Xeon 4 Life :: A Transition Begins...

[TopHatProductions115]

Hello there, and thank you for stopping by. I do realize that this is increasing my Content Count, so have no worries - I do still intend to keep my Reputation counter significantly higher than the former (metric mentioned). But, that point is not why you are here. No, you are here for my aged workstation, and that you shall receive - along with a bit of backstory. 

 

A few months ago (back in April/May of 2018), I was playing around with frame interpolation in SVP when I noticed that I was somewhat hampered by my system. The same conclusion was also drawn when I relented over the fact that:

• in OBS, I couldn't realistically use CPU-based software encoding
• in Bandicam, I rely on nVIDIA driver drop-ins to enable CUDA-based video encoding (because my CPU wasn't capable)

With this in mind, I found that I may be due for a hardware upgrade. For any of you who do remember, I actually had the specs for the original system posted in my LTT profile - but they are no more (since my most recent upgrade). Here are the important parts:

• CPU :: Intel Xeon X5472 (LGA771-to-775 mod sticker)
• RAM :: 8GB (4x2GB) PC2-6400 DDR2-800 DIMMs
• GPU :: nVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti + GT 520
• SFX :: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 (SB0240)
• STR :: 4TB Seagate Central + 500GB Seagate Barracuda + 320GB Seagate Barracuda HDD
• MOB :: GIGABYTE EP45-UD3P
• PSU :: Seasonic S12 Energy+ SS-650HT (650W)
• NOTE :: This was my first-ever hand-built system.

If you're wondering about how I got the Xeon to work, it did involve microcode updates. Somehow, I was totally fine applying unofficial mods to my first-ever PC build. But, that's besides the point. Due to the limits I faced in hardware, I decided that it was time for an upgrade. I started by looking into other Xeons of the same socket, like the X5492. But, its price was pretty high (and still is) for a used server CPU from 2007/2008. In addition to this, it had little OC'ing potential when compared to the X5472 (that of which I had upgraded to from the X5450 I originally had), and would produce way more heat under load - something I wasn't looking forward to dealing with under the Intel stock cooler at the time. I could have tried undervolting, but that would have somewhat (nominally) hindered the boost in core-clock(s) I was looking to take advantage of. No compromises - no holding back. With that path scorched, I soon found myself looking a the proposition of getting an entirely new computer.

 

Of course, my parents weren't too happy with the idea - but they aren't working with hardware that is half their age  And they aren't buying me hardware last I checked - I made an agreement with them stating that they couldn't buy me anymore hardware after the last fiasco I faced at my second college. In addition to this, I found that my parents are not good at scoping out high-performance hardware in any form. So, I took on the challenge myself - with a tight budget. My first job at Amazon had left me just enough to go for it, along with some of the leftover dollars from my time as a hobbyist eBay seller. After weeks of searching, I finally settled on a certain Dell Precision T7500, equipped with a single Intel X5650 and 12GB DDR3 ECC RAM - nothing else (and one of the sticks was faulty - replaced later on). I had it stripped of all other components to save on the initial cost, and decided that I could upgrade it later.

 

I detailed the entire process in subsequent  Status  Updates, those of which you are not required to read. But, long story short, that led to my extended dabbling in Hypervisors and now, my recent testing of unRAID 6 (that of which I have not made a Status Update about - yet). My current specs are listed on my LTT profile. I have two Intel Xeon X5680's coming in the next two weeks, and will be scouring the net for a cheap GTX 1060 6GB. This build is still incomplete, and does not have Windows installed yet (still getting unRAID setup). If you have any suggestions about what I should do next with this old workhorse, please feel free to comment down below. I'd be happy to test things out  I'll be even more capable of running benchmarks once I get Windows installed, so be on the look-out...

 

And yes, @Densetsu, I heard you:

 

 

And yes - all desktops that I've built/bought for myself contain Xeons. Not a single consumer CPU. Come at me brah.  

Edited August 14, 2018 by TopHatProductions115
Added photos

[Guest]

Pics or it didn’t happen... 

[TopHatProductions115]

5 minutes ago, Densetsu said:

Pics or it didn’t happen... 

I'll upload the photos when I get the time! Sorry for the lack of b-roll...

[NoxiousOdor]

16 hours ago, TopHatProductions115 said:

And yes - all desktops that I've built/bought for myself contain Xeons. Not a single consumer CPU. Come at me brah.

I see you are a proud member of not only the xeon master race but also the x58 master race! Hello brother!

[TopHatProductions115]

Moar updates can be found by looking through my most recent status updates. They all have links to each other, for easy archival navigation (to content, in chronological order). To get off to a good start, look here, and click on the links in each status update to get an idea of what happened over time...

https://linustechtips.com/main/profile/511347-tophatproductions115/?status=204783&type=status