PC for development work

[Soleron]

I'm building a PC purely for application and database development (Visual Studio/SQL Server) and I have some questions.

1. Does it make any difference if I have hyperthreading? It's $100 more for the same architecture/clock speed quad-core but with hyperthreading.

2. For these workloads, is dual channel RAM worth it? 2x4GB is $30 more than 1x8GB for me.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Burpo]

Yes, hyper-threading is beneficial. I don't know if I'd build right now, would probably buy a decent used workstation instead..

 

[UsandThem]

Yes, a CPU with hyper-threading will help for your intended use.

Ram, when installed in pairs and used in dual channel will have a tiny improvement in speed over single sticks on Intel boards.

However, from what I see when browsing Slickdeals, dual-channel kits and single sticks are pretty much the same price right now. Ram prices haven't been this low in some time. I see $50-$60 2 x 8 GB (16 GB) kits over there routinely (depending on the speed of the ram, of course).

 

[Soleron]

Yes, a CPU with hyper-threading will help for your intended use.

Ram, when installed in pairs and used in dual channel will have a tiny improvement in speed over single sticks on Intel boards.

However, from what I see when browsing Slickdeals, dual-channel kits and single sticks are pretty much the same price right now. Ram prices haven't been this low in some time. I see $50-$60 2 x 8 GB (16 GB) kits over there routinely (depending on the speed of the ram, of course).

Thanks.

Is hyper-threading worth the cost difference?

About the tiny improvement from dual channel, some articles say 0%, no difference, and some say 15% or even more. I'm constrained as to the supplier I can use and there is a difference in price there unfortunately.

 

[UsandThem]

Thanks.

Is hyper-threading worth the cost difference?

About the tiny improvement from dual channel, some articles say 0%, no difference, and some say 15% or even more. I'm constrained as to the supplier I can use and there is a difference in price there unfortunately.

Gotcha. Usually the biggest increase in performance from dual channel ram is on AMD systems with an integrated GPU. And that's gaming performance. On Intel, the last article I read shows its 1-2%.

If I were building a system and using it for what you stated it's use is going to be, I would buy an i7.

What is the price difference between the CPUs you are able to get through your supplier, and how long do you plan to use this system?