Quad Core Xeon

[pitchie]

Quad Core Xeon Advice

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and have been recommended to the site by a well know mod on here under the name of Rotty.

The reason for this post is because I have acquired a Quad Core Xeon X3370 3.0GHz with 8GB DDR3 yet it doesn't seem to run as quick as I expected. I'll be honest, I don't think it's that much quicker than my old Quad Core Q6600, 4GB machine. In fact I know it's not.

I'm not really a gamer. I am a part time software developer, that has a keen interest in all things computers really. I like to play the odd game, edit my video footage, stream video across my network, basically all sorts of stuff. Some demanding, some not so demanding.

Can anyone recommend any ways of improving the speed of my machine? This is my current Windows Experience score under Windows 7 (x64):

Proc: 7.2
RAM: 7.2
Graphics: 4.7
Gaming: 5.7
HDD: 5.9

A lot of my work tends to be disk intensive (Visual Studio, Adobe Premier, etc), so I think I know the only way to really improve speed would be to go solid state. Can anyone recommend any drives in particular?

Graphics is one area I know I really need to work on. I run 3 TFT monitors at the moment. 2 from a NVIDIA GeForce 9400GT and 1 from a NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT. Can anyone recommend something that will work well for gaming (the odd game I do play) that won't take up too much of my hard earned spenders!?

I think I have a good structure for my machine with the Xeon and 8GB, but as it had been used as a server prior to me having it, it needs a bit of work!

Any suggestions would be welcomed. I have some bits and bobs to sell that are going to fund the upgrade but I've also toyed with selling the Xeon and buying an i7. Any thoughts on this? Is the Xeon really right for what I'm using it for.

Thanks for your help in advance folks.

Paul.

 

[95thrifles]

What mobo you using atm mate?
Re the gfx/monitors, when you do game do you use all 3 monitors or just one and use other 2 for background stuff? Either way what are your resolutions?
The obvious answer is to try OCing the Xeon BTW

 

[pitchie]

What mobo you using atm mate?
Re the gfx/monitors, when you do game do you use all 3 monitors or just one and use other 2 for background stuff? Either way what are your resolutions?
The obvious answer is to try OCing the Xeon BTW

Hi,

Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6. With regards to gaming, just one monitor. I've never really looked into using all 3 for gaming. The resolutions are as follows:

1 (far left widescreen): 1440 x 900
2 (middle 4:3): 1280 x 1024
3 (far right widescreen): 1440 x 900

Don't know if I dare OC the Xeon!

Thanks, Paul.

 

[cmndr_andi]

You have to OC the Xeon, your chip is basically a Core 2 Quad Q9x50 with a different name (ie very nice for overclocking). Just pick up a nice cooler like this and go to town on it.

As you will definitely benefit from an SSD, something like this would be my first thought. Its very fast and one of the lowest cost-per-GB for an SSD. Do you think you could work with a 120GB system drive?

For graphics - up to about ~£220 you really do get what you pay for. If you want to play modern games well, I would suggest something like this at a minimum. However, I would suggest waiting till next week and see what how the new AMD HD 6800 series performs and affects the market.

May I ask what PSU (make/model) you are using?

 

[tjlld]

Hi,
Don't know if I dare OC the Xeon!

Don't worry mate I just overclocked my computer the other day, It may seem daunting at first but its actually surprisingly easy. The overclocking/cooling sub-forum has a good beginners guide

 

[pitchie]

You have to OC the Xeon, your chip is basically a Core 2 Quad Q9x50 with a different name (ie very nice for overclocking). Just pick up a nice cooler like this and go to town on it.

As you will definitely benefit from an SSD, something like this would be my first thought. Its very fast and one of the lowest cost-per-GB for an SSD. Do you think you could work with a 120GB system drive?

For graphics - up to about ~£220 you really do get what you pay for. If you want to play modern games well, I would suggest something like this at a minimum. However, I would suggest waiting till next week and see what how the new AMD HD 6800 series performs and affects the market.

May I ask what PSU (make/model) you are using?

I'll be honest - the proc stuff doesn't mean a lot to me. Hardware and especially overclocking, isn't really in my department! Is the overclocking on the proc going to be stable? Having "acquired" this proc and board I'd be devastated to ruin it!

The SSD is along the lines at what I've been looking at but I think I will have to stick my neck out to at least 160GB.

I guessed the graphics were all a muchness to a certain degree. None of my monitors have HDMI. They have VGA and DVI though.

The PSU is a Coolmaster RS430-ASAA. I'm not 100% whether it came standard in the case or whether it was put there to do a job as such. I don't know whether it's up to a serious job or not. (?)

 

[Boozebeard]

It's pretty hard to break things overclocking as long as you do things in moderately small intervals and find out the ball park settings others are using for a similar overclock. You would have to do something really rash to break it.
I've often pushed things slightly further than a lot of people would be comfortable with and haven't had anything die on me yet. Touch wood.