Thread: 3d workstation processor problem.

I want to assemble a 3D workstation and I have performance/money issue, better said a Xeon/Core i7 issue. What shall it be: Core i7 965 4x3.2GHz @ 8 threads or 2x Xeon E5530 2.4 GHz @16 threads? The cost would be approximately the same; Xeons might cause an extra cost more for the MoBo. What do I need: fast frame rendering, not only animation (I could build a home render farm), but fast rendering of stills with lots of ray tracing used. I can use up to 8 threads (special build) for rendering an image, possibly even twice as much.

What would be great: if I could use some of the CPU power for other applications while doing rendering - digital painting, for example, so if one CPU with HT is maxed out, I could use some of the remaining threads. In case that works that way. In the computer store, they tell me the 2 Xeon quads would smoke the i7 965 although they have "only" 2.4 GHz. But of course they want sell me something, so I really prefer to ask in a public forum. I'll be going with 12GB ram (fluid Sims need a lot) and probably a GeForce GTX 295 (can't afford high end there.)

Please

The Extreme chips are honestly overpriced for what it is. You can easily OC the lower end chips to the 3.2GHz speed. Also, if your apps will use all cores of a dual Xeon 5530 systems that is Totally the way to go. Are your applications CPU intensive or are they GPU intensive? Maybe a single I 920 would be more economical and a HIGH end workstation card would be in order.