Twin Xeon 5600 enthusiast motherboards?

chapel

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Jan 3, 2012
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I'm wondering if there's any benefit in finding an enthusiast motherboard (like the EVGA SR-2) and installing my twin X5647s into it.
Right now it's in a Dell T5500 workstation and the 2nd processor requires a daughterboard that is susceptible to failure

Would an enthusiast motherboard allow me to overclock at all or are these pretty much locked?
 
The SR-2 does allow overclocking, but its a PITA to do. The boards are very picky and no 2 will perform the same, even with 1 set of cpu's.

If you are interested in this route this thread has everything you need to know:-
Its aimed at the folding crowd but the basics still apply.

SR 2 overclocking
 
is there any benefit for something as simple as gaming?
I mostly do that now.
I'm wondering if I should just sell the 2nd processor and use a single processor on an X58 motherboard...
I'm more concerned about durability than overclocking and my stock setup is VERY tight for cooling.
I also don't think having two processors is really doing much for my gaming...
I'd like to reduce my power consumption if I end up going to a single

Also, I really don't want a HTPX case... I don't have room for that. Is there any enthusiast ATX sized dual CPU motherboards?
 
Gaming> not really, most games are still bound to 4 cores or less, high clock speed and IPC is what you need. I game on a twin cpu machine but clocks are low and gameplay suffers for it
Durability, either stick with your current set up at stock or go single socket - whilst you won't damage the cpu's, the boards are flaky and good cooling is a must.

OC'ing will push up power consumption, you would be looking at 500-600watts from the wall.

There are no enthusiast dual cpu mobo's that I know of - all atx ones are standard server - no overclocking
 
So, might be worth it to find a good X58 for cheap and go single socket?
will still consume less power than two Xeons on the same board.
Perhaps I could trade my second processor for an X58 motherboard...
 
You'd probably be better off peddling the entire workstation and using the proceeds to buy a nice single-socket Haswell system; the X5647's are just 1st-gen i7 quad-cores and as such are not very interesting. On the other hand, if you have a working T5500 that's worth a significant amount of money to people looking for a ready-to-use system.
 
How much could I sell it for? $1000? Less?
It was $6000 new.
Check completed listings on ebay. To be honest the T5500 is an unwanted model since it is so limited so they sell for a lot less than the T7500 and Z800s.
 
went to build a new box but did some 3dmark comparisons

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($212.48 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 LED Ball Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $40.00)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($128.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $550.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $550.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $100.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($98.94 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card (Purchased For $499.99)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Tough Power 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($130.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $2446.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 09:53 EDT-0400

hmm... Comparing my build to top verified 1 GPU GTX680 with i5-4690K http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1298126/fs/2509368
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/cg/1127544/cg/1856733
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/is/2177128/is/1260842
It would seem that my current build is better than what I'm planning on building.
 
samn makes me want to buy one also just to have a 2x 6 core system. Would be cool for bragging rights.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
went to build a new box but did some 3dmark comparisons

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($212.48 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9700 LED Ball Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $40.00)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($128.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $550.00)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V+100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $550.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $100.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($98.94 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card (Purchased For $499.99)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake Tough Power 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($130.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $2446.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 09:53 EDT-0400

hmm... Comparing my build to top verified 1 GPU GTX680 with i5-4690K http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/1298126/fs/2509368
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/cg/1127544/cg/1856733
http://www.3dmark.com/compare/is/2177128/is/1260842
It would seem that my current build is better than what I'm planning on building.

For gaming in general, the 4690k will be significantly better than your two xeons. Of course, whether you notice it in game or not depends on the game.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
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