Currently I have old 3-core AMD CPU.
I wonder if lightmaps baking is multithreaded in UE4 and if upgrading to AMD 8-core CPU would significantly shorten baking time. Same goes for deployment to Android using ASTC compression. Last time I tried it, it was super slow (probably UE4 is not multithreaded when it comes to compressing ASTC?)
Thanks.
It depends - on model and tools optimization. Basically, AMD has lower IPC(instructions per cycle) and thus, the number of cores leveled with lower core count on Intel. Wait for new Zen architecture, AMD promises huge improvement on IPC and cores count. But if you want to upgrade ASAP, look at Intel side - i5 (6xxx or even 4xxx) would give you huge benefits. My advice, is to wait for new AMD cpus to launch.
Intel is just too expensive over all. If Intel vs AMD means extra 5 min saving in time, I’d rather go with AMD.
When is Zen coming out ?
You would have to compare benchmarks with those particular CPU’s, AMD isn’t generally all that powerful even with a large number of cores.
Hmm… How about Intel i5-6400 Skylake? It seems to be the cheapest quad-core with good multithreading performance, but not that good of a single core performance (I am guessing it will be a light years ahead of my AMD Phenom x3 anyway 
)
You should be able to find a benchmark so you can compare to new processors. Remember with switching to Intel or maybe even a newer AMD processor you’ll have to get a new motherboard too
Yeah, I am aware of that 
My PC is like 12 years old. It runs UE4, but I’d really like to stop waiting for hours baking lightmaps.
Benchmarks mean nothing. None of them applies to UE4, especially that there is no saying whether texture compression tools and deployment tools in UE4 are multithreaded. I am hoping lightmap baking tools are, but then again, I don’t know for sure.
Light baking is multithreaded, not sure about texture compression. If your CPU is that old then pretty much anything will be an improvement
Yes, light baking is definitely multithreaded. In the old days, you used to be able to see Swarm’s performance per-thread. I take no chances and use an i7, 3.4Ghz, 4 cores 8 threads, boost to ~4.2 Ghz. I was very lucky to get a very good price on a Lenovo Ideacentre desktop.
If you can afford to fork over the $300 for a good i7, you will get the quad core and boost of the i5 plus the SMT of the i3 and a large cache all put together into one amazing powerhouse CPU for a total of 8 operating threads, instead of just the usual 4. i5 is good enough for gaming performance, there is very little to be gained using an i7 for that, but building lighting on i5s can still take a very long time due to the lack of threads.
Remember, a more powerful CPU may even require not just a new motherboard, but a new power supply as well.
This work machine has an 8-Core (4 Physical) i7-4790K Overclocked to 4Ghz - build times are exponentially faster than they were on our old Xeon’s, which were 12 Cores, but much lower clock speed (like 2.2Ghz I think).
A fast processor, higher RAM clock speed and a high Front-Side Bus (FSB) speed on the Motherboard will improve performance all around.
If your cpu truly is like 12 years old, anything you buy is going to be an improvement. When deciding what to buy it’s worthwhile to consider what your time is worth. You mentioned saving 5 minutes not being worth the price but consider it’s not just 5 minutes, it’s 5 minutes several times a day. Could be hours per week. It’s worthwhile to invest an extra few hundred dollars in to hardware that can save you time if you can afford to do it.
On Zen, I wouldn’t bother waiting if you need something now. It sounds like literally any current AMD or Intel CPU is going to be an improvement for you. Waiting for Zen is based on assumptions and conjecture based on misconstrued information. People assume zen cpus will be significantly cheaper and “40% faster than current CPUs” is commonly quoted, for example. What AMD actually said was 40% more instructions per clock than their own current CPUs which would still be fewer than what some consumer cpus are currently capable of. Many of their performance claims are ambiguously centered around performance per watt, and people are applying those claims to what’s in the market now. I have yet to see concrete info about what wattage they will run at other than it’s supposed to be low(er). They haven’t given any concrete info about the retail cpus yet including price that I have seen. It will be an efficient CPU, but whether what AMD ships to retail is significantly faster or offers better price/performance than other available cpus is still just guesswork and possibly/probably not worth waiting months for if you need something now.
Aye, thanks guys for the input!