2080 Ti overkill for older Dell Workstation Xeon?

[TimothyB]

Machine:
Dell T7910
64gb Ram
Dual Xeon E5-2687w V3 10 cores each
(20 core total at 3.10GHz-3.37ghz)

Cinebench R15
Single Core = 136cb (Top current CPU’s can hit 210)
Multicore = 3035cb

After recently upgrading to an 38” LG Ultrawide with a cropped 4K-like resolution, 3840x1600, my trusty 980 Ti has started showing its age, both in games and 3D creative software when the viewport is near full screen (Modo, Substance Painter, etc)

A 2080 would be a nice upgrade, but long term, I’m tempted by a 2080 Ti, I’m just worried my cpu could be a huge bottleneck to the point that add performance is never seen.

Even at the high 3840x1600 resolution, would the CPU severely limit the frame-rate? The display can also support 75hz at that resolution with FreeSync, which may be compatible with 1080 and newer cards.

Any advice would be great! Thanks.

 

[IdiotInCharge]

With 3D software I sincerely doubt that it matters, while games will depend on which games you're playing and what your performance targets are. ~4k60 is still a challenge if you like stuff turned up.

 

[pippenainteasy]

At 4K and above you are GPU bound. In fact in the vast majority of games there's not much of a difference between a 3GHz or a 5GHz CPU as long as you have 6 or more physical cores. I actually downclock my 8700K to 3.5GHz in the summer for lower temps and haven't noticed a hit to fps, I am running 2080 Ti as well.

 

[TimothyB]

Thanks for the advice so far.

At this point, I’m tempted to replace the Dell with a pre-built machine that’s lighter, smaller, cooler, and cleaner. I’m not fully utilizing the rendering horsepower of this machine.

Tempted to pick up a basic iBuyPower with a 2080 for $1650 at BestBuy. I’d just need to add more memory.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/questi...2080-1tb-solid-state-drive-black-gray/6292003

For a prebuilt machine, I don’t absolutely hate the case. Putting my hand behind the machine, felt only cool air compared to the heat from my dual cpus when idle.

The Dell has no rear exhaust fans, so a GPU that throws air in all directions is not exactly great compared to the old blower designs. As the ram slots have their own tunnel chambers and the dual cpus fans force air through the back, PSU and drives are isolated in other side of the case.

 

[Stoly]

If you are willing to wait, Ryzen 2 is coming out soon. It would be a great choice specially for 3d rendering

 

[Auer]

Thanks for the advice so far.

At this point, I’m tempted to replace the Dell with a pre-built machine that’s lighter, smaller, cooler, and cleaner. I’m not fully utilizing the rendering horsepower of this machine.

Tempted to pick up a basic iBuyPower with a 2080 for $1650 at BestBuy. I’d just need to add more memory.
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/questi...2080-1tb-solid-state-drive-black-gray/6292003

For a prebuilt machine, I don’t absolutely hate the case. Putting my hand behind the machine, felt only cool air compared to the heat from my dual cpus when idle.

The Dell has no rear exhaust fans, so a GPU that throws air in all directions is not exactly great compared to the old blower designs. As the ram slots have their own tunnel chambers and the dual cpus fans force air through the back, PSU and drives are isolated in other side of the case.

I use a Dell T3600 with a RTX2070 as a workstation. Adobe products mostly. Some gaming as well, 4K display. Xeon 1620-0

Same heat issues as you, and I'm looking at a replacement in the fall. Hard to justify tho as it does everything really well but something cooler/quieter would be nice.

I gave AMD a serius long thought but Intel and nVidia are such proven performers that I'll stick to them. At least for stuff that makes me $$$.

The iBuyPower looks good.

 

[Dan_D]

Honestly, I'd just slap a video card in the dual Xeon system. It will out perform that IBuyPower system with a 2080. A RTX 2080Ti is considerably faster. Again, the CPU performance isn't a big deal. You can also buy a non-reference card with a different cooling setup if you need to for the Dell.

 

[TimothyB]

Lots to think about.

Note about thermals:
I’m in San Jose, Summer is approaching and no AC to cool a room that heats up quickly.

I Picked up the iBuyPower machine, not opened yet as I’m thinking about the recent comments here.

3 things can happen:

1: I could always test out the iBuyPower and love the single core performance (most modeling takes and tools) and possibly good thermals.

2: Try the 2080 in the Dell. If it performs better overall, I could move the old 980 Ti into the iBuyPower and keep it and my girlfriend might buy it for the difference of the 2080.

3: I could always return the iBuyPower and go for 2080 Ti, but that’s so close to the cost of this new computer.

I also hate opening things if there’s a chance I might return it.

 

[Auer]

Lots to think about.

Note about thermals:
I’m in San Jose, Summer is approaching and no AC to cool a room that heats up quickly.

I Picked up the iBuyPower machine, not opened yet as I’m thinking about the recent comments here.

3 things can happen:

1: I could always test out the iBuyPower and love the single core performance (most modeling takes and tools) and possibly good thermals.

2: Try the 2080 in the Dell. If it performs better overall, I could move the old 980 Ti into the iBuyPower and keep it and my girlfriend might buy it for the difference of the 2080.

3: I could always return the iBuyPower and go for 2080 Ti, but that’s so close to the cost of this new computer.

I also hate opening things if there’s a chance I might return it.

Work with the iBuyPower and see how you like it for a while?

 

[TimothyB]

The GPU in the iBuyPower turned out to be a blower style card. Asus Turbo RTX 2080 which is generally sold closer to $709 and not $800. The display model at Best Buy Was a different type of card. I know the GPU can vary depending on availability, but I didn’t even realize there was one like this.

It’s hard to find thorough reviews on this card during an initial search. I’m wonder how the temps and sound are this type of cooler on an RTX 2080.

 

[Auer]

That card would be great for your Dell as it evacuates heat.

 

[TimothyB]

After having the computer on a couple hours, doing Cinebench tests and light use in MODO, the 2080 idle reached 51C and wasn’t going down.

After 5-10 minutes in a game pushing it, it hovered around 82-85C. The exhaust on the back of the card, hot enough to not be able to leave your hand on it. Exhaust from CPU color okay.

CPU max was 72C

(Outside temps are 65F, so probably a little more inside, window open)

Can’t really say anything about noise atm.

The MSI and Asus Aura color RGB apps preinstalled fail to run without an error, only the Motherboard RGB controller worked. CPU cooler doesn’t seem to match the color of all the other RGB lights. It was green instead of red for example.

 

[TimothyB]

Thought I’d post some initial impressions for anyone that might be in a similar situation:

Modo:

Greatly improved performance in the more taxing advance game engine like viewport. Easily double FPS with basic shading, and with full shading, close to triple (40-60fps) with the 2080 compared to the 980ti, so much more usable. Again, this is with a monitor at 3840x1600 that really pushes the viewport. Switch to 1080p and performance just skyrockets in both.

2080 in Dell or iBuyPower
Performance with the 2080 in the Dell or iBuyPower for the viewport was about the same.

Fixing my viewport issue/bug in Modo
Replacing the 980 Ti with the 2080 in the Dell, same drivers, instantly fixed the advanced viewport issue where textures, even background, where half or lower resolution. Very odd.


Substance Painter:

This was a test of overall performance between the 8700k / 2080 vs Dell / 980 Ti. I’m expecting more CPU related improvement, but the texturing also uses a ton of GPU memory and system ram.


Test 1:

Changing to a different texture set and then applying a smart material to the top layer:

IBuyPower = 16seconds

Dell = 30 seconds


Test 2:

Changing a texture set from 2k to 4k (recalculates every brushstroke and material as if you worked at 4k from the start)

iBuyPower = 40 seconds

Dell = 1 min and 38 seconds


Temps after Painter tests and machines being on for a while:

At the end of these tests the iBuyPower was basically silent, impressive as it was sitting on top of the Dell Tower closer to me, all while being cooler.

iBuyPower = CPU was idling at 37C. GPU around 41C idle or so (max temps were lower than Dell) with default fan curve.

Dell = CPU 1 idle at 61C, CPU 2 at 53C. GPU at 61C idle. (EVGA 980 Ti Superclocked+


Unigine Heaven:

Preparing to install more games that can push this. Though, this test was more to push thermals/noise on the 2080 single fan design while trying different curves. No way can you run this 2080 with 100% fan, very very loud, like a hand held Dyson vacuum.


2080 at default configuration:

Temps in benchmark hitting 83-85C, all while mostly being silent.

Custom Fan Curve:

Pushing the fan up to 55% by 70C, the card mostly remained at 71-73C during test. You could hear the card now, but not unreasonable, especially if you were in a game. (Though, this test was while the 2080 was in the Dell, enclosed by larger steal panels vs a glass panel on the iBuy power. Further testing needed.


GPU mostly stayed at 1850GHz during tests, with an initial jump to 1900+ at start. Seems to increase regardless what the OC tool, which I think was 1700 something. I need to figure out what’s going on to maybe limit it more for possibly lower temps with less fan noise.

Overall, temps with more fan helped, but no longer silent. More testing needed over a longer gaming session.


Heaven benchmark results (3840x1600, High, DX11)


iBuyPower Score (first run at default settings

FPS = 96.50
Score = 2430
Min = 8.9 (not sure why so low compared to Dell)
High = 201.2

Dell with 980 Ti
FPS = 59
Score = 1487
Min = 24.9
High = 136.5

Dell with 2080
FPS = 97.1
Score = 2445
Min = 26.9
High = 203.1