Hi All,

I'm just about to max out my CPU for the motherboard I am currently on (LGA 1366). I have two choices for the best of the 6.4 GT/s processors. The Xeon X5690 or i7-990x

http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-X5690-vs-Intel-Core-i7-990X

- As you can see performance wise, practically nothing in it

I had a quick glance at the pro's and cons here: http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/701/Intel_Core_i7_Extreme_Edition_i7-990X_vs_Intel_Xeon_X5690.html

I'm not going to be overclocking so quite frankly I see no reason for the unlocked i7. The Xeon can support SMP, and my motherboard is getting pretty ancient and if a capacitor decides to go pop (probably wont be long) then a TYAN SMP board would probably be the replacement, one advantage of the Xeon I don't understand is "25% higher bandwidth compared to the i7-990X. Higher memory bandwidth is very beneficial to memory bound programs" , In plain English what sort of tasks will benefit from this? (My VM's?)

When it comes to the plain hard cash, a used Xeon X5690 is around £150-200 (GBP) but the i7 is £220-300 (GBP), both would also have to be accompanied by a pretty pricey cooler and probably upgrade the current chassis fans (They are about 7 years old). Also will my current RAM work with going from a 4.8 to 6.4 GT/s?

So, frankly I'd be crazy to pay more for the i7 yes? Just asking because the knowledgeable folks on this forum may be able to think of something else that would make a difference.

I will post my current spec below, any advice gratefully received

Boxx 3D Visual Workstation
Seasonic X Series 1.05KW Power Supply
Intel Xeon W3540 (Bloomfield)
Supermicro X8SAX Mainboard
12GB Micron Technology PC3-10700
Asus Strix GTX 960
HyperX Predator PCI-E 240GB (Windows), OCZ Agility III 64GB SATA SSD, WD Enterprise Edition 7200RPM 2TB (Storage), WD Green Edition 5400RPM 2TB (Cold Storage)
LG Supermulti SecurDisc, Sony Bluray/DVD Reader

Not sure I'd pay £150+ for such old tech. Why go for a X5690 when you can get a 5650/5660/5670 for much less and they overclock to about the same level? What are you using the PC for? Perhaps you aren't planning to overclock, in which case the faster chips obviously have an advantage. However, a more modern used Core i7 wouldn't cost much more and would still be faster and have other advantages.

Forget the jump from 4.8 GT/s to 6.4 GT/s, those are just quoted "supported" figures. Even the i7-920 could handle higher than 6.4 GT/s, just like it could handle more than the quoted supported RAM speed of 1066 MHz (IIRC).

DragonQ said:

Not sure I'd pay £150+ for such old tech. Why go for a X5690 when you can get a 5650/5660/5670 for much less and they overclock to about the same level? What are you using the PC for? Perhaps you aren't planning to overclock, in which case the faster chips obviously have an advantage. However, a more modern used Core i7 wouldn't cost much more and would still be faster and have other advantages.

Forget the jump from 4.8 GT/s to 6.4 GT/s, those are just quoted "supported" figures. Even the i7-920 could handle higher than 6.4 GT/s, just like it could handle more than the quoted supported RAM speed of 1066 MHz (IIRC).

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Sure if there would be a model that's cheaper but still offers a good performance boost then that's great, I guess i don't HAVE to put in the highest supported, just that at these prices you might as well. I don't really care if it's xeon or i7, I just find that ex corporate sell off xeons much cheaper, whereas a private individual with an i7 might want a bit more

I use the machine for running multiple VM's, Occasionally playing "AAA" title games (when work is done!), and contributing to BOINC when not being used

It's old tech yes but it works good for me, was maybe looking for something with more cores (to dedicate to VM's) and better single core performance

You didn't answer the overclocking question. That's quite important because an overclocked X5650 (~£50) will beat a stock X5690, although the latter might overclock a bit further (depends on chip and motherboard lottery). Any of the hex-core Xeons will of course provide 2 extra real cores and 2 extra virutal cores but any single core performance difference would be solely down to clock speed.

Some games would benefit from newer Intel CPUs that have higher IPC, some won't. I find my GPU is the limiting factor in every game I play but some get much better minimum FPS numbers with newer chips.

DragonQ said:

You didn't answer the overclocking question. That's quite important because an overclocked X5650 (~£50) will beat a stock X5690, although the latter might overclock a bit further (depends on chip and motherboard lottery). Any of the hex-core Xeons will of course provide 2 extra real cores and 2 extra virutal cores but any single core performance difference would be solely down to clock speed.

Some games would benefit from newer Intel CPUs that have higher IPC, some won't. I find my GPU is the limiting factor in every game I play but some get much better minimum FPS numbers with newer chips.

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Sorry i forgot the overclocking question,

No I would not be looking to overclock, the motherboard supports it but it's not exactly and overclockers dream, more of a enterprise affair. Also stability is important.

So a good standard clock speed would be great! The current Xeon im using is 2.93GHZ but I often see it hovering over 3GHZ with the Turbo-Boost

its really pointless buying a x5690 or 990x unless you are going to overclock it as a x5650 with be rock solid at 3.5ghz no matter how bad of a chip it is . also for the price o those other chips you might as well get an x79 board and a cheap e5 2670 which has 8 cores.

Jumper118 said:

its really pointless buying a x5690 or 990x unless you are going to overclock it as a x5650 with be rock solid at 3.5ghz no matter how bad of a chip it is . also for the price o those other chips you might as well get an x79 board and a cheap e5 2670 which has 8 cores.

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Let's face it the X5650 will be rock solid at 4 GHz in over 95% of cases. Most seem to do 4.2-4.4 GHz. Remember it's the same process node as Sandy Bridge. They run a hell of a lot cooler than Bloomfield too - my i7-920 used to hit over 90 °C in the warmer months at 3.8 GHz. I never see my Xeon over 70 and it's running a touch faster (same cooler).

Jumper118 said:

its really pointless buying a x5690 or 990x unless you are going to overclock it as a x5650 with be rock solid at 3.5ghz no matter how bad of a chip it is . also for the price o those other chips you might as well get an x79 board and a cheap e5 2670 which has 8 cores.

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well if they are really good CPU's for overclocking then your right it's probably pointless, and it would kind of be wasted on me

So whats going to be happy medium CPU that will give me a few more cores and better performance? Theres endless variants of Intel CPU's all with numbers that mean nothing to me

I do appreciate the advice re a new board and CPU and i'm sure it makes logical or financial sense, but If something works well for me I don't throw it away. This machine still has a good upgrade path ahead of it and all I really want that it doesn't to right now is the ability to have a few more cores to dedicate to VM's and a little bit of a speed boost for generic stuff (Mostly Single core)

DragonQ said:

Let's face it the X5650 will be rock solid at 4 GHz in over 95% of cases. Most seem to do 4.2-4.4 GHz. Remember it's the same process node as Sandy Bridge. They run a hell of a lot cooler than Bloomfield too - my i7-920 used to hit over 90 °C in the warmer months at 3.8 GHz. I never see my Xeon over 70 and it's running a touch faster (same cooler).

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I can have one of those today for £50, so shall I just go for that?

I have had a lot of problems with this Bloomfield overheating, I ended up using a heatsink for a larger xeon and good thermal paste and that's kept the temps below 90

I decided the 5670 was worth it over the 5650 because the higher multiplier reduced reliance on turbo for the higher overclocks. Some boards don't like the turbo mode, or whatever it's called, for some reason.

I run 205 x22 for 4.5ghz.

If you can get a 5670 for 20 quid or so more than a 5650 it's a good bet. Any more is probably pointless