My DAW's motherboard is on its way out, and needs to be replaced. I'm considering two different CPU/motherboard combinations, Intel 5820/X99/LGA2011 vs. Intel 4790/Z97/LGA1150.
 
This is by no means complete or in detail, but pros for the 5820 are 6 cores vs. 4 (6 @ 3.3 Ghz vs. 4 @ 4 Ghz), and support for quad channel DDR4 vs. dual channel DDR3.  Pros for the 4790 are 88W TDP vs. 140W, and 40 PCIe lanes vs. 28.  The 5820 is the entry level LGA2011, whereas the 4790 is the top of the line LGA1150 processor.
 
With current costs (using Newegg.com as a benchmark), the CPU + motherboard + 32GBs of memory for the 5820 is only a $90 premium over the 4790 system.  So I'm leaning towards the 5820.  The 5820 system also looks to be a better path to future proofing if I want to keep this configuration for at least 3 to 4 years.
 
What are your thoughts, comments, opinions on the 5820 vs. the 4790 for a Sonar DAW?
 
Thank you for your help,
 
Todd

It's probably like cars: you have a Ford that makes you happy, you recommend it.   My 5820 in an Asus x99 motherboard seems fine, but there are many many good options.

I'd base the decision on the density of your projects... and if you do video editing/rendering.
 
I'd want higher performance cooling with the 5820 (especially if you plan to over-clock).
 
If you're working with video... or really pushing the performance limits, the quad-channel RAM of socket 2011-3 is an advantage (as are the two additional cores).
 
If you're not working with video and your projects really aren't very dense, socket 2011-3 is overkill.
 
If you don't plan to over-clock the 5820k, I would go with the 4790k.
The 4790k running at 4.4GHz is a very formidable CPU.

Thank you Jim, thank you williamcopper,
 
Jim, I don't do much with video yet, but having this for future use is interesting. I do however have projects that are VSTi and VST-fx heavy, so an o/c'd 5820 system might make more sense. You mentioned above the "4790k running at 4.4Ghz". That's it's turbo speed, but not necessarily o/c'd.  I just checked out your website, and you have the 5820 in your Platinum Studio DAW o/c'd to 4.4Ghz. Do you still use air cooling, or water on this type of system? I'm considering Noctua for the cooler.

Overkill is my middle name.

For my money, Arctic Cooling is the way to go for air CPU coolers. Very quiet and efficient. I have a Freezer i30 in my X99 computer and it is massive, but very efficient and quiet. They tend to be good with their designs so despite being large, no RAM slots get blocked or anything.
 
If you want something more, you can get sealed water coolers which have a block you attach to the CPU and then combination fan/pump/radiator unit you mount elsewhere in the case. They work very well and are not hard to deal with (custom water cooling is a real pain).

A very interesting article in the July publication of Sound on Sound talks about Speed and Cores, the conclusion of the article seems to me to be that a 4790K CPU running at 4.0Ghz would actually be better than the 5820K CPU running at 3.3Ghz.  i.e. Clock speed wins over more cores but slower clock.  Jim's input would be interesting to hear as I appreciate his experience.

Here is a link to the piece though if you do not subscribe it will not be visible sorry probably still on the shelves for the next few days as the new August edition is due out on Thursday.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul15/articles/cpu-performance-0715.htm
 

Thanks Sycraft and Wookiee. Wookiee, that's a helpful article, I'll check it out. I already have the X99 motherboard and the 5820K, and plan to overclock using a Noctua cooler.

You can run the 4790k at 4.4GHz.
If you don't plan to over-clock the 5820k (stock TurboBoost speed is 3.6GHz), the 4790k will outperform it.

If you plan to over-clock the 5820k, I'd recommend high-performance cooling.