Q6600 compared to dual Intel Xeon E5430 for rendering

[spm_uk]

Hey all,

im looking for a new workstation / rendering box

ive looked at the q6600 and it looks like a cheap solution, the system i want to build is going to have 8gb of ram+ in it as i do a lot of rendering and multi tasking. The question is would a q6600 be able to keep up with dual Intel Xeon E5430 Harpertown 2.66GHz LGA 771 80W Processor Model BX80574E5430A.

Cheers

 

[Snapshot]

Obviously the Xeon system will have a slight edge as the CPUs have a higher clock speed than the Q6600 but it's trivial to clock the Q6600 to 2.7GHz at standard voltages and it has virtually no effect on the temperatures. There may be other efficiency advantages in having two dual-core CPUs rather than one quad-core but, as everything has to go through one memory controller, I don't think there'll be much. Cooling is also strongly in the Q6600's favour - 95W against 160W. The cost I'm sure you've looked at.....

 

[RaiderX]

the dual xeon would outperform the quad in multi tasking as each xeon is quad core, 8 cores total over the 4 cores of the Q6600

 

[Biffa]

Depends whether the application you are going to use scales well up to 8 cores tbh

 

[Hesky82]

dude your comparing a single 150quid desktop quad to a 1000quid dual quad workstation setup.
as a rendering box is concerned the more processors the better so if you are quite happy with the extra dosh it costs the xeon setup would be in another league!

 

[Snapshot]

the dual xeon would outperform the quad in multi tasking as each xeon is quad core, 8 cores total over the 4 cores of the Q6600

Ah, I was fooled by the nomenclature of the Xeons. I mean, what reputable company would use 'E' for dual processors and 'Q' for quads in one range then 'E' for quads in another?

 

[theforce]

For the price i would get a 6600 and get a decent overclock out of it. If you have the money though and as said if the program can scale for 8 cores then the Xeon is the best solution for you.

 

[ITR]

As said, if your willing to spend the mega money on £300+ mobo, £600+ on FBDIMMS and £1000 for the cpus.... Then yes, the xeon would rule. But an overclocked Q6600 G0, or maybe a 12Mb cache QX97xx thingy, would save you loads of cash, and not be a million miles away.