Finally on track for new mobo/proc (advice needed)

[danielsangeo]

Greetings, forumites!

So, I’m finally ready to purchase a new motherboard and processor, but I’m not sure what to look for, so I’d thought I’d ask you lovely people for advice now that I’m ready to buy.

I am looking for something that I can hopefully port my RAM over to. I currently have 16GB of DDR3 RAM and would like to use that on the new motherboard if possible, with possible room for expansion later. The main goal of this new motherboard and processor is to help render 3D animations.

I would also like to port over my current video card (NVidia GeForce GT 640) with possible upgrade later.

My budget is US$700 and I want to get the best bang for my buck.

What do y’all recommend? i7? Something else? Brand? Processor? Whatever you guys have to say, I’d love to hear it! And if you have any questions, I’ll be happy to answer them!

Thanks!

[Dreadmoth]

Does the 3D rendering software you use benefit from HyperThreading?
Do you have any interest in overclocking your CPU?

Some sites are claiming Intel Skylake CPUs will be released sometime around Gamescom (5 - 9 August) - might be worth waiting to see how they turn out + their release might push current CPU prices down.

[danielsangeo]

Let’s assume it doesn’t for the time being. I would assume that if I get a processor that can do HyperThreading, but the renderer doesn’t use it, HyperThreading capabilities would be irrelevant but would be there if I do get a renderer that takes advantage of that later. Would I be correct in assuming that? Would the price differential be that important?

Currently, when I am rendering, the CPU’s four cores all report at or near 100% usage so I don’t know if that matters. It would seem to me that the more cores I can get attacking the renders would result in lower render times (which is what I am most interested in).

I have no current interest in overclocking unless I can get some huge performance boosts out of it. But if a render takes 15 minutes without overclocking and 14.5 minutes with overclocking, I’m not interested.