Which Processor?

[kmanus]

I'm building a new computer for editing and such and I was originally leaning towards the i7-6700k but then got sidetracked with a Xeon e5 or i7-5820k for the greater cores.  Budget is negotiable but trying to stay under $450 or so (processor only).

[Brian]

What are you planning on doing with this computer? If you are producing videos, encoding things and rendering graphics, the i7-5820K is a better choice vs. the i7-6700. If you are looking to play games, the i7-6700k is what you want. As far as Xeon, personally...I've really only seen them used in servers, running databases, used for a terminal server and such. The thing with Xeon, is software needs to be written to take advantage of the Xeon's architecture, otherwise it is simply ignored.

If I had to flip a coin, my vote is for a i7-6700. It will give you the best all-around experience, UNLESS you are really editing serious video and doing 3D stuff. In fact, when I priced out stuff for my "Brian Computer," I chose a Intel i7-6700 for the CPU. So that's what I'm buying. LOL!!

[kmanus]

Photoshop.  No plans for videos at the moment.  Was just trying to future proof for more than 2 weeks or so :-D

In comparing the two (6700 vs 5820) I was verging towards more cores over speed.  I'm a multitasker so I often have many things running which is probably where I'm losing my current machine which, without being in front of it, is a core 2 duo at ~3 GHz I think.

[Brian]

If it's just Photoshop, it doesn't matter. PS doesn't take advantage of an i7's architecture. In fact, there is only a 5-10% speed boost over a i5. So if you want more cores for multi-tasking and aren't into games, the 5820 might be a better overall fit in this case.

This was a Good Question. You made me think on this one and now I'm wondering if I should be looking at the i7 5820 since I don't play games and multi-task a lot.

[kmanus]

Well,  since you're pondering your build, I'll hijack my own thread a bit and share what I have laid out.  Which I'm sure is way total overkill but if I'm going to build, I'm going to build.

CPU: i7-6700k

Cooler: Thermalright TRU Spirit 140 POWER

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 32gb

Drives: Samsung 850 EVO 250gb M.2 SSD + Seagate 2TB Hybrid

Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX970 4GB Superclocked ACX

PSU: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold

Case: NZXT Phantom 410 in Gunmetal

 

Per pcpartpicker that puts me just a hair under $1,500 and I figure I can shop around a bit on a few things.