Xeon vs. Core 2 duo

[an51r]

Alright I have chance to jump on a good deal for the xeon equivalent of the E8400. The chip will be used in a desktop motherboard with the primary functions of the PC being photoshop and gaming.

I have googled at least 10 variations of this question and could not find one clear answer. I have seen people say the xeons are actually different chips and some say that they are just high binned brothers to the wolfdales. Does anyone have a definitive answer as to the architecture differences of these chips if there is any? Thank you

 

[ilkhan]

s775 xeons are identical in all meaningful ways to the C2x equivalent.

 

[RussianHAXOR]

s775 xeons are identical in all meaningful ways to the C2x equivalent.

From my experience owning a Xeon thats practically the same as the Q9450 i believe the VID on the Xeons is actually a little lower.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=178255

 

[silent-circuit]

The architecture is the same, however the microcode is /not/. You may run in to issues with compatibility (some cores not always showing up, etc) running Xeons on desktop boards, particularly nForce boards. P35/P45/X38/X48 boards are less likely to give you trouble.

 

[EvilAlchemist]

I recently purchased a Xeon X3350 --> same as the Q9450
I had no issues with it running in an Abit IP35 Pro.

I have noticed on mine and based on other threads, the VID does seem to be a little lower.
I *think* the xeons are picked out right after / same time as the Extreme series in terms of quality in the batch.
There is usally a price premium with Xeons, but they are extremely stable.

They are designed to be used in a production , so keeping them at high loads is expected.
Being a Folding@Home person, I keep all my CPU loaded, so this is an improtant factor for me.

 

[an51r]

Thank you everybody and especially you silent circuit, that was what I was looking for the differences. I will look into the micro coding thing!