xeon 3220

[hedgey]

seems the same as a q6600, so whats the difference?

 

[TheCenturion]

slighlty more overclocking stability, just like x3350vs q9450, apart from that it's a xeon, some may buy for the brand name

 

[matja]

I've heard a lot of people say that Xeon's go through additional tests at the factory, such as testing stability at low-voltages. For xeons destined to be dual/quad socket mobo's, I can see that this would be a relevant test because of the vdroop when they're maxed out, but I dunno why Intel would do it for a s775 xeon.

Dunno

 

[ChrissyT88]

The prefectchers inside the chips are optimised to perform server and rendering applications, whereas inside the regular desktop chips they are optimised for day to day applications such as gaming and web browsing. I imagine that the difference you would see in day to day performance would be tiny, and loads of people use the xeons (and for that matter, opterons) as desktop computers. Some people have mentioned that they are made on a higher quality silicon wafer, which means that they should last longer and clock better, although i have no idea if this is true. However, Xeons in general seem to require a lower vcore to reach the same clocks as the equivalent desktop chips, and are usually more expensive.

 

[OCOCOC]

The prefectchers inside the chips are optimised to perform server and rendering applications, whereas inside the regular desktop chips they are optimised for day to day applications such as gaming and web browsing. I imagine that the difference you would see in day to day performance would be tiny, and loads of people use the xeons (and for that matter, opterons) as desktop computers. Some people have mentioned that they are made on a higher quality silicon wafer, which means that they should last longer and clock better, although i have no idea if this is true. However, Xeons in general seem to require a lower vcore to reach the same clocks as the equivalent desktop chips, and are usually more expensive.

Disagreed. I honestly don't think Intel would 'Optimised' differently on something exactly the same in their fab. It's a basic sense on cost-effective.
The difference would be made when they are testing the processors.

The most stable ones and the ones require less volts to be stable would be the XEON CPU's. The other ones, which have passed the basic QC, would be the normal C2's. As simple as that

That's why ppl can reach higher OC headroom with their XEON U's comparing with C2's with identical specs in most of the cases. However, it's not guaranteed because lower volts CPU might not like high volts, so it's highly possible they have the same OC headroom of C2 processors just require lower volts.

 

[ChrissyT88]

Its true - (to quote custom pc mag) "The four prefetchers in the xeon x3220 are optimised for running workstation and server applications such as databses and 3d rendering... However, in our tests, there was only a small performance difference (in desktop apps)".

 

[Tetras]

Where did they get that information? I don't think it is true.

 

[Jokester]

Benchmarkers use Xeons for certain benchmarks because they're faster clock for clock then the desktop variant in those benchmarks.

Also there's no evidence Xeons are cherrypicked in any way.

 

[nightmare99]

Same chip different name basically, all the other stuff is purely speculation. If you ask Intel they will say the Xeon goes through additional validation becuase its a server chip (which is true) but apart frm that its the same. The only reason they do it is so they can track how many uniprocessor server cpus they sell.

 

[ChrissyT88]

@Tetras - i am not sure where custom pc got the info. Someone wrote in to ask whether they should buy a q6600 or the x3220. That was the response CPC gave, and is the reason that i believe the chips are different. I am not going to say that CPC is gospel (mainly because i dont believe this is the case!), but i have no reason to doubt them on this, and as Jokester confirmed, they are better suited to some applications due to the internal workings of the chips.