Saint James
n00b
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2013
- Messages
- 9
I recently sought input over on another forum and received zero replies. Over there I feel like I am shouting out workstation-related questions in a sea of gamers. 90% of the threads over there revolve around gaming, which isn't something that interests me, anymore.
I'd also like to say that I'm quite impressed with this forum. It has a much, much cleaner layout than the others I've visited, and it loads much, much quicker with fewer bugs. I've also been very impressed with the quality of discussion here.
Getting to my question.
I'm currently trying to plan a workstation build, and I'm trying to build something that can hopefully last me 6-8 years, if necessary. I've already got my case and PSU(see my sig). As of this moment, the only software that I will running day 1 is AutoCAD LT 2014. This will likely change at some point, however. In the future I will almost assuredly be wanting to run the full version of AutoCAD or even SolidWorks Pro, as well as some other programs such as Zemax 13(which is able to utilize up to 64 CPUs for the 64 bit version). I also intend to delve into astrophotography at some point, though I couldn't really say how CPU-intensive that sort of work is.
So, I had initially decided to go with the Asus P9X79-E WS board and install either an E5-2680 or E5-2680 v2(I wasn't able to decide). Someone else though, had suggested that I invest in a dual socket motherboard and install a pair of cheaper Xeons, such as the E5-2630. The argument being, that I would end up with 12 cores instead of 8 or 10, and for less money.
Now, before I go any further, I would like to stop and ask: Is my PSU(sig) capable of powering dual CPUs? If the answer to this is no, then that makes everything else easier to decide.
So, back to my question. Will two E5-2630s outperform a single E5-2680 v2? What we're comparing is 10 cores running at 2.8Ghz to 12 cores running at 2.0Ghz. In either case I wind up with 30MB of L3 cache, but I don't know whether the advantage goes to the single setup which would have more last level cache to spend on each core, or the dual setup which would have its cores split between two banks. Also, as I understand it a single die setup should benefit from lower cache latencies. Again, I don't even know whether any of this really matters for the type of work I'll be doing.
So, would any of you care to offer your recommendation? Am I driving myself mad overthinking this?
Thank you in advance,
James
I'd also like to say that I'm quite impressed with this forum. It has a much, much cleaner layout than the others I've visited, and it loads much, much quicker with fewer bugs. I've also been very impressed with the quality of discussion here.
Getting to my question.
I'm currently trying to plan a workstation build, and I'm trying to build something that can hopefully last me 6-8 years, if necessary. I've already got my case and PSU(see my sig). As of this moment, the only software that I will running day 1 is AutoCAD LT 2014. This will likely change at some point, however. In the future I will almost assuredly be wanting to run the full version of AutoCAD or even SolidWorks Pro, as well as some other programs such as Zemax 13(which is able to utilize up to 64 CPUs for the 64 bit version). I also intend to delve into astrophotography at some point, though I couldn't really say how CPU-intensive that sort of work is.
So, I had initially decided to go with the Asus P9X79-E WS board and install either an E5-2680 or E5-2680 v2(I wasn't able to decide). Someone else though, had suggested that I invest in a dual socket motherboard and install a pair of cheaper Xeons, such as the E5-2630. The argument being, that I would end up with 12 cores instead of 8 or 10, and for less money.
Now, before I go any further, I would like to stop and ask: Is my PSU(sig) capable of powering dual CPUs? If the answer to this is no, then that makes everything else easier to decide.
So, back to my question. Will two E5-2630s outperform a single E5-2680 v2? What we're comparing is 10 cores running at 2.8Ghz to 12 cores running at 2.0Ghz. In either case I wind up with 30MB of L3 cache, but I don't know whether the advantage goes to the single setup which would have more last level cache to spend on each core, or the dual setup which would have its cores split between two banks. Also, as I understand it a single die setup should benefit from lower cache latencies. Again, I don't even know whether any of this really matters for the type of work I'll be doing.
So, would any of you care to offer your recommendation? Am I driving myself mad overthinking this?
Thank you in advance,
James