editing videos, it will serve you well.

Going by the title of your post, get the 3770K, you can overclock it and it will be beast (even if you don't get a win from the silicon lottery).

Bill Cosby · April 1, 2013

xeks, i only referenced the 3930k to show that i didnt think much was different other than the fact of the more cores.

Gdog, those benchmarks dont really sell me... i dont see enough of a difference to NOT go with the 3820. Fishy made a good point, a new CPU and good enough motherboard for what i do, is going to cost me about as much as the new hexacore would when i am ready to upgrade again.

Thanks guys, i have found my answers.