General Intel HEDT Xeon/i7 Discussion

[Razor Blade]

1 minute ago, panther420 said:

I don't, but I know they're super cheap so I might try. But as far as I'm aware there are no 6c12t 5500 Xeons, so that kind of defeats the purpose of going with the Xeon. I mind as well just go with my i7 then.

You're correct, there aren't 6 core 5500 Xeons. Honestly I wouldn't bother buying another CPU just to try. If a BIOS update didn't resolve the issue putting a 5500 series CPU in wouldn't either. It would just tell you if the board will support Nehalem CPUs...

[panther420]

24 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

You're correct, there aren't 6 core 5500 Xeons. Honestly I wouldn't bother buying another CPU just to try. If a BIOS update didn't resolve the issue putting a 5500 series CPU in wouldn't either. It would just tell you if the board will support Nehalem CPUs...

Freegeek (the place where I got the board) already updated the BIOS when I purchased it, so that wouldn't be an issue. However, I just took a glance at the EX58-UD5 CPU support list and found that the W3690 and the 5500 Xeons are supported, whereas the 5600 Xeons and the rest of the W3600 series Xeons are not:Given how similar the W3690 is to the W3670 silicon-wise, I think I'm just going to spend the $50 and get the chip. Depends on my budget though.

[Razor Blade]

6 minutes ago, panther420 said:

<snip>

how similar the W3690 is to the W3670 silicon-wise, I think I'm just going to spend the $50 and get the chip. Depends on my budget though.

It is different. According to Intel's website the W3690 is Gulftown (not sure why the chart you have says Nehalem) along with Core i7 9xx but the W3670 is Westmere with all the X56xx CPUs.

[panther420]

1 hour ago, Razor Blade said:

It is different. According to Intel's website the W3690 is Gulftown (not sure why the chart you have says Nehalem) along with Core i7 9xx but the W3670 is Westmere with all the X56xx CPUs.

Fair enough, but I still think it would be more compatible than a Xeon X5600 series CPU since all of the W-series chips are designed for single-socket use and therefore have 1 QPI link, like an i7.

[Razor Blade]

I may have misspoke. Apparently Gulftown is still westmere. I may have been thinking gainstown Nehalem... I don't know why Gigabyte has the W3690 on the list as it is not Nehalem. Maybe its a typo?

 

It appears as though that board can support some Gulftown CPUs after BIOS rev F13. If possible make sure you have the absolute latest BIOS rev possible and try your X5650 again to see if maybe it will support a westmere CPU.

[panther420]

Just now, Razor Blade said:

I may have misspoke. Apparently Gulftown is still westmere. I don't know why Gigabyte has the W3690 on the list as it is not Nehalem. Maybe its a typo?

 

It appears as though that board can support some Gulftown CPUs after BIOS rev F13. If possible make sure you have the absolute latest BIOS rev possible and try your X5650 again to see if maybe it will support a westmere CPU.

OK, so here's what I'll do. I think I'll get the other components I need to test the board, and then try it with the X5650 again and ensure I have the newest bios. If that doesn't work, then I'll just get the W3670 and hopefully that'll work. Once I've gotten it stable then I'll put it into my sister's rig.

[Ground]

3 hours ago, Razor Blade said:

I know my ASUS rampage II board doesn't work with 5600 CPUs

Odd, mine works just fine with a Xeon, and I'm not the only one around here with that combination... And I didn't even update the BIOS...

[Razor Blade]

16 minutes ago, Ground said:

Odd, mine works just fine with a Xeon, and I'm not the only one around here with that combination... And I didn't even update the BIOS...

Are you using certain bios settings? Mine won't boot with the E5645, X5680, or the L5640 I tried... I ended up using a X5550 and it is working fine.

[Ground]

52 minutes ago, Razor Blade said:

Are you using certain bios settings? Mine won't boot with the E5645, X5680, or the L5640 I tried... I ended up using a X5550 and it is working fine.

Nope, I changed nothing, plopped the E5649 in and it booted right up. I'm using BIOS version 2002 with the following settings:

(note: this is a fairly good CPU, so these settings might not work everywhere)

CPU Ratio - 20
CPU Turbo Power Limit - Disabled

CPU sub-settings:

 Ratio - 20
 C1E Disabled
 Hardware Prefetcher - Enabled
 Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch - Enabled

 MPS and ACPI MADT ordering - Modern Ordering
 Intel Virtualization Tech - Enabled
 CPU TM Function - Enabled
 Execute Disable Bit - Enabled
 Intel HT Technology  - Enabled
 *Active Processor Cores - All
 A20M - Disabled
 Performance/Watt Select - Traditional
 Intel C-State Tech - Disabled

BCLK - 220

PCIE - 100

DRAM - 1323
UCLK - 3748
QPI - 7940 MT/s

Memory Recheck - Disabled

Memory Sub-Settings:
 CAS - 8

 RAS to CAS - 9
 RAS PRE - 8
 RAS ACT - 24
 Timing Mode - 1N
 Everything else is on auto

LLC - Disabled
CPU Differential Amplitude - 800mV

Extreme OV - Disabled

CPU Voltage Control - Absolute VID
CPU Voltage - 1.3625V
CPU PLL Voltage - 1.81592V
QPI/DRAM Voltage - 1.3375V
IOH Voltage - 1.29891V
IOH PCIE Voltage - 1.511V
ICH Voltage - 1.24591V
ICH PCIE Voltage - 1.511V
DRAM Bus Voltage - 1.59V

 

CPU Spread Spectrum - Disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum - Disabled

 

Unless the CPU degrades or I move to another (which will happen in a couple months - i want more for the sake of wanting more, a 4.8 @1.4V CPU would be amazing (which is possible, I have an E5640 that did that), but I would probably have to test at least a couple X5675s to get that CPU... Though I'm likely buying a W3670 in that batch as well just to test one of those... And yes, I know I could probably buy a new system if I'm already buying multiple 50€ xeons, but I like this platform too much to let go.

[asand1]

My Asus X58 Sabertooth runs perfectly with my X5680 and 1600mhz RAM actually running at 1600.

[asand1]

22 hours ago, panther420 said:

Quick question about X58 CPUs - as some of you may or may not know from my previous posts on this forum, I bought an X58 motherboard (Gigabyte EX58-UD5) with a CPU and RAM combo a while ago and never quite got it working with a Xeon X5650 due to RAM issues. The jist of it, from my understanding after troubleshooting it and some help from the folks here, was that the board and CPU's server memory controller optimized for lower-frequency ram was not compatible with the DDR3-1600 kit I was using. However, it did work just fine with the i7-950 that came with the board. I remember swapping kits with someone at freegeek to see if lower clocked ram would fix the issue, and I seem to remember that it still didn't work. At that point, I was quite frustrated and just gave up since I didn't really need the board at the time and figured I'd just go back to the i7-950 if I ever wanted to use it and couldn't get the X5650 working.

 

Anyway, after stashing it away for a while and not doing anything with it, I recently decided it would be a nice upgrade for my sister's FX-4300 PC (she picked up Fortnite and doesn't really have a computer powerful enough to play it, and she likes streaming too). I can recycle pretty much all the components in her system except for the motherboard, CPU, cooler, and PSU. The only problem is this RAM issue. I would like to use the Xeon over the i7 if at all possible, and I highly doubt the 2x8GB kit of DDR3-1600 is going to be more compatible than the triple channel kits I've tried before, which I can't even use because 16GB to 6GB would be a total downgrade for my sister.

 

Then I remembered about W-series xeons, and how they were more similar to i7s with their single QPI link and better compatibility. So my question is: Should I get a W3670 for $50 and will it improve my odds of getting that RAM to work? (I'm not in a position to be buying new RAM right now so I kinda need that kit she already has to work.)

 

I think your CPU may be a dud. There is no reason it should not work.

[panther420]

23 minutes ago, asand1 said:

I think your CPU may be a dud. There is no reason it should not work.

That's entirely possible - I never considered it, since as far as I'm aware, CPUs don't fail very often. But I guess the memory controller could be faulty or something, since the board posted just fine, it just couldn't make it past a "loading ram" stage. Here's the original post for your reference (maybe your assessment will change after reading it): 

 

[Ground]

http://valid.x86.fr/9makzf

271.23 BCLK 

Now to figure out how much this thing can do while benching...

[FlatBrokeRacing]

7 hours ago, Ground said:

http://valid.x86.fr/9makzf

271.23 BCLK 

Now to figure out how much this thing can do while benching...

now put some clock speed in that thing, 4.4 wuss hahaha.

[Ground]

3 hours ago, FlatBrokeRacing said:

now put some clock speed in that thing, 4.4 wuss hahaha.

I‘m already at the highest multi...

[Glasare]

I just got my hands on an Asus Sabertooth 55i and a X3450 for a total of ~$100, and I had 2x4GB DDR1600 lying around.

I haven't had a lot of time with it, but so far, it does 3.8GHz at 1.275V, and 4GHz at 1.325V, and.. nothing gets hot.. not even warm.

CPU temp is 65-70C at full load, and it idles below 35C with an EVO212. I wonder how far some proper cooling can take it..

 

 

[Zando_]

Got my X5675 running at 4.5Ghz finally, using a combo of random settings that I have no idea how to use properly... need to try and get my RAM going faster tho. 

[Glasare]

3 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

Got my X5675 running at 4.5Ghz finally, using a combo of random settings that I have no idea how to use properly... need to try and get my RAM going faster tho. 

I know what you're saying.. After all the tweaking now with two X58 systems and an 1156, I still pretty much only notice anything happening when I alter Vram, Vcore and LLC.. All that other stuff is still a mystery. My X58A-UD3R / W3680 seems rock solid now at 4.4GHz (25x176, 1333RAM at 1408). I think Vcore is around 1.38125V in BIOS, and HW Info shows 1.376V. The key was to use LLC level 2. Any other setting and the Vcore would drop under load and it's a BSOD. LLC lvl2 keeps it rock solid at 1.376V at all times tho.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Glasare said:

I know what you're saying.. After all the tweaking now with two X58 systems and an 1156, I still pretty much only notice anything happening when I alter Vram, Vcore and LLC.. All that other stuff is still a mystery. My X58A-UD3R / W3680 seems rock solid now at 4.4GHz (25x176, 1333RAM at 1408). I think Vcore is around 1.38125V in BIOS, and HW Info shows 1.376V. The key was to use LLC level 2. Any other setting and the Vcore would drop under load and it's a BSOD. LLC lvl2 keeps it rock solid at 1.376V at all times tho.

lol. And now when I went home for lunch, it's decided to refuse to boot anything at all, halts on a boot device error or something. Strange, since I gamed for hours last night, and the day before, with 0 issues.... the mystery continues.

[bimmerman]

what settings are you using?

[Zando_]

20 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

what settings are you using?

IDK, and can't get into the BIOS to see... I had the multiplier maxed to 25, I think the BLCK was 180 or so.... and I think I had the CPU voltage on 1.4 because apparently X58 Xeons can take that pretty easily. That's all I can remember. 

[bimmerman]

23 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

IDK, and can't get into the BIOS to see... I had the multiplier maxed to 25, I think the BLCK was 180 or so.... and I think I had the CPU voltage on 1.4 because apparently X58 Xeons can take that pretty easily. That's all I can remember. 

Gotcha. If you can get into the bios I'm very curious what it's at. I've done 1.4V quite a bit but I run BCLK a lot higher with a correspondingly lower multiplier. System seems snappier that way, subjectively at least.

[Zando_]

21 minutes ago, bimmerman said:

Gotcha. If you can get into the bios I'm very curious what it's at. I've done 1.4V quite a bit but I run BCLK a lot higher with a correspondingly lower multiplier. System seems snappier that way, subjectively at least.

hmmmm..... I'll try that if I can get it to behave, I highly doubt the mobo itself is damaged. If I can't get it to work, I can pop my other 6 core into an MSI workstation board I have and use that for the time being...

[Ground]

10 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

hmmmm..... I'll try that if I can get it to behave, I highly doubt the mobo itself is damaged. If I can't get it to work, I can pop my other 6 core into an MSI workstation board I have and use that for the time being...

Do you have a CMOS reset button somewhere? I found those really effective on Asus boards. 

Also: finally got everything for my benching loop together (except for 180mm fans), so I'm probably gonna try pushing my golden E5640 further then I managed so far...

 

(the board is just a broken board I use to test mount stuff onto before I put it on my working boards - checking for leaks, checking if a mount is stable etc)

180x540x45mm radiator, 3000L/h pond pump, cheap plastic box as reservoir, distilled water. 35€ for the radiator, 20€ for the pump, 25€ for blocks, ~55€ for misc items (fittings, water, tubing etc - I overspent here, could have probably done it with half this)

[Zando_]

16 hours ago, Ground said:

Do you have a CMOS reset button somewhere? I found those really effective on Asus boards. 

Also: finally got everything for my benching loop together (except for 180mm fans), so I'm probably gonna try pushing my golden E5640 further then I managed so far...

 

(the board is just a broken board I use to test mount stuff onto before I put it on my working boards - checking for leaks, checking if a mount is stable etc)

180x540x45mm radiator, 3000L/h pond pump, cheap plastic box as reservoir, distilled water. 35€ for the radiator, 20€ for the pump, 25€ for blocks, ~55€ for misc items (fittings, water, tubing etc - I overspent here, could have probably done it with half this)

noice... And I got it to boot and redid some settings and stuff, seems to hang a bit on boot sometimes but it's pretty stable AFAIK.