i7 vs xeon for server

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Red Squirrel

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I'm pricing together a server build and I just realized how low the clock speeds on Xeon processors are. Is it really worth taking this penalty to use ECC ram and more than 32GB, or should I just go with the i7? This is going to be a VM server. Is there more to it than clock speed that I might be missing? Is each cycle "faster" so even the lower clock speed will be faster than equivalent on an i7?

My current server is a core2quad at 2.6Ghz and if I don't want to spend like 4 grand on a Xeon to match that the most affordable one is 2.0Ghz. So 7+ years after I built that server, it's a downgrade! This just seems absurd. I must be missing something.

This is basically what I have to pay to match what I got now, but going the Xeon route: http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e5-4650-8-0a-72296.htm

For the price of one "real" server I can probably build two whitebox ones. Only thing with whitebox is I'm limited to 32GB of ram.
 
Well, right off the bat, an i7 doesn't have 8 cores/16 threads like the $4000 Xeon you just posted. You can get a LGA1150 Xeon for right around the same price as the i7 versions. In fact, if there's a similar i7 version of the chip, its similar in price.

Are you looking at dual socket boards or something?
 
The E3 series of Xeons is what you want. Stop looking at the E5 series.

The E3 series are the same chips as the i7s but with ECC support, no GPU (so lower TDP) and other server stuff.
 
Will the supermicro boards support E3 though? They all say E5, and I'm not seeing any E3 ones when I'm looking at processors. This is the server I'm looking at (I don't see much other choices in 2U at that price range for single cpu) : http://www.ncix.com/detail/supermicro-5027r-wrf-2u-xeon-e5-2a-70648.htm

Also if they don't have GPU would it mean I need an add-on video card? I would rather not do that for a server, complete waste of power not to mention physical space.

edit: weird now I see all the e3's if I actually search for e3. Not sure why they arn't showing up when I browse processors.
 
Supermicro boards will have pretty basic onboard video if they don't support on die intel graphics. Basic text console and 2D graphics. This is used to tie in to IPMI when present.

The E3 12x5 processors do have onboard Intel graphics, if you have a need for that. You'll be a bit more limited on board selection to use the on die Intel graphics, though.
 
King Icewind said:
Do you want an 8 core processor? That's why it's so expensive. Here's a 6 core: http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e5-2630-v2-lga-73-89938.htm

http://ark.intel.com/products/75790/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2630-v2-15M-Cache-2_60-GHz
Click to expand...

Not too fussy, 6 is more than enough, but I'm just confused at why the clock speeds are barely even surpassing my 7+ year old server and the prices have gone up so much since I built it. Though I guess technically this is 12 cores right because of hyperthreading? So guess that alone is a huge upgrade, I can't really look at just the clock speed I guess.

For graphics, as long as I have video if I plug in a monitor, I don't really care about the quality of it.
 
You must be looking at the wrong Xeons...

Look at the Xeon E3 1230 v3. It's 3.3GHz and can turbo to 3.7GHz. Plus it's Haswell which is like 50% faster clock-for-clock compared to a Core2 Quad. This one has 4 cores and hyperthreading so 8 threads. All for $250. It's about the best bang for the buck you can get in lower-end Xeons.
 
You can get either a Xeon E5-1620 V2, E5-1650 V2 or E5-1660 V2. The non-V2s are also an option if you can find them. All are fully unlocked. The E5-1620 V2 is fairly cheap as well, and IMHO would be a much better choice than a Xeon E3, by virtue of the much improved memory performance and far better I/O abilities.
 
I use a E3 1240 v2, its identical to a 3770 but with ECC support and no GPU. At all cores load it runs at 3.55Ghz.

Was cheaper then a 3770.
 
SirMaster said:
You must be looking at the wrong Xeons...

Look at the Xeon E3 1230 v3. It's 3.3GHz and can turbo to 3.7GHz. Plus it's Haswell which is like 50% faster clock-for-clock compared to a Core2 Quad. This one has 4 cores and hyperthreading so 8 threads. All for $250. It's about the best bang for the buck you can get in lower-end Xeons.
Click to expand...

I was not seeing those originally when searching, they don't seem to show up unless I specifically search for them.

Will they work in the supermicro boards though? They all seem to list E5. So are the E3's newer and better?
 
Red Squirrel said:
I was not seeing those originally when searching, they don't seem to show up unless I specifically search for them.

Will they work in the supermicro boards though? They all seem to list E5. So are the E3's newer and better?
Click to expand...

The E3 series fit into the same socket as normal chips.

v1 and v2 use 1155, v3 uses 1150

You can put them in desktop or server boards. Server boards have ECC support.

E5 is socket 2011 which is very high end and expensive.
 
Spazturtle said:
The E3 series fit into the same socket as normal chips.

v1 and v2 use 1155, v3 uses 1150

You can put them in desktop or server boards. Server boards have ECC support.

E5 is socket 2011 which is very high end and expensive.
Click to expand...

Socket 2011 isn't always expensive...the E5-1620 V2 (3.7GHz) is fairly cheap, at $317. The closest E3 Xeons are the E3-1245 V3 (3.4GHz) at $296 or the E3-1270 V3 (3.5GHz) at $352.

Also, the E5 Xeon is unlocked. The E3 Xeon isn't...

The E5 Xeon will offer much more expansion potential with its 40 PCI-E lanes and more performance if you decide to bump up the multiplier a tick or two. A motherboard for an E5 Xeon may be a bit higher, but you get more performance and functionality for that price.
 
Hmmm so I should be looking at LGA1150 or 1155 then? I figured that was an older generation so did not really bother to look. Just pricing out at this point so not dead set on anything, it opens up my search a bit more. I may not even go the supermicro barebones route. Though it does make things easier since at least I'll know everything fits, especially with the 1U and 2U cases where stuff like the heat sinks need to be more proprietary.
 
Is this for a lab environment where you are learning technology/home use or in a production environment?

I am not a virtualization expert in the sense that I manage data centers, but nearly all my clients have limited virtualization on-site. I personally think a regular quad core, whether you go xeon or i7, is more than adequate for as many VMs as you can run within a 32gb envelope unless they are all doing active software version testing or something where they are heavily loaded. A 3.5ghz i7 or equivalent xeon is considerably faster than a core 2 quad.

Anandtech bench of the two - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/836?vs=50
 
lutjens said:
All are fully unlocked.
Click to expand...

Grumpy-cat-nope.jpg
 
sc0tty8 said:
http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131226180633/dragonball/images/5/51/Grumpy-cat-nope.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

what this silly meme is trying to say is this statement is incorrect.
Click to expand...
 
Red Squirrel said:
I'm pricing together a server build and I just realized how low the clock speeds on Xeon processors are. Is it really worth taking this penalty to use ECC ram and more than 32GB, or should I just go with the i7? This is going to be a VM server. Is there more to it than clock speed that I might be missing? Is each cycle "faster" so even the lower clock speed will be faster than equivalent on an i7?

My current server is a core2quad at 2.6Ghz and if I don't want to spend like 4 grand on a Xeon to match that the most affordable one is 2.0Ghz. So 7+ years after I built that server, it's a downgrade! This just seems absurd. I must be missing something.

This is basically what I have to pay to match what I got now, but going the Xeon route: http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e5-4650-8-0a-72296.htm

For the price of one "real" server I can probably build two whitebox ones. Only thing with whitebox is I'm limited to 32GB of ram.
Click to expand...
As an owner of an E5-2690, i can tell you that it is a colossal upgrade vs a core 2 quad.
I ran a fairly large number of benchmarks to compare the Xeon to my old (Overclocked mind you, 3600mhz) Q9400, and in all of them save a couple, the Xeon was the superior chip by a large margin every single time. Not only are there a considerably larger number of threads in the e5 series of xeons, but there are also various architectural and hardware improvements that allow for greater performance at a lower clock speed.

lutjens said:
Also, the E5 Xeon is unlocked. The E3 Xeon isn't...
Click to expand...
Wrong. If it was unlocked, there would have been alot more SR-X rigs w/ overclocked xeons on them. Hell, i tried it with my own xeon and it didnt work at all.
Unless it has that magical K or X next to the model number, good luck getting it much further than intel's limits.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I'm pricing together a server build and I just realized how low the clock speeds on Xeon processors are. Is it really worth taking this penalty to use ECC ram and more than 32GB, or should I just go with the i7? This is going to be a VM server. Is there more to it than clock speed that I might be missing? Is each cycle "faster" so even the lower clock speed will be faster than equivalent on an i7?

My current server is a core2quad at 2.6Ghz and if I don't want to spend like 4 grand on a Xeon to match that the most affordable one is 2.0Ghz. So 7+ years after I built that server, it's a downgrade! This just seems absurd. I must be missing something.

This is basically what I have to pay to match what I got now, but going the Xeon route: http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e5-4650-8-0a-72296.htm

For the price of one "real" server I can probably build two whitebox ones. Only thing with whitebox is I'm limited to 32GB of ram.
Click to expand...


Dude, you cannot really compare your c2d to anything modern. If you are basing it solely on clock speed you are making mistakes.

Firstly, you are looking at an e5-4650 which is for a quad cpu board. You don't need that unless you are going to....run 4 chips. An e5-2650 will be the single/dual chip counterpart.

Let's compare just the ram alone. Your c2d is using ddr2. DDR2 has a max theoretical throughput pf 6.4gb@800mhz. DDR3@1333=10.6. Then compare that DDR3 will use less power.

Coming from the DC community, a c2d in a dc application gives you almost no output compared to a modern day xeon. Here some more data: http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/410/Intel_Core_2_Quad_Q6600_vs_Intel_Xeon_E5-2650.html

You can usually find a 2p 2011 workstation/server board from Asus for $220-$300 depending on who has them, if they are open box or refurb. These boards will take regular ddr3 ram as well.
 
Oh and your options with e5 xeons for overclocking is to bump the ref clock...the highest I've seen was 108 mhz so good luck.
 
sc0tty knows his shit about server hardware, listen to him.

You still haven't said what you are doing with this server, so its hard to give advice. A quad E3 xeon will be at least twice as powerful if not more then your current rig. A E5 will be dramaticly more powerful.
 
For a home server I would suggest something towards energy conservation.
e5-2650L http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...620-/191123639466?pt=CPUs&hash=item2c7fdb4caa $209 shipped.

Board: Asus z9pe-d16: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-Z9PE-D...110044607?pt=Motherboards&hash=item43c782c3bf $370

Will support up to 512gb.

PSU: Corsair AX760: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139042 $170

Ram: http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=8D56969BA5CA7304 qty 4=$900 for a total of 64gb

Not sure what your plans are for case, coolers, or drives, but looks like 2k you can put together a decent box. I can tell you that board will fit in this case: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005869A7K/ with some elbow grease. You can use coolermaster 212's on that board as well. I am running e5-2650's, regular gskill, that case, and that psu with 212's w/o issue. This case will also take 120's vs. 60 or 80mm screamers.

This is a quick "bargin" config. Sure, it isn't OEM or whitebox, but in the DC community the equipment is ran harder than anything else, trust me :)

Red Squirrel, I've seen your posts/pics so I know you are capable of taking the DIY route on this to cobble it together. I will now duck before the "YOU MUST USE OEM SERVERS" crowd comes in and freaks out. For a home box, this would make you happy IMO. If you want more clock speed you can go with the non L serves which are 2.4ghz all core turbo. The L's are 2.0 all core turbo.
 
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Spazturtle said:
sc0tty knows his shit about server hardware, listen to him.

You still haven't said what you are doing with this server, so its hard to give advice. A quad E3 xeon will be at least twice as powerful if not more then your current rig. A E5 will be dramaticly more powerful.
Click to expand...

pretty sure he said he was doing VMs
 
I shot him some PMs on items on the used market on the forums that would work ace for VMs.
 
Thanks for the input, I was trying to figure out what makes them better if the clock speed is low but I guess it's just, that they're better. Though I think I will go with the e3's as suggested as they seem way more affordable. Just need to pick a different barebones kit that has the right socket. I try to stick to the barebones kits as if I buy case separately who knows if everything will fit properly, it's a gamble, and the barebones comes with the low profile heat sinks, if I buy a heatsink myself it will be the side of a cinder block. They make them so big now. :p

Only thing, do the e3 boards support more than 32GB of ram? Looking quickly I can't seem to find any that have more than 4 slots, but I did not look at deep yet as I'm only looking at the barebones kits and NCIX only has like 2 for that socket. Did not check newegg.ca yet though.

I don't really want to be buying this stuff off ebay and other sites I like to try to stick to one retailer otherwise the shipping adds up quick and rather stick to new with warranty/ability to RMA etc (I have very bad luck, I usually have to RMA at least one thing). This is for home production use. Right now I don't have much VMs running but I plan to start some projects that may require some, and I also want to setup some lab VMs for learning, but as far as importance it is going to be considered production.

When looking at a CPU what are the other things than clock speed I should be looking at? Obviously cores matter too, but other than that, anything else? Obviously I also want to check that it has VT and is 64 bit, but is it safe to assume that all modern cpus are 64 bit now?
 
Red Squirrel said:
When looking at a CPU what are the other things than clock speed I should be looking at? Obviously cores matter too, but other than that, anything else? Obviously I also want to check that it has VT and is 64 bit, but is it safe to assume that all modern cpus are 64 bit now?
Click to expand...

Yeah all modern chips are 64 bit. As for other things you should be looking at other than clock and core count, you'll be wanting something with hyperthreading since you run virtual machines. Real cores, half cores, or fake cores, virtual machines love threads.

AFAIK if you want more ram slots and thus more ram, you may end up being forced to go up to LGA 2011 simply because LGA 2011 chips can access 8 (possibly more) ram slots, so if you have 8 slots and you stick an 8 gig stick in each one you're looking at easily 64 gigs of ram.
 
I think I managed to come up with something more affordable. Limited to 32GB of ram, but I can build two for the same price the E5 based system would have cost me.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/supermicro-5018d-mtrf-1u-xeon-e3-1200-e4-85331.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-server-premier-19-94813.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e3-1270v3-4-a8-90544.htm

Comes up to $1,700 before taxes, so probably around $2,000ish. Really 32GB of ram is quite a lot given most of my VMs are Linux and I can always load balance if I do build two. Though, I have to watch my power usage as my inverter-charger is only 750w. Eventually will upgrade my power plant to have more capacity. Though the xeons are actually pretty good for power usage, my file server which is a E3-1230 actually uses under 100 watts.

I may also toy with just getting mobo and case separately as well, can probably save even more money there. Can the E3s do dual by chance? I probably wont go dual but nice to know if it can be done. Looking at non barebones opens up my options quite a bit. I don't need the case to even have drive bays so even if I get a cheap 3U case then at least everything should be standard. I don't really NEED redundant PSUs, it's more of a nice to have. My current server has a cheap single PSU and it's still going strong.


Oh and what about Tyan motherboards, are they good? I'm not sure if Supermicro ones will fit in a non Supermicro case.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I think I managed to come up with something more affordable. Limited to 32GB of ram, but I can build two for the same price the E5 based system would have cost me.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/supermicro-5018d-mtrf-1u-xeon-e3-1200-e4-85331.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-server-premier-19-94813.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e3-1270v3-4-a8-90544.htm

Comes up to $1,700 before taxes, so probably around $2,000ish. Really 32GB of ram is quite a lot given most of my VMs are Linux and I can always load balance if I do build two. Though, I have to watch my power usage as my inverter-charger is only 750w. Eventually will upgrade my power plant to have more capacity. Though the xeons are actually pretty good for power usage, my file server which is a E3-1230 actually uses under 100 watts.

I may also toy with just getting mobo and case separately as well, can probably save even more money there. Can the E3s do dual by chance? I probably wont go dual but nice to know if it can be done. Looking at non barebones opens up my options quite a bit. I don't need the case to even have drive bays so even if I get a cheap 3U case then at least everything should be standard. I don't really NEED redundant PSUs, it's more of a nice to have. My current server has a cheap single PSU and it's still going strong.


Oh and what about Tyan motherboards, are they good? I'm not sure if Supermicro ones will fit in a non Supermicro case.
Click to expand...

No, the selected E3 cannot do dual. If you are looking at intel server processors, the first number always tells you the number of sockets it can work with. 1xxx is one socket, 2xxx is 2, 4xxx is 4, and 8xxx for the fairly rare and exceedingly expensive 8P systems.

As for boards, I'm not the person to ask lol.
 
Captiosus said:
AFAIK if you want more ram slots and thus more ram, you may end up being forced to go up to LGA 2011 simply because LGA 2011 chips can access 8 (possibly more) ram slots, so if you have 8 slots and you stick an 8 gig stick in each one you're looking at easily 64 gigs of ram.
Click to expand...

Most 2p 2011 boards have 8 sockets per chip=16 sockets*8=128gb with ease. The board I linked earlier will support 512gb, however IMO anything over 48 in a home lab is more than likely overkill.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I think I managed to come up with something more affordable. Limited to 32GB of ram, but I can build two for the same price the E5 based system would have cost me.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/supermicro-5018d-mtrf-1u-xeon-e3-1200-e4-85331.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/kingston-4gb-ddr3-1600mhz-server-premier-19-94813.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/intel-xeon-e3-1270v3-4-a8-90544.htm

Comes up to $1,700 before taxes, so probably around $2,000ish. Really 32GB of ram is quite a lot given most of my VMs are Linux and I can always load balance if I do build two. Though, I have to watch my power usage as my inverter-charger is only 750w. Eventually will upgrade my power plant to have more capacity. Though the xeons are actually pretty good for power usage, my file server which is a E3-1230 actually uses under 100 watts.

I may also toy with just getting mobo and case separately as well, can probably save even more money there. Can the E3s do dual by chance? I probably wont go dual but nice to know if it can be done. Looking at non barebones opens up my options quite a bit. I don't need the case to even have drive bays so even if I get a cheap 3U case then at least everything should be standard. I don't really NEED redundant PSUs, it's more of a nice to have. My current server has a cheap single PSU and it's still going strong.


Oh and what about Tyan motherboards, are they good? I'm not sure if Supermicro ones will fit in a non Supermicro case.
Click to expand...

My input: 1u is loud. Have you ever owned a 1u? Sure they are not bad at idle other than the high pitched whine, but put them under load, if you are married expect to sleep on the couch. Also 1150 is going to limit upgrade path as well.

What are your plans for storage? Are you going to do just the inboard drive/controllers or add something else?
 
Yeah one system I was looking at putting like 128GB lol, but more I think about it, 32GB is going to be more than enough. Heck, when I was running my game server I had like 3 rather heavy VMs running (dev, prod, DB) and my current server has 8GB. It was tight but it worked. So yeah think I'll stick to single quad core with hyper threading, so 8 threads total. I'll keep pricing stuff together and experimenting.
 
sc0tty8 said:
My input: 1u is loud. Have you ever owned a 1u? Sure they are not bad at idle other than the high pitched whine, but put them under load, if you are married expect to sleep on the couch. Also 1150 is going to limit upgrade path as well.

What are your plans for storage? Are you going to do just the inboard drive/controllers or add something else?
Click to expand...

I have a dedicated server room which I'll be sealing up/insulating eventually so not too worried about sound. but yeah I have a 1U firewall and that thing is pretty loud lol. I'm single thankfully. :D For storage I have a file server already that I built last year using a Supermicro 24 bay case, so I'm good for that. Going to use NFS or iSCSI. The OS drive will probably be a SSD or maybe even a USB stick. Not sure which VM solution I will go with, I'll experiment. Probably Proxmox or Xen.

For socket, what about 1155, is that better?
 
2011 or bust :D

Personally, I know it would cost more, I would go with a 2p 2011 and populate only 1/2 so as time goes on and needs increase you have growth.
 
I was thinking that too, but the cpus need to match right? So down the line I may not be able to get the same one. So think I'll stick to a slighly lower end single with the intention that I can build a second server. I imagine as long as the architecture is close enough I should be able to live migrate VMs and stuff. Though depending on cost I may just build two right off the bat. I usually end up having to RMA parts anyway, so if I order 2 of everything at least I'll have one working server right away.

Newegg has a bigger selection of supermicro stuff including cases so managed to put together something without relying on barebones (save lot of money) only downside is practically all the ram listed as compatible is out of stock/no longer available and I'd have to settle for 1333 and not 1600. Would I notice a difference? Suppose I could order the ram from another source though. I just like sticking to one retailer, makes things easier.

This is what I've got:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117286
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182252
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811152129
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139978
I'll use a USB stick or SSD for OS.

Does this look pretty good?

I'm not ready to buy yet anyway just pricing out so who knows what will be available in weeks or months from now when I buy.

On the other hand if I do stick with 2011 I can put a ridiculous amount of ram in the system. :D If I plan to setup a MS AD environment or what not I might actually need that ram. You want at least 4-8GB of ram for Windows these days.
 
The cpus would need to be the same series and would run at the speed of the slowest chip. TBH, I honestly do not think you will have an issue finding 2011 chips. If you want some fun, try to find L series 1156. Ouch.

In terms of VM migration, if you are using any form of windows with hyper-v or esxi, it is agnostic.

Let's say your server is a 4p g34, you have a host OS of server 2012r2 w/ hyper-v. Now you decided to move the VMs to a 2p 2011 box with server 2012r2, you can do that with no issues. The hardware for the VM is virtualized. You can interchange VMs on an intel or amd machine back and forth, and from server 2008r2 to server 2012r2 both ways, unless the VM is a gen 2(2012r2 only), then you would not be able to move a gen 2 machine to 2008r2.

Likewise, you can do this with esxi, it doesn't care. I cannot comment on the other platforms, I would imagine they are the same.

For windows ram, my VMs swing all over the map on ram. At home I have a server with 1gb, 2gb, and 8gb ram. At work I have production VMs with 2gb, 4gb, 6gb, 8gb, and 12gb. Guess which one is the terminal server that feeds 17+ users :p

For the ram, supermicro will have a compatibility list. You can get by with desktop ddr3 if you had to. you will need to make that choice if you want to or not. You can also get the ram direct from crucial. I don't know the Canadian limitations with that, however.

For that setup, I've said my peace, if you are set on it, knock yourself out. You can add another one down the road if you need more mustard and spread the VMs out. If I was you, I would look at some of those L series xeons. I need more L series at the house :(
 
That's good to know, I'd probably be going with KVM, Qemu or Proxmox or other Linux based solution so I imagine it's probably forgiving as well.

The supermicro compatibility lists for ram tend to be really small so trying to find a mobo that is compatible with ram I can also find is a challenge, but I'll keep playing around. I also check ram manufacturer's pages and cross reference that way. I wish retail sites would make the process easier by listing all the ram that's compatible though instead of having to hunt around on the mobo/ram sites.

I'll look at L series too and may even stick with E5 like you suggested. Originally I did not know how much better it was than going desktop grade but now I know, so it makes it more worthwhile.

Still have to decide how far I want to take this server. Probably only going to buy in the next month or so.
 
sc0tty8 said:
Grumpy-cat-nope.jpg
Click to expand...

It's you that are in error.

The single processor variants of the E5 Xeon processor, the Xeon E5-1600, are indeed fully UNLOCKED, BCLK and multiplier. The dual processor (DP) versions of this processor, the E5-2600, are fully LOCKED as are the MP versions, the E5-4600. The only processor that is unknown at this point is the E5-1680 V2, simply because it's OEM only and nobody has tried it yet.

Captiosus said:
Wrong. If it was unlocked, there would have been alot more SR-X rigs w/ overclocked xeons on them. Hell, i tried it with my own xeon and it didnt work at all.
Unless it has that magical K or X next to the model number, good luck getting it much further than intel's limits.
Click to expand...

See the above statement. Single processor variants are FULLY UNLOCKED, dual processor variants are FULLY LOCKED.

lutjens said:
You can get either a Xeon E5-1620 V2, E5-1650 V2 or E5-1660 V2. The non-V2s are also an option if you can find them. All are fully unlocked. The E5-1620 V2 is fairly cheap as well, and IMHO would be a much better choice than a Xeon E3, by virtue of the much improved memory performance and far better I/O abilities.
Click to expand...

I stated this earlier in the thread, but some people either chose to ignore it or simply didn't bother to go back in the thread to read it in order to familiarize themselves with it to better understand the context of my later statements. This statement is entirely accurate and I stand behind it.

sc0tty8 said:
Oh and your options with e5 xeons for overclocking is to bump the ref clock...the highest I've seen was 108 mhz so good luck.
Click to expand...

If he goes with the E5-1600 series like I recommended, he WILL be able to overclock with either multiplier or BCLK straps. If he choses a Xeon E5-2600/4600, he will be UNABLE to overclock. Case closed.

Spazturtle said:
sc0tty knows his shit about server hardware, listen to him.

You still haven't said what you are doing with this server, so its hard to give advice. A quad E3 xeon will be at least twice as powerful if not more then your current rig. A E5 will be dramaticly more powerful.
Click to expand...

He apparently doesn't know jack shit about the single processor variants of the E5 Xeon family and is basing his statements on his experience with the dual processor versions, having never tried a single processor version. A dangerous generalization to make when making recommendations or telling other folks who have experience with both that they are wrong. I, on the other hand, have played with BOTH single and dual versions of the E5 Xeon and know the differences between them.

For all the naysayers, I've included a screenshot of my E5-1660...which is not at all locked.

cpu-z.jpg


Any questions...;)
 
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