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I have the 4930K processor (6 core, 12 thread processor from 2013-ish). It's painful trying to do the same workflow I do on my desktop on a 2-core laptop. Beca

I have the 4930K processor (6 core, 12 thread processor from 2013-ish). It's painful trying to do the same workflow I do on my desktop on a 2-core laptop. Because I have the power, i've started really using the ability to multitask to it's fullest. Having multiple VMs running, being able to run the full suite of unit-tests on every save, run linters/static analysis as often as it can, etc... Builds don't slow me down, npm-install goes much faster and doesn't really cause any choppiness, I basically don't need to worry about CPU efficiency in any of my tools. I feel it's more than paid for itself over the past 4 years (it was only like a few hundred more than the 4 core machine) in time saved alone, ignoring the reduction in frustration or distraction from having to wait on things to finish or wait for the stutters and stalls to stop.

metalliqaz 9y ago
It seems like the CPU could only get you so far in the setup you describe. I assume you have no spinning platters in your desktop, and are using 1 or more SSDs? IO-bound workloads are very common in what you're describing.
- Klathmon 9y ago
  Yeah I've got a PCIe SSD that I don't remember the exact details on right now, and I setup a ramdisk to build from a while ago but never really benchmarked it to see if it was actually making a difference. Still, you'd be surprised how much having the extra CPU headroom helps there. A lot is IO bound, but at least with the extra CPU cores the PC is still responsive and able to do other things while waiting (for the most part). When you get CPU bound, it starts to hurt. Back when I built it I looked at the total cost and did some math on how long I thought it would last, and how much time it might save me and figured out that even if I really went all out, if it made me even a few percent more productive it'd be more than worth it, so I kind of went nuts on it, and I'm very happy with my decision.
noir_lord 9y ago
Same with the Ryzen I have at work, my old i5 desktop feels different, micropauses I wasn't even aware of are an issue and my laptop is even worse. It's totally spoiled me. 8C/16HT or nothing for me now ;).

metalliqaz 9y ago

It seems like the CPU could only get you so far in the setup you describe. I assume you have no spinning platters in your desktop, and are using 1 or more SSDs? IO-bound workloads are very common in what you're describing.

Klathmon 9y ago
Yeah I've got a PCIe SSD that I don't remember the exact details on right now, and I setup a ramdisk to build from a while ago but never really benchmarked it to see if it was actually making a difference. Still, you'd be surprised how much having the extra CPU headroom helps there. A lot is IO bound, but at least with the extra CPU cores the PC is still responsive and able to do other things while waiting (for the most part). When you get CPU bound, it starts to hurt. Back when I built it I looked at the total cost and did some math on how long I thought it would last, and how much time it might save me and figured out that even if I really went all out, if it made me even a few percent more productive it'd be more than worth it, so I kind of went nuts on it, and I'm very happy with my decision.

noir_lord 9y ago

Same with the Ryzen I have at work, my old i5 desktop feels different, micropauses I wasn't even aware of are an issue and my laptop is even worse. It's totally spoiled me. 8C/16HT or nothing for me now ;).