Server CPU for gaming and photo use

[Imgoingtobed]

This has been covered in the past I know but I am really after some opinions to help make my mind up.

I have some reasonably high spec server processors from a project server build that's done with. Now I'm wondering whether they would work well on a gaming rig / photo processing PC.

The CPUs are Xeon E5-2660v3 (I have a pair) 2.6ghz, 10 core blah blah blah
I have some ram too 128gb of ddr4 (8x16gb) so could use that in a new server board. I would need a new motherboard, graphics card but the rest is covered.

So I could either use what I have and get a few bits to finish it off or sell it all and buy a new system from scratch.

Any thoughts or opinions on this? All ideas welcome

 

[theforce]

I would see those parts and get something more suitable for gaming like an i7-6700K which will more than adequate for some Photoshop work as well. 32GB will be more than enough for some Photoshop usage.

 

[FredFlint]

Get a Asus Z10PE-D8 WS Intel X99.

 

[Evil-I]

Get a Asus Z10PE-D8 WS Intel X99.

+1 supports the cpus and ecc memory

 

[Evil-I]

I have an older 10 core xeon I tried in comparison to my heavily overclocked i7 3930k (same board, ram etc) cos I got it cheap on fleabay.

In workstation use such as cinema 3d there wasn't much in it, the i7 was ahead, but mainy as the clock speed was over double the xeon so clock for clock it worked out almost like a 5 core versus a 6 core.

In everything else the i7 dumped on the xeon from a high height... That includes Photoshop by the way. Adobe's multithreaded scaling on the whole just doesn't take advantage of lots of cores.

I'm kinda thinking sell the lot and get somethiong more mainstream may be your best decision really. Although that Asus WS board with both CPU would be kinda cool

E-I

 

[Imgoingtobed]

Hmm, sounds like time to check prices and get these bits sold on. Last time I looked the CPUs were going for pretty decent money on eBay.

2 chips and 8 sticks of ram should get me a decent start on some i7 extreme water cooled action hopefully.

Time to sort a shopping list.

 

[jigger]

For me it would depend on first how much image editing you do and how multi threaded the software is.

One option would be to sell one of the CPU's and buy a ASrock x99 ws-e/10g (£5-600) board. The board is X99 and you should be able to get a small overclock from a single Xeon with it. Once you have finished with the system you could make one hell of a NAS/home server from it with 12 SATA ports and dual 10Gbit networking.

If you can make good use of 20 cores and 40 threads then I would go with dual socket board and drop the overclocking.

 

[theforce]

Wouldn't the 10core cpu be a bottleneck for gaming though?

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Wouldn't the 10core cpu be a bottleneck for gaming though?

The actually count of cores, no not at all it's the fact that as a general rule more cores = lower clock speed. And with games currently only using up to 6 cores in some cases you would be better of realistically with a higher clocked 6 core. However the difference in performance between for example a 10core @3.5ghz and a 6core @4.4ghz (both of relatively similar release dates and technologies in mind as pairing two cpus 6 years apart here would be unfair) in a realistic gaming scenario is going to be at most like 10fps depending on the title. But then if you take those two cpus and compare them in photo editing or video rendering/editing and such other programs you will see the 10core pull away. Is the cost worth it? Depends on the user and use case.

 

[theforce]

... But then if you take those two cpus and compare them in photo editing or video rendering/editing and such other programs you will see the 10core pull away. Is the cost worth it? Depends on the user and use case.

I agree on the video rendering/editing part and the ability to run more programs at the same time, but from what l am aware of some Photoshop tools favour a higher clocked processor. In any case l wouldn't get anything Intel before the Z270 arrives or the successor to X-99.

 

[jigger]

Wouldn't the 10core cpu be a bottleneck for gaming though?

It depends on the game and the rest of the system really. If the game can only use 1-4 treads then yes, but if the game is written to use say 4-10 threads then probably not as you can run 5+ threads on physical cores instead of running on virtual. Not to mention with the Xeon the program as a humongous pool of cache to work with.

Even in 4 thread games that you did find yourself CPU limited than you can up the games setting and resolution to put more load on the graphics to some extent. For instance, say the Xeon can push 45 FPS and the GPU usage is 60% you could increase the resolution, still have 45 FPS and GPU usage of 80%.

 

[Imgoingtobed]

I probably should have titled this post better as photoshop editing, Raw file handling, HDR rendering will be the systems primary use as I have thousands of photos to go through and my laptop although reasonable isn't up to the job fast enough.

Gaming will be the secondary use when I get bored of photos and want to kill things


I have read up on photoshop and various tasks love as many cores as they can get, others tasks prefer GPU. Both I can have here with 20 cores and a 1080 card maybe.

Failing that sell what I have and buy a brand new system with a £2000 ish budget including a monitor. Its a tough choice as I really want to play with these chips but need a stable system for working on.

Thanks for the info so far guys, interesting stuff.