# of Cores Vs. Clock Speed

[paulytran]

I was in the market to upgrade my desktop and I've been a little confused on what I should do concerning CPU's. Should I go with a processor with more cores or a faster clock speed? Ideally, I'd want to go for an AMD system because of their socket compatibility with my current system and I never really had a problem with AMD to begin with. I'm doing a complete overhaul of my motherboard, CPU cooler and graphics card. In terms of running Photoshop, Lightroom and Autopano Giga, which is more beneficial? More cores? Or higher clocking?

[tim]

i5 35xx series is the best performance/value tradeoff right now. AMD are cheaper, and faster enough, but if you have to replace everything anyway Intel is faster. Google "CPU benchmark xxx" where XXX is the CPU model name, for each CPU model, see what score it gets on cpubenchmark.net

I think 4 fast cores would be better than 8 slower cores for interactive work. It really depends how efficient the software you use is.

[Nightstalker]

Can't comment on AMD but my generic advice would be go for cores rather than base clock and then over clock it.

I am running a 1st gen i7 950 which is 4 core with hyper threading that as stock is 3.08 Ghz. With simple water cooling and 20 minutes research I pushed this up to 4.2 Ghz at zero cost.

[MCAsan]

I would not invest in an 1155 socket configuration if I were building a new machine today. Consider the next step to 6 core such as Sandy Bridge E CPU. Get a LGA 2011 socket motherboard and put in a an entry level 6 core i7 CPU. If that cost is a killer, do a 4 core CPU...but still on socket 2011. In the future you can easily swap the 4 core Sandy Bridge E CPU for a 6 core Sandy Bridge CPU or an Ivy Bridge 6 core (whenever Intel releases them).

The socket 2011 motherboard and corresponding Z69 chipset will give you advanced quad channel memory, integrated USB 3 (third party controller not needed), and other features.

Check out the options at Newegg.com or other good computer parts house.

[tim]

Intel seem to release new sockets with every generation of CPU, say from the 920 to the 2700 to the 37xx I think they all have new sockets. I don't see much point in spending more for a future upgrade that may never happen.

[toxic]

Intel is switching sockets every two years. New microarchitecture and socket in one year, then a die shrink the next year for less power consumption and heat for the same performance. Basically it's pointless to think about future sockets with Intel, whatever you choose will be dead soon anyway.

Having more than four cores is generally a waste of money, so go to four cores and then get the highest clock. Software has been lagging hardware on this front except for a few uses, like video production and scientific applications.