Which X58 XEON is the best bang for the buck?

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BigBossX58

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Feb 18, 2016
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Hi guys,

I currently run a i7-940 C0 overclocked to 3.75GHz. I was wondering which X58 XEON to get that is the best bang for the buck? I was looking at X5650, X5660, X5670 and X5675. Is there a de facto one I should get similar to the i7-920 that has a lot of overclock room? I'm planning to overclock it past 4.0GHz. I'm pretty unlucky so I probably won't be winning a bin lottery. I have a Noctua ND-D14. My motherboard is an Intel DX58SO, which from doing some research isn't that good. I also live in Canada where the dollar is terrible so the prices range from $100 to $200 on ebay. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.
 
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I got my X5650 @ 4.0GHz stable and right now running @ 4.4GHz
 
Any of them will be lightyears ahead of the 920. Just buy one in your budget and hope for the best. The difference between 3.8 and 4.0 isn't much so don't get fixated on a magic number. This is my opinion of course.
 
L5640 hexcores are on e- bay for 50-60$ I myself like the X5660 for the 23 multiplier. Have had issues with even multipliers.
 
I have had 3 X5650 and two X5675, 2 of my X5650 would do 4GHz stable and bench at 4.2GHz without going crazy with the Vcore. One was actually a decent clocker would do 4.2GHz and bench [email protected]. My best X5675 would do [email protected] 24/7 24gb ram@2000mhz on a air cooler.
 
I like the x5675 as well for the higher available multiplier.

I have a couple servers with 2 engineering sample x5675 each.
 
I picked up an x5660 for about $115 on ebay. 4.6Ghz at 1.375 volts, and it really flies. Even made it my primary gaming rig over my 4770k (not because it's faster, but because it is just so darn fun to overclock).
 
Awesome to hear. The only thing X58 platform doesn't have is a legit Sata III port. Sure there is no real world difference between Sata II vs Sata III, but I do a lot of 3D work and it seems the scratch disk isn't utilize to its full potential.
 
Next upgrade for my X58 setup is an M.2 SSD on a PCIe adapter. Solves the SATAIII problem better than buying into a new platform
 
Are there different stepping versions for X5675? Wiki says there is only B1 but I see some ES versions on ebay. Any difference?
 
Honestly, any of them if you can get them under $100. There is a forum member selling some X5650's for good price, just saw the thread today in the For Sale forums.
 
Stereodude said:
ES are engineering samples. I would generally suggest avoiding those.
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BigBossX58 said:
Damn, so that's what it stands for. Thanks, very helpful. What's confusing is that this listing says ES and B1 lol.
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I have 4x ES x5675 CPUs. The large majority of them have been pulled form working servers. As long as you get the later versions.. such as B1, they are going to be identical to the final release.

What is the point in avoiding them?
 
cyclone3d said:
I have 4x ES x5675 CPUs. The large majority of them have been pulled form working servers. As long as you get the later versions.. such as B1, they are going to be identical to the final release.

What is the point in avoiding them?
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Doing some research around the web I found other people are saying that they are not as good as retail chips and are less likely to be good overclockers. Also something about the extreme stress the are put under due to it being an ES which would effect longevity.
 
So I just got one off ebay that was from a floor HP Server. I should be fine right? Hopefully the back is just dirty and that's not a scratch. It looks pretty beat up.

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Looks ok but i would clean some of that white thermal paste off with alcohol before using it
 
primetime said:
Looks ok but i would clean some of that white thermal paste off with alcohol before using it
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Why is there thermal paste on the back to begin with? Does it have something to do with how the servers are setup? Judging from interior pictures of servers there doesn't seem to be a CPU cooler anywhere.
 
W3690=Win. Upgraded my beater system with one...beautiful chip indeed. High bin and fully unlocked. Runs cool as a cucumber. It's currently getting use as my mother's main system and has been 100% flawless with an Asus WS caliber X58 board. I also gave her my GTX 690 as well so the system has enough gaming grunt to allow me to get my WoW dailies done when I go and visit her...;)
 
BigBossX58 said:
Why is there thermal paste on the back to begin with? Does it have something to do with how the servers are setup? Judging from interior pictures of servers there doesn't seem to be a CPU cooler anywhere.
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Probably the people pulling them were in a hurry....spread form there hands or whatever. I bet in a lot of cases, these cpus are sorta stolen by the techs hired to change out the equipment. (know body asks what happened to the old equipment and they know its easy money on ebay)
 
primetime said:
Probably the people pulling them were in a hurry....spread form there hands or whatever. I bet in a lot of cases, these cpus are sorta stolen by the techs hired to change out the equipment. (know body asks what happened to the old equipment and they know its easy money on ebay)
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Interesting you might be on to something. Looking at the seller's profile there are 5 other xeons that are just as dirty with writing on them and uncleaned thermal paste. Surprising they didn't even take the time to clean it.
 
lutjens said:
W3690=Win. Upgraded my beater system with one...beautiful chip indeed. High bin and fully unlocked. Runs cool as a cucumber. It's currently getting use as my mother's main system and has been 100% flawless with an Asus WS caliber X58 board. I also gave her my GTX 690 as well so the system has enough gaming grunt to allow me to get my WoW dailies done when I go and visit her...;)
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$190 for a W3690. Too expensive lol.
 
lutjens said:
W3690=Win. Upgraded my beater system with one...beautiful chip indeed. High bin and fully unlocked. Runs cool as a cucumber. It's currently getting use as my mother's main system and has been 100% flawless with an Asus WS caliber X58 board. I also gave her my GTX 690 as well so the system has enough gaming grunt to allow me to get my WoW dailies done when I go and visit her...;)
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wait, those are multiplier unlocked, up and down?
 
BigBossX58 said:
What overclock speeds do you have for it?
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It's in my beater system that's being used by my mother for her day to day e-mailing and browsing so I haven't overclocked it (it's running at default clock speed with a retail Intel HSF from an i7-980X).

But if I were to stick a decent cooler on it, I'm sure it would do very well. Most chips of this bin have no problem getting well within the 4GHz range with ease...;)
 
Finally received my x5675 today. Unfortunately, it is not going smoothly. I installed it and when I try to boot all I get is a blackscreen. Occasionally, I am able to get into the BIOS after pulling the plug and hitting the switch on my power supply. In the bios I restore the default settings and once it restarts it goes back to a blackscreen again. Not sure what could be the problem.
 
BigBossX58 said:
Finally received my x5675 today. Unfortunately, it is not going smoothly. I installed it and when I try to boot all I get is a blackscreen. Occasionally, I am able to get into the BIOS after pulling the plug and hitting the switch on my power supply. In the bios I restore the default settings and once it restarts it goes back to a blackscreen again. Not sure what could be the problem.
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Your motherboard could need a BIOS update to support the Xeon?
 
bpizzle1 said:
Your motherboard could need a BIOS update to support the Xeon?
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I made sure I had the latest BIOS before installing it. The BIOS does recognize it but I can't get it to boot into windows. After leaving it alone for a bit to do some research I came back to it and can now consistently get into the BIOS. wtf lol?
 
Wow just got it to boot into windows for the first time. I lowered the memory speeds the lowest they can go and was able to get it to boot into windows. Something odd is happening.
 
shit......that Intel DX58SO could be tricky to get it working with a xeon....it is stupid that an intel board would have issues with an intel xeon....But if i had to guess its being squirrely. i can usually remember when people mention having good results with this or that board...and i have read a lot..but that board doesn't stand out in my mind as being favorable

1. try doing a long full reset of the c-mos, then reset to defaults, then make small changes at a time and rebooting between bios changes...try to find the easiest settings to start with and go from there kinda like your doing with the memory settings.
 
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primetime said:
shit......that Intel DX58SO could be tricky to get it working with a xeon....it is stupid that an intel board would have issues with an intel xeon....But if i had to guess its being squirrely. i can usually remember when people mention having good results with this or that board...and i have read a lot..but that board doesn't stand out in my mind as being favorable

1. try doing a long full reset of the c-mos, then reset to defaults, then make small changes at a time and rebooting between bios changes...try to find the easiest settings to start with and go from there kinda like your doing with the memory settings.
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Thx primetime. It seems to be under control atm. No more blackscreens and I can boot into windows. The problem I'm having now is with overclocking. I can't seem to get a Bclk above 160. Anything above that number it won't boot into windows. What's weird is i was able to hit 170 on my i7940. I remember just finding my Bclk for my i7940 and it was able to do 200. I tried lowering the multiplier and increasing the Bclk instead. No dice. Not sure what's up. Very puzzling.
 
Tried a ton of random things over the past few hours and still can't get Bclk above 160. Won't even boot into windows with a Bclk of 200 and a multiplier of 12. I'm gonna try downgrading the BIOS to see if it helps. Seems like intel has a history of capping your overclock with this board (DX58SO + BIOS update = Overclock goes down the crapper). The question is which one to downgrade too lol.
 
Have you tried lowering UNCORE speed and QPI Link speed?

I know that if my UNCORE goes above 3100Mhz, the computer will refuse to post. I also have the QPI Link speed set to its lowest setting. Increasing QPI voltage (to about 1.25) also helps with BLCK overclocking. If I leave everything on Auto, my computer refuses to post past 190Mhz BCLK. Manually setting QPI and Uncore, I have it stable at 219mhz, and have posted as high as 230mhz.


Randome Note: Also (hopefully this doesn't break the rules), if any members from Ontario want my i7 920DO, they can have it for free. Just PM me. It does 4.4Ghz, so it still has some oomph to it.
 
caltech31 said:
Have you tried lowering UNCORE speed and QPI Link speed?

I know that if my UNCORE goes above 3100Mhz, the computer will refuse to post. I also have the QPI Link speed set to its lowest setting. Increasing QPI voltage (to about 1.25) also helps with BLCK overclocking. If I leave everything on Auto, my computer refuses to post past 190Mhz BCLK. Manually setting QPI and Uncore, I have it stable at 219mhz, and have posted as high as 230mhz.


Randome Note: Also (hopefully this doesn't break the rules), if any members from Ontario want my i7 920DO, they can have it for free. Just PM me. It does 4.4Ghz, so it still has some oomph to it.
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Interesting. I never played around with the QPI stuff. I'll give it a shot and report back.
 
Welp. Tried bios versions 5600, 5599, 5561, 5559, 5529, 5506, 5456, 5200. None of them allow me to have a Bclk over 160Mhz. Also tried the limited QPI settings I have, nothing. Seems like the mobo is really limiting my cpu. They probably forgot about the x5675 in their updates. Bummer.
 
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