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Hello there! I'm looking to upgrade my freelancing computer from an ancient i5-760 (quad, no HT, 2.8Ghz), and I'm having trouble deciding between these two chips: 6700K, 32GB, 4 cores at 4.0Ghz, for $611 USD. 5820K, 32GB, 6 cores at 3.3Ghz, for $733 USD. I'm looking to do the following: - Modeling with 3DSMax/Zbrush - Texture work with Photoshop/Quixel - Rendering interiors and products with VRay - Use VRay RT for lighting testing and look dev. - Work with realtime engines (and some VR) in Unity and Unreal. - Some video editing and 3D compositing. - A bit of animation rendering. - Bit of gaming, but I know either is just as good for this. I've read here and in other places that both chips are very comparable, in spite of the different core count, but does this hold true when we consider these other purposes? The Corona benchmarks still place the 5820K above the 6700K, and chances are the French VRay benchmark out there that suggests otherwise isn't taking into account that Light Cache is singlethreaded, and that tip the result in the 6700K's favor. As it is right now I've basically been avoiding CPU rendering as my GTX970 can do it much faster, but I've also run into its limitations quickly when it comes to interiors. Baking textures for realtime objects with my current cpu also poses some problems, some simple models can take 22 minutes for one of several passes in xNormal, making iterations an absolute pain. In the case of large VRay renderings, I don't have access to a render farm, so I'm thinking of using a cloud rendering solution when the need arrives, regardless of the chip. However, I'd like to be able to rely on my system, even if it involves waiting for a while. I can't afford a dual Xeon machine either. For a variety of reasons, I can't risk my equipment by overclocking. RMA's are next to impossible to carry out, temperatures in summer easily reach 40°C, and I don't have access to air conditioning. Therefore, I need to keep it safe, and can't consider OCing the 5820K to 4Ghz. I understand most of what I'll actually be doing is single-threaded work, but a lot of what I do is also multi-threaded. However, is it enough to favor going for the slower 6-core? I might sound like I'm deciding for the 5820K, but I'm really not sure. Which of these two do you think would be the better option for me? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Having trouble deciding which route to take...was hoping to get some opinions/advice to help sway me one way or the other. My work consists of Autocad 2015, PS CC, Sketchup 2015, Vray 2.0...and also dabble in other Adobe apps...lately AfterEffects, and trying out 3Dsmax. This is my current machine (started out as a Lenovo k450): Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (came with MOBO) 2x Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive PNY GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply I plan on using some of the parts from the above machine for my new workstation...either a 4790k or 5820k setup. Then adding the original parts back into K450 to use for a little home office pc. I was set on building a 4790k 'modeler' with a slight overclock to use as my main workstation and also using it for rendering for a while until I saved up money to build a 5820k 'renderer'. I'm ready to buy parts now, but I'm hesitant...I'm thinking it might be a good idea to just build a 5820k (OC'd to 4.4) for my main workstation, which I'll also be able to render on much faster in the meantime, then start building cheaper render nodes in the future as funds become available. New Build Options: Intel® - Core™ i7-4790K 4.0GHz Noctua NH-D15 ASUS Z97-A/USB 3.1 2x Crucial - 16GB Kit (8GBx2), Ballistix 240-Pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 Memory (or whatever 32GB is on sale when I go to buy..crucial/Kingston/G.skill) Samsung - 850 EVO 500GB Internal Serial ATA Solid State Drive Fractal Design - Define R5 Windows 10 Pro Or INTEL Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz Processor Noctua NH-D15 ASUS X99-A/USB 3.1 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) (or whatever 32GB is on sale when I go to buy..crucial/Kingston/G.skill) Samsung - 850 EVO 250GB Internal Serial ATA Solid State Drive Fractal Design - Define R5 Windows 10 Pro Parts used out of old machine for new build: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive PNY GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card XFX XTR 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply I’m trying to keep budget for new parts as close to $1000 as possible…..upgrading and adding on as funds become available…eg, adding more ssd’s and adding another 32GB of RAM if going the 2011-v3 route. I know there is a new 4790k or 5820k thread every week, but I'm excited to hear what you guys have to say regarding my circumstance. thanks!