If you really really wanna dip into dual socket boards why not go for a 2nd hand AMD version? less performance but considerably cheaper.
Yes mate like i said i'm not really set on anything at the mo just looking and trying to learn. A K8N-DL dual opty came up looks like a great board. I even found a single socket magny core board. I think i priced up a quick dual xeon at just over a £1000(supermicro x8dai £351,6 gig ram £160 and 2 x E5620's 333.43 each) when its £880 for a 980x. The question is that set-up any good?
I just bought a k8n-DRE - will post up a review when it arrives in a week socket 940 but I got the cpu's cheap
Yes and no 8 cores at 2.4GHz with no overclocking potential vs 6 cores at 3.33GHz with lots of overclocking potential. The 980x will be a fair bit faster in the real world. I'd pick the latter for now, but the dually setup does allow for adding in 6-8 core xeons in future as prices become more affordable.
unless you need the reliability or loads of threads stick to desktop parts. I can't really see much to learn about dual socket boards short of hunting out rare benchmarks or computer science theroy. Buying one to learn about it seems unneccessary. Just my .02
What about the Beckton when it comes out? That would be 32 threads vs 12 threads? All I can find so far suggests a similar speed for the Becktons or maybe lower ie 2-2.3Ghz
I never said i was buying one to learn. Thats what the point of the post was, ie the different chipsets 5500 and 5520 as example, the form factor of the boards, EEC memory registered and un-registered, how the xeon numbering and lettering works features of the board ie SAS (i don't even have a SAS drive and have never used one). Most xeon server boards ive seen have integrated graphics this is not something i was expecting. What sort of slots and what layout can you expect, the ones ive seen so far have been having 24-36 pci lanes. So if I do decide to build on the server platform I won't have just jumped in the deep end. I chose the dual xeon as that what caught my eye first, all these flashy but very expensive 6 core i7 chips and first wondered if it would work out cheaper to build with 2 4 core xeon and i hadn't even considered a older opty as a better value build.
I was also having a quick look at the pricing too £880 for the 980x and thats not even including the board and ram. What we looking at £250 ish for the board and about £220 for 6 gig 1600 cl7. About the £1400 mark. So both are about the same price mark £200 difference apx. Arn't the non-extreme 6 cores due out soon?
Dual socket server boards generally run more like £350, Skulltrail was something like £450 I doubt the evga will be much cheaper. You can find out about form factors, CPU nembering etc without wasting £1800. Are you really prepared to pay more, for less, simply to screw together a slightly different set of screws in a slightly different case. Slot layout varies from board to board, for example, Supermicro produce boards with dual 16x PCIe 2 slots for workstations. They also produce boards with 7, 8xphysical 4xelectrical PCIe slots for storage servers. Some will have PCIX slots as well as PCI and PCIe. The intergrated graphics is very very basic, I don't think mine even supports 3D graphics. It's only there so that server monkeys can config the server initially and put it back together if something goes badly wrong. Everything else is done through a terminal/VNC or, in the case of a workstation, through an add in card. Moriquendi
The EVGA SR2 will set you back £400-500, combined with 2 x 5620's will come to about £1100. The 980X with a good board is going to set you back about the same. So now im thinking of getting the SR2 with cheap Xeons, OC to 4ghz and enjoy 2 extra cores. Then when prices come down, slap in a pair of Hex or Octi cores for 12 or 16 core goodness. .
That ain't a bad price for the SR2, found any links to seller yet? (EVGA has MSRP set at 599 usd) I got a 980x build priced about 1400 using a £250 guesstamate for the board + ram. The EVGA X58 Classified is £400 though. With the SR-2 you'll be able to OC them puppies too
No sellers yet, will be out mid April. £1400 is cutting it fine with a 980X unless you have some bits already. I would budget £1800 for a full build including case.
Seems like you have all parts needed, for £1400, you can step up to the E630 and enjoy the extra OC headroom. You might need a new case though, the SR2 is huge but selling the Core2 will cover that. E5645 2.40GHz 6cores 80W 1,066, TBC E5640 2.66GHz 4cores 80W 1,066, $774 E5630 2.53GHz 4cores 80W 1,066, $551 E5620 2.40GHz 4cores 80W 1,066, $387 £450 x 3 = £1350. (MB + 2x CPU) .
Ya was looking into that the other day HPTX.... WTF but the lian li G70 is huge it can take a EATX board 12"x 13" with ease the SR2 is 13.6" x 15" so i need to make a extra 5cm width and i can't see too much of a issue. It would be nice it evga released a motherboard stand-off blue print though. Still looking and reading the moment though.
