4 x Xeon E7540 vs Intel 5960X

[vedolino]

Hello everyone. I am a 3D arch viz artist, using 3Ds Max + Vray render. I am looking for additional render power.

My budget is around 2.000 Euros, so I was considering 2 options:

A guy is selling a HP DL580 G7 server, which includes 32 GB ram and 4x Xeon E7540 2 GHz (6-core CPU, based on Nehalem), which is a total of 24 cores / 48 threads.

For the same money, I could buy a 5960X system or 2 systems running a Core i7 4790 CPUs. The hardware in my country is a bit more expensive when compared to USA / EU.

I can't find any benchmarks for the E7540 CPUs, so I am not sure if 4xE7540 would outperform 2 modern 4-core Core i7 CPUs (like the 4790K). That would be 24cores vs 8 cores / 48 threads vs 16 threads.

Vray render uses all of the available CPU cores, no limit there.

 

[nickc]

The 5960X system, if for the same money would be the best buy.

 

[vedolino]

Do you have some kind of a proof/benchmark/source for that claim, we are talking about 8 cores vs 24 cores after all?

 

[Micahsness]

I have personally been using the Xeon E7540 and even with a GTX Titan Z it bottlenecks all over the place while under load etc. so I would go with the 5960X

 

[LNCPapa]

I don't think I agree with you guys. For serious render work (that isn't offloaded to the GPU) I think that Quad E7540 would kill a single 5960X. Easiest bet would be to have that guy give you a Cinebench 15 or similar result so you can compare.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Easiest bet would be to have that guy give you a Cinebench 15 or similar result so you can compare.

Nice suggestion, make the guy with the system present benchmarks.