QOTW: How many cores for your next desktop CPU?

[lodore]

At least 8 cores maybe more. I have had 4 cores twice now thanks to Intel having the monopoly to long.

[simonpreston]

I'm on 8c/16t, with a Ryzen 1700, anyway.

What happens next will depend on what the next gen of Ryzen CPUs do. If 12/24 becomes affordable, then I'd look to upgrade the motherboard and CPU to that. If not, then I'll upgrade my current setup with a 3700X/3800X depending on price difference at the time. So 8/16 minimum, regardless.

[Gentle Viking]

12/24 in a Threadripper right now, would like to move to 32/64 some day in the future.
BUT ! That might not happen, as regardless next time as mt TR4 board are dropped and my only option are #2 gen threadrippers, byt net time gen 3 - 4 processors ( AMD ) might be my target, and that mean a new motherboard if i stay with Threadrippers or even that too if something replace AM4.
And of course too if Intel chips are the smarter choice by then.

It is however going to be some years, CUZ on a pension i cant update as i like to anymore.
Hell i might even downgrade too as the demanding stuff i do ( video editing ) can still be done on a smaller kit and time is something i got plenty off, and the video i do make are often short clips and so fairly fast to render anyway.
And as no one seem to make the games i like to play, and i dont seem to be willing to make do with what they do make, then gaming are more or less off the table.

[3dcandy]

8c/16t at moment - but no upgrade planned for a few years....
So as it appears to be going next really should be a 12c/24t minimum I reckon

[big_hairy_rob]

zero idea and probably not my biggest decision factor. I tend to keep the same platform as long as it functions and is practicable, so should last for several (unknown core change) generations yet.

[fail_quail]

Upgraded* to a 3700x recently, specifically chose it over the higher core count Ryzen 9 CPUs as i really rarely needed all the cores/threads i had on my 1700, So upgrading to the same core count but with higher frequencies and IPC made more sense to me.

(I do some video editing here and there, but not often)

As things stand at the moment, 8C16T is more than enough for gaming and non-specialist use cases, so i might stick with it again next time. All depends on how multithreaded software gets in the future really...

*sidegrade, i built myself a new NAS and used my current CPU/mobo as a base, hence the excuse to upgrade

[Korrorra]

I'll likely stick with 8/16 combo. If the price is good for a 32/64 then I may do that. I'm waiting for AMD Ryzen 5000 though.

[3dcandy]

Keeping my 5820K for a while longer so 6 cores 12 threads. It's a nice compromise; most of my work is AutoCAD so better to have a higher speed than lots of cores I think but they are good for occasional video editing and transcoding. Next investment will probably be a couple of 2TB SSDs to replace HDD rather than a new CPU.

I found more benefits from going decent nvme ssd than 2 extra cores and 4 threads

[will19565]

6c/12t R5 3600

[DevDrake]

I am still rolling on i7 3770K - 4 cores / 8 threads.
In particular it still does the job (in 4k) paired with 1080Ti.
Maybe Cyberpunk or a some new monitor release will change my view (4k 120Hz), but for now I am cool.
The next PC i will assemble (if) will have to be at last 12/24.

[ik9000]

I have 12/24 in my new build so it will need to be better than that. The socket definitely does 16/32 and it remains to be seen if next gen will expand on that or just offer clock boosts. for most stuff though I'm still on 4/8 s1156 - it just so much quieter and more stable!

[Euphonium]

Minimum 8, preferably 12+
I've been on a quad-core i7-3770k for about 8 years and HD video transcoding is painful.
From everything I'm reading, as long as I've got a good GPU (currently a GTX980Ti) I'm not going to see a meaningful difference in 1080p60 gaming with any modern CPU so the extra cores or Ryzen are worth way more than slightly higher clocks on Intel

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

More.

[meuvoy]

8/16 is my plan. But I'd gladly take 12/24 or 16/32 if I can.

[roger that]

like most R7 8/16, going from an i5 3rd gen 4/4

[philehidiot]

I went from four cores with no HT to 12 with HT. The single threaded benchmarks are a little bit higher than my overclocked last CPU (which was crippled by the last lot of Intel security mitigations) and the multithreaded ones are another world. Finally multicore stuff has taken off and it's great to not be sandbagged by Intel holding back year after year and making the only reason to upgrade issues of their own making.

It's also very nice to give a VM 6 cores and the host system have no effects whatsoever and still have plenty more cores left over for the other VMs.

Can't see me upgrading for some time. What I don't want is the relentless race for numbers of cores to take over at the expense of all else. Like the GHz war, the motherboard phases war, etc.