i7 970 vs Xeon X5650

barrycarey

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Oct 4, 2011
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Hey All,

I have an X58 box I use as a VM host (built with consumer, not server hardware). I wanted to upgrade to 6 cores so I picked up an Xeon X5650 off Ebay. However, before I received it I found a killer deal on an i7 970 so picked it up.

My question is, which would I be better off using? Both seem pretty close. I have the 970 in it right now but I'm thinking the Xeon would be the better choice.

Base system is an Evga X58 SLI3 with 24gb Corsair Dominator GT

Anyone mind giving me some input?
 
I have the SLI3 board as well with a 5650. It works pretty much fine. Some things are a little iffy like random lengths of time it takes to post which wasn't present when I had a 920. I would say just go with whichever overclocks the best.

If you are not overclocking and the difference of speed between 2.66ghz and 3.2 doesn't matter than I'd go with the Xeon because it has a TDP of 95w compared to 130.

If you don't care about power and not overclocking then the 970.
 
i would say keep your 970 on the single socket board and save that X5650 for a dual socket mobo like SR-2.
 
The XEON, even when overclocked to the speed of the 970 should run cooler than then 970.

Just test both and see which one runs a higher OC.

If you don't want to OC, then just use the 970.
 
The two chips are the same design just crippled differently for different markets. The 970 has a higher stock clock (and hence higher multiplier which may help in reaching higher overclocks) but has multiprocessor and ECC support disabled (neither of which are of any use to you with a consumer motherboard).

If you are running stock the 970 will win because of it's higher stock clock. If you are overclocking then it's going to depend on the individual chips.
 
I think the multiplier of the X5650 is high enough not to limit your overclock (max all core is 22x I think), so I imagine the X5650 would outclock the 970 and I wager has a better chance of getting to 200FSB on it's maximum multiplier than the 970 has of hitting the same speed and as has been said, will probably run cooler doing so.

But, as other's have said, you need to try them both and see...;)
 
I don't think overclocking a VM host is the best idea...

additionally, you should just get some server grade stuff, maybe a second X5650, some ECC memory for your VM host... it's not that expensive compared to consumer stuff, hell some server boards are cheaper than some X58 boards lately
 
I think the multiplier of the X5650 is high enough not to limit your overclock (max all core is 22x I think), so I imagine the X5650 would outclock the 970 and I wager has a better chance of getting to 200FSB on it's maximum multiplier than the 970 has of hitting the same speed and as has been said, will probably run cooler doing so.

But, as other's have said, you need to try them both and see...;)

I've owned two 970s. One still holds steady at 4.2ghz, the other one has degraded and wont hold over 4.0 stable (might have something to do with me putting 1.55v on it with inadequate cooling for a few months).

The x5650 is definitely a higher quality chip than the 970. It's the one I'd use if I had access to both. Less power consumption at the least. But really we are splitting hairs, the processors are virtually the same if you're not taking advantage of the server-specific tech on the x5650.
 
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