I7 vs I5?

[Nixon]

Simple question, I suspect not a simple answer. I'm looking to build a new desktop system with an emphasis on running gimp and raw therapy smoothly and effectively, my 2012 mac does not seem up to the task, struggling with even the most basic of functions in raw therapy, such as the slider showing a real-time change, and workflow crippling load times.

I'm currently considering the i7 8700 3.2ghz and the i5 9600K 3.7ghz.
I understand the i7 has hyperthreading, although I'm still not convinced I know what that actually means in the real world. I would like the computer to be "relatively" future proof.
All the benchmarks show that the i5 out performs the i7, in all but threads.

So for photo work, if I was to get the i5 over the i7 would I be making a mistake? there is all but £60 price difference in it.

Thanks Nixon x

 

[Nawty]

I haven't used your programmes but in my experience typically a faster clocked i5 is a bit better for general usage, a beasty i7 is good for bulk processes such as exporting or building previews.

This is typically because Adobe are pretty rubbish at taking advantage of multi core programmes, I'd suggest searching t'web to see if your programmes of choice respond well to multi-cored processors. Some do, some don't.

 

[wave01]

Not sure of your problem but I run Lightroom and photoshop on a 2010 iMac with out any problems

 

[saul01]

Building a pc at the moment and have gone down the AMD route this time. Ryzen 5 3600x will do you fine.

 

[stupar]

Neither will do you wrong for photo editing and both will be future proofed for a while.
What the i5 lacks in threads it makes up in core speed. Furthermore it is a "K" chip so is unlocked and can be clocked higher if paired with an appropriate motherboard.

Remember though that the CPU is only one part of the equation.
Compliment it with at least 16gb of RAM and super fast NVME storage and you will have a good setup for photo editing.

Assuming that the i5 is cheaper then that would be my choice and I would push the cost saving towards RAM and NVME storage.

 

[ianp5a]

I use Raw Therapee on a laptop with a 4 core Intel i5 8250U CPU and 8Gb RAM +NVME on KDE Neon. Only a few of the the heaviest operations on a 16MP image take like 1-2 seconds. All the usual adjustments are instantaneous.

 

[Neilc28]

For the sake of £60 I would go with the i7, however both will do the job perfectly well

The i5 will likely get you a few extra frames per second with gaming, however the i7 will probably shave a few seconds off when encoding/decoding media.

 

[Snapsh0t]

In the real world hyperthreading gains about 30% over the equivalent non-hyperthreaded CPU. Given that the current i5s and i7s now have six cores instead of the four of previous generations I decided that an i5 was enough for my new build at the end of last year and I haven't been disappointed. I suggest saving a bit more money by going for the plain i5 9600 instead of the K version unless you're sure you are going to overclock it.

 

[Nixon]

Thanks for all the input guys, I have hypothetically built a dozen or so different systems on paper now and still not convinced about what I need.

I'm going to be processing about 8000 (I got a bit behind) 32mb RAW files from a Nikon D750 so it's going to have it's work cut out.

I have even jumped to considering ultrabooks and piggybacking them against a nice 27 inch standalone monitor for added conveniance, but with a compromise. The razer stealth is a very nice looking machine [emoji85]

The Ryzen 2600x has thrown a spanner in the deal, some really good deals now it's been supersceded, and with 12 threads over the 6 of the Intel chip. Included with a decent cooler to boot.

Ram im going to have 32gb min, with a board capable of hitting 64 later down the line.

I was amazed at how cheap SSD has gotten, I can have a 500gb m.2 nvme primary drive and a 1T SSD for the same price as I paid for my cureent SSD that is only 240gb. Winner winner!!

Still 100% boggled as to what I want.

 

[Brazo]

Despite owning a 2700x I would take an intel equivalent (even with less threads) for Lightroom use as it’s just better optimised. The 3600x does change things though with better ipc and clock speeds and I’d happily take a 3600x or a 3900x which I intend to upgrade too. So don’t discount the 3600x just yet.