I would like some help weighing my options please!

[Saint James]

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

 

[Saint James]

Hmm....Is there any chance that I could have this thread moved to the Intel CPU board? This board seems rather dead.

*wrings hands in anticipation*

 

[mi7chy]

As long as you don't go overboard with multiple video cards and disk array you're fine on the power supply. I run dual-socket Xeon on 850W and it was even fine on 650W.

For your work load I'd go with slightly fewer higher clocked cores. AutoCAD won't benefit from multi-core but rendering software like Solidworks will.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15224826&linkID=9240617

I'd be more concerned about DRAM where the Asus P9X79-E is kind of restrictive with only 64GB. Take a look at Supermicro offerings where they support configurations up to 1.5TB and dual-socket for future growth although multiple CPUs are usually bought at initial purchase since they need to be identical stepping (revision). Furthermore, it might be difficult to add a second CPU later as steppings change and it'll be hard to find the identical stepping new down the road.

http://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/#2011

E5-2680v2 preferred if priced similarly.

E5-2680v2 http://ark.intel.com/products/75277
E5-2680 http://ark.intel.com/products/64583
E5-2630 http://ark.intel.com/products/64593

 

[Saint James]

As long as you don't go overboard with multiple video cards and disk array you're fine on the power supply. I run dual-socket Xeon on 850W and it was even fine on 650W.

For your work load I'd go with slightly fewer higher clocked cores. AutoCAD won't benefit from multi-core but rendering software like Solidworks will.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=15224826&linkID=9240617

I'd be more concerned about DRAM where the Asus P9X79-E is kind of restrictive with only 64GB. Take a look at Supermicro offerings where they support configurations up to 1.5TB and dual-socket for future growth although multiple CPUs are usually bought at initial purchase since they need to be identical stepping (revision). Furthermore, it might be difficult to add a second CPU later as steppings change and it'll be hard to find the identical stepping new down the road.

http://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/#2011

E5-2680v2 preferred if priced similarly.

E5-2680v2 http://ark.intel.com/products/75277
E5-2680 http://ark.intel.com/products/64583
E5-2630 http://ark.intel.com/products/64593

The 2630 is substantially cheaper than the other two. The E5-2680 v2 is Ivy Bridge-E, whereas the other two are Sandy Bridge-E. After taking another look at the series, I think I really prefer the E5-2690 v2. It's 10 core like the 2680 v2, but the cores are clocked at 3.0 Ghz, and it's only slightly more expensive, comparatively.

Keeping in mind that I would like this rig to last me 6 or more years, I'm starting to think that I would be sorely disappointed with the 2630s a few years down the road.

I'd also like to know why you're suggesting that 64GB of DRAM is kind of restrictive? I see that the dual socket boards support 512GB of DRAM, but I also can't afford that sort of memory. If I'm reading the prices on 32GB modules correctly, outfitting a dual socket board with 512GB would run me $10,000. That's in comparison to the $800 I would spend on 64GB. Of course, I suppose I could always simply outfit a dual socket board with 256GB using 16GB cards at a much more reasonable cost.

Even in that case, dual 2690 v2s are out of my price range, so I'd be stuck with lower range E5s with low clock speeds.

So, do you think I'd be better off going with dual low-end E5s with 128GB-256GB of memory, or a single high-end E5 with 64GB of memory? And again, would I really benefit from anything over 64GB of RAM?

EDIT: As far as graphics and storage, I've decided on a K5000 GPU and dual Samsung 840 1TB in RAID 1. I also see now that my PSU supports dual CPUs if I decide to go that route.