Processor for Photoshop

[rgravel]

Hi all,

I'm new here, and I know nothing about processors...

Between an i7 930 2.6GHz and an i7 2600 3.4 GHz, does one have a significant advantage over the other for CS5 ? Besides being faster, is there anything in the 2600 that would make it much better than the 930 ? I'm trying to decide between the two for my next PC.

Thanks

 

[rgravel]

Never mind. I just found the CPU benchmark tool. Excellent

 

[dpk33]

i7 930 is on LGA1366 which is a dead platform, while the 2600 is on 1155, which isn't dead yet. Plus, the 2600 can't overclock, while the i7 930 can overclock to levels that exceed the i7 2600.

 

[rgravel]

i7 930 is on LGA1366 which is a dead platform, while the 2600 is on 1155, which isn't dead yet. Plus, the 2600 can't overclock, while the i7 930 can overclock to levels that exceed the i7 2600.

:thumbsup:

 

[LoneNinja]

Get an I7 2600K if you want to overclock. As dpk33 said LGA1366 is essentially a dead platform, it supports more ram than 1155 but Intel is about to release a new high end socket to replace it.

 

[rgravel]

Thanks for your response. :thumbsup:

I don't realy plan on overclocking. I'd like to pick and choose components and have a local shop build it for me, but there aren't many that I can trust here in Ottawa, and I may go with a (gasp) Dell. D:

I should do fine with 12 gig of RAM, since I'm coming from a Core 2 Duo 2420 2.13GHz with 4 Gig of RAM

 

[dpk33]

If everything's on stock, I believe the 2600 is better.

 

[dbcooper1]

For Photoshop, you'll likely gain more from turbo boost than from hyperthreading; I'd go with a z68 board, a 2500k and 16GB RAM. Also consider an SSD for your boot, O/S and applications and a conventional drive for data.

 

[dpk33]

For Photoshop, you'll likely gain more from turbo boost than from hyperthreading; I'd go with a z68 board, a 2500k and 16GB RAM. Also consider an SSD for your boot, O/S and applications and a conventional drive for data.

He's not overclocking, so a z68 board and 2500k arent needed. H61 and 2500 are fine.

 

[jacktesterson]

with Intel, its always a dead platform...

I wish they'd stick to a socket for a while, honestly.

 

[Shift_]

with Intel, its always a dead platform...

I wish they'd stick to a socket for a while, honestly.

Intel has stayed on the socket...actually it wasn't too long ago. Remember socket 775? That stayed from the P4 all the way to the end of the Core 2 era.

But with faster processors old sockets are a limitation, as they were built for older technologies, and have their limits. Intel switched from Socket 478 to 775 because 775 allowed better electrical distrubution, which allowed intel to increase the FSB, not to mention there were improvements in heat sink mounting for better cooling.

The reason for socket changes is to make use of newer technologies, which enables faster processors.

Can you imagine how hindered processors would be if intel stuck to socket 775?

 

[lehtv]

+1 to H61/H67 chipset and i5-2500.

2600K vs 2500K: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288

As you can see the 2600 isn't really a lot faster, the biggest difference is in heavily multithreaded tasks like video encoding (especially 2nd pass). In the one photoshop benchmark, there's a difference of 12% despite a ~45% increase in price.

 

[dbcooper1]

He's not overclocking, so a z68 board and 2500k arent needed. H61 and 2500 are fine.

For the difference between a 2500 and a 2600, you could upgrade RAM from 8GB to 16GB, upgrade board to Z68 and 2500 to 2500K which would allow overclocking at a future date. For Photoshop in particular, this is still what I'd do.