CPU Choice of i7 or Xeon, which?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Aton, 7 Jul 2012.

  1. Aton

    Aton What's a Dremel?

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    Which would give the greatest / best performace for use in Mathematical modelling? Speed is paramount here.

    An i7-3930K 3.20Ghz with six cores - LGA2011 & 12MB L3 cache,
    or
    a Xeon E5-2630 2.30 GHz, with six core Tray , LGA2011, 7.20GT/s & 15MB?

    Thanks for any advice on this.
     
  2. Jaybles

    Jaybles Minimodder

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    The i7. It has an unlocked multiplier meaning with sufficient cooling you can really clock it up, which should help with your maths.
     
  3. Aton

    Aton What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks for your help.

    Without using water cooling, what sort of speed (Ghz) would you reckon I could get?

    I have read that the Xeon has been used to build large configurations/machines (e.g. NASA) the implication being that it is inherently a faster CPU despite it's apparant lower Ghx than the i7. Is that in fact the case, though?
     
  4. mm vr

    mm vr The cheesecake is a lie

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    They are the same CPU basically. They come from the same wafer. Higher clock speed equals higher performance.
     
  5. murraynt

    murraynt Modder

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    The reason xeons are used is because they can be linked together and they support error correcting memory.
     
  6. mm vr

    mm vr The cheesecake is a lie

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    Only certain Xeon models support multisocket configurations. The E5-16xx models only support single processor systems while the E5-26xx models support dual processor systems. The E5-46xx models support four or more processors. Unfortunately price goes up quite a bit when you want a multisocket system (even though all the chips come from the same wafer).
     
  7. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    To add to the above, it all depends on how many CPU cores you want (or can use with your chosen application software). Anything below 6 cores and you may as well buy an i7. Above that, you are looking at high prices and esoteric components: not just the Xeons, but also server-grade multi-socket motherboards which may not even have an X16 PCI-E slot for a decent graphic card, and ECC registered RAM which comes at a considerable premium over the regular version.

    I know of which I speak. I have a dual Opteron system from the days when CPU's came with only one core. Although the dual-core buttery smoothness was definitely worth it, and it can still hold its own with current systems, the esoteric motherboard and memory made it a pricey affair (not to mention the demands on cooling: 178W for the CPUs alone!). Now I can build a comparably performing system for a quarter of the price with a vanilla components and an Intel Core Duo running at 65W tops --35W if you use a Mobile Core Duo.

    My passively cooled HTPC (Mobile Core Duo on a second-hand AOpen mobo) runs as fast as my liquid-cooled Opteron system, for a fraction of the price and at a sixth of the Wattage CPU-wise.
     
  8. maestro0428

    maestro0428 Master Modder

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    You will need H2O cooling for a 2011 cpu, expecially if you are overclocking. How many cores does your software use? You might be better off with a quad core with hyperthreading at 5.0ghz on the z77 platform which would be much cheaper and probably faster in more tasks than a stock clock 6 core Xeon.
     
  9. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    2011 socket on air 4ghz 4.2ghz at a push as its pretty high temps

    Water 4.5 to 5ghz depends on chip
     
  10. Aton

    Aton What's a Dremel?

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    Thanks to all of you with your advice iI shall study it closely, there is a lot to take in and then answer any of your questions.

    Thank you again.
     
  11. Aton

    Aton What's a Dremel?

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    How many cores does your software use?

    There is no limit within present M/B constraints, in theory it could handle over 30 probably more and multiple CPU's as well.

    As you make the point, cost is a factor.

    Thanks for your suggestion, I will very much ponder that one.
     

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