Ok so now that AMD's kaveri benchmarks are out there etc, I'm now back to thinking what processor to make my gaming / VM workstation with.
Intel's i7 4770K is out due to the lack of support for vPro/TXT/VT-d.
So that leaves me with the non-K variant or to go for something like the Xeon E3-1230v3 (or higher) which is considerably cheaper, and should post decent performance in games too.
Then there's Intel's socket 2011 platform. An i7 4820K would be a great processor but the cost of entry into this platform (especially knowing that it will be replaced by the X99 platform by the end of the year) is steep. <£200 for a motherboard just for starters.
Then we have AMD. I have been strongly looking at Kaveri thinking that it might actually be a great way into making a computer for VM's and then adding a dedicated graphics card to at a later point to make it my gaming computer as well. (The APU's aren't crazy expensive and suitable motherboards are relatively cheap (compared to either of the intel setups above))
Unfortunately going from benchmarks it does seem that the processor will bottleneck a high end graphics card so it isn't looking like the best long term solution. (it does looks like a great laptop or HTPC APU though)
Last but not least is AMD's FX line up, the FX-8350 can be had for a reasonable amount of money and a decent motherboard is around the same as an Intel Z87 based motherboard so it's not bad from a budget perspective, but gaming performance will suffer a bit compared to Intel's offerings.
So currently out of the options I currently have the Intel Xeon as my top choice due to performance, heat and a reasonable price. Also as far as I know (this may have changed) but I will be doing some work with Linux as well and Intel's always had better support under linux than AMD which is something else pushing me in that direction.
Anyhow has anyone else been in this position?
Is the Xeon E3-12xx v3 skt1150 the best way to go or should I really make the jump up to the skt2011 platform to ensure I have the best possible VM workstation performance and gaming performance.
Intel's i7 4770K is out due to the lack of support for vPro/TXT/VT-d.
So that leaves me with the non-K variant or to go for something like the Xeon E3-1230v3 (or higher) which is considerably cheaper, and should post decent performance in games too.
Then there's Intel's socket 2011 platform. An i7 4820K would be a great processor but the cost of entry into this platform (especially knowing that it will be replaced by the X99 platform by the end of the year) is steep. <£200 for a motherboard just for starters.
Then we have AMD. I have been strongly looking at Kaveri thinking that it might actually be a great way into making a computer for VM's and then adding a dedicated graphics card to at a later point to make it my gaming computer as well. (The APU's aren't crazy expensive and suitable motherboards are relatively cheap (compared to either of the intel setups above))
Unfortunately going from benchmarks it does seem that the processor will bottleneck a high end graphics card so it isn't looking like the best long term solution. (it does looks like a great laptop or HTPC APU though)
Last but not least is AMD's FX line up, the FX-8350 can be had for a reasonable amount of money and a decent motherboard is around the same as an Intel Z87 based motherboard so it's not bad from a budget perspective, but gaming performance will suffer a bit compared to Intel's offerings.
So currently out of the options I currently have the Intel Xeon as my top choice due to performance, heat and a reasonable price. Also as far as I know (this may have changed) but I will be doing some work with Linux as well and Intel's always had better support under linux than AMD which is something else pushing me in that direction.
Anyhow has anyone else been in this position?
Is the Xeon E3-12xx v3 skt1150 the best way to go or should I really make the jump up to the skt2011 platform to ensure I have the best possible VM workstation performance and gaming performance.
