Sandy Bridge Core i7 or Xeon E3-1240

[Finny76]

Cant decide between the two (almost the same price)

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $314.99

Intel Xeon E3-1240 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 80W Quad-Core Server Processor $264.99

 

[DejaWiz]

what are you going to be doing with this system?

 

[Finny76]

Graphics, Video and Audio Encoding/Recording

 

[iconiK]

If you don't care about overclocking, get Xeon E3-1230. It's even cheaper.

 

[plugwash]

Afaict the xeons aren't overclockable. So you are giving up overclockability and a small ammount of stock clockspeed in exchange for a lower pricetag and some server orientated features (which you would probablly need a server board to exploit).

 

[German Muscle]

Graphics, Video and Audio Encoding/Recording

Get the Xeon

If you don't care about overclocking, get Xeon E3-1230. It's even cheaper.

The 1230 does not have Hyperthreading.

Afaict the xeons aren't overclockable. So you are giving up overclockability and a small ammount of stock clockspeed in exchange for a lower pricetag and some server orientated features (which you would probablly need a server board to exploit).

Xeons are not overclockable at all. You will get the server features on any board.

 

[iconiK]

The 1230 does not have Hyperthreading.

Yes it does. E3-1220 does not have HT, 30 does.

You will get the server features on any board.

No you won't. You need a board's BIOS to support ECC and AMT, and so far only C20X boards do that (and C206 only for AMT).

 

[Neb]

iconiK is correct, the 1230 does have HT:
http://ark.intel.com/products/52271

While it's true you don't get ECC unless you have both a server board and processor, if you're talking about AMT alone you can get that with workstation motherboards. Intel's Q67 motherboards have AMT and don't require a Xeon chip.

 

[iconiK]

Intel's Q67 motherboards have AMT and don't require a Xeon chip.

Oh, true, that one as well. Point is you don't get it on P67, H67 or Z68.

 

[DejaWiz]

I'm inclined to recommend one of the lower priced i7's, and put it in a modest mobo.

 

[iconiK]

I'm inclined to recommend one of the lower priced i7's, and put it in a modest mobo.

There is no i7 cheaper than Xeon E3-1230 (or E3-1235 if you want the IGP & Quick Sync). And it doesn't cost much more than an i5 either.