Intel Xeon L5640 Westmere 2.26GHz 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 60W Six-Core Server Processor

[koooowweeee]

thinking about getting one of these cpu's

1 am i wasting my money so i just get an i7
2 do games and other programs us 6 cores?
3 how good are these compared to a i7 920 neither on stock clocked as high as it will go


thanks guys

 

[SeraphX]

you'd be wasting a lot of money, most games barely use 4 cores, let alone 6, Xeon is a server based cpu, it'll be faster then a i7 clock for clock

 

[koooowweeee]

i no a lot of games dont use 4. but they are slowly making more games that do use it. so do the games that use 4 on a quad us the 6 on this?

how much faster would it be to an i7 920

 

[SeraphX]

for gaming, no it really wouldnt, if you went out and bought a i5 760 OC'd to 4Ghz, in any game, it'd leave the Xeon standing. xeons server based for a reason, the only sort of apps at the moment that could even come close to using everything a xeon can give are folding, and things like that for a general day to day computer for gaming, well, last time i looked top end xeons retail for at least 1K, prolly a lot more, you could have a proper gaming rig for that with SLI or Xfire

 

[koooowweeee]

been offered that cpu in title for £260 this is why im asking all the question. i was going to but an i7 950 but need to no how good the xeon will be compared.

i no there for servers but do they not just do the same?

 

[cmndr_andi]

If you get this CPU, then AFAIK you will need to get a server board and ECC RAM.

Also, the stock clockspeed of this chip is 2.26GHz and I wouldn't bank on overclocking it too far on a server board. With this in mind - in applications that use four cores or less (like almost all games) the Xeon will be a fair bit slower than an i7 950.

Out of interest, what are the specs of your current system?

 

[mmj_uk]

been offered that cpu in title for £260 this is why im asking all the question. i was going to but an i7 950 but need to no how good the xeon will be compared.

i no there for servers but do they not just do the same?

£260 sounds like a bargain to me, that cpu retails for over £700 so you could always just sell it on for a profit if you're not happy?

If what cmndr_andi says is correct you may encounter compatiblity issues though and selling it could be difficult.

 

[rjk]

Xeon is a server based cpu, it'll be faster then a i7 clock for clock

eh?

really?
please expand on this as I have obviously missed something


the L5640 is a low TDP variant of westmere.
the lower stock speed and dual qpi means that it is designed to run in a dual socket motherboard and not consume as much power and produce less heat than the higher end counterparts.

i have had my eye on these cpus for a while, HWBOT shows that they are capable of silly speeds and there are various posts on Xs where people have got them stable at higher clocks than the more expensive, higher TDP 5650 cpus.

the simple fact of the matter is this,

this cpu is designed to crunch numbers and is essentially an enterprise grade part. Gaming is possible but it would be a massive waste when you could get a Bloomfield i7 for much less or even an extreme edition Gulftown i7 for around the same cost.

i know that in your case you have seen it cheap and thats why it is under consideration, but the fact that this CPU has dual QPI means that it is only worth bothering with if you buy a pair.

the only reason that you would consider this CPU is if you have a network with a requirement for its capability, or if you plan on buying two of them and putting it in an EVGA SR-2 and clocking them.

 

[FrankJH]

the only reason that you would consider this CPU is if you have a network with a requirement for its capability, or if you plan on buying two of them and putting it in an EVGA SR-2 and clocking them.

Or buying the system OCUK have for sale - only £5/6k - looks like an absolute monster, even though it would be wasted on me (even if I could afford it lol)

 

[rjk]

well if i had that much money i would be looking at 5680 cpus because of the higher multipliers #

building one of those next week, cant wait!!!

 

[Semper Fi]

well if i had that much money i would be looking at 5680 cpus because of the higher multipliers #

building one of those next week, cant wait!!!

I would love to be able to just try all that kit without having to pay the price tag, for someone that likes tech you have really got one of the best jobs lol.