Looking for a cpu

[plasma757]

Looking for a cpu upgrade for my home server that has more than the standard 20 pcie lanes that even high end consumer chips are limited to now. My current CPU is an i7 6850k with 40 pcie lanes so I'm looking for around that many. This server is also used for some gaming so single threaded performance is also important. Are there any good options that won't cost an insane amount? New components are preferred 

[4PcBuilder]

A clear budget would make it easier for me to find one for you. But I would say the 13600kf is the best value for your gaming/server needs at the moment. If you need something cheaper and more upgradeable, the ryzen 5 7600x is a close second due to the am5 platform being supported until 2025/2026.

 

edit: I just realized these only have 20/24 pcie lanes, but ones with more than that are very hard to find these days without being an older chip.

[plasma757]

I would like to spend less than $750 on the cpu. I found the Intel xeon 4410t for around $650 but I am struggling to find anything that is comparable. Is the prosumer market really this dead?

[m9x3mos]

2 hours ago, plasma757 said:

I would like to spend less than $750 on the cpu. I found the Intel xeon 4410t for around $650 but I am struggling to find anything that is comparable. Is the prosumer market really this dead?

If you arent looking at new chips, the 2950x has 64 and 4 going to the chipset. The single thread performance isn't the best but it is still pretty darn good. I'm using one in a virtualization host with 128gb ram and it is running great for that purpose. It can run over 20 without issues. 

[Bdavis]

Just curious, but what do you need 40 pci-e lanes for? Also, pci express has more bandwidth per lane so you might be alright with fewer lanes?

[plasma757]

8 minutes ago, Bdavis said:

Just curious, but what do you need 40 pci-e lanes for? Also, pci express has more bandwidth per lane so you might be alright with fewer lanes?

Gpu, RAID card, sound card, and fiber optic network card.

[plasma757]

45 minutes ago, m9x3mos said:

If you arent looking at new chips, the 2950x has 64 and 4 going to the chipset. The single thread performance isn't the best but it is still pretty darn good. I'm using one in a virtualization host with 128gb ram and it is running great for that purpose. It can run over 20 without issues. 

I am looking more for new hardware, shame that threadripper isn't around anymore (not counting threadripper pro)

[Bersella AI]

It seems the only thing you're seeking for may be more PCIe slots, not PCIe lanes from the processor. If you plan to build a new rig, grab a recent motherboard with at least 3 PCIe x16/x4 slots (for GPU, RAID card & fiber PHY) & 1 PCIe x1 slot (for sound card).

An M.2 to PCIe riser can be considered for boards which have only 2 PCIe x16/x4 slots (vast majority in affordable B660/B550 boards).

 

An example with 3 PCIe x16/x4 slots was the Asus PRIME B660M-A D4 board.

[plasma757]

7 hours ago, Bersella AI said:

It seems the only thing you're seeking for may be more PCIe slots, not PCIe lanes from the processor. If you plan to build a new rig, grab a recent motherboard with at least 3 PCIe x16/x4 slots (for GPU, RAID card & fiber PHY) & 1 PCIe x1 slot (for sound card).

An M.2 to PCIe riser can be considered for boards which have only 2 PCIe x16/x4 slots (vast majority in affordable B660/B550 boards).

 

An example with 3 PCIe x16/x4 slots was the Asus PRIME B660M-A D4 board.

if i use a cpu/mobo with pcie gen 5, such as ryzen 7000, can i still take advantage of the increased bandwidth when sharing lanes between older cards (gen 3/gen 4). if i have the 3080ti (or any future gpus) in the server using 16 lanes will the remaining 8 lanes end up locked at the slower speeds when sharing the lanes between the remaining 3 cards, or can i take full advantage of the increased bandwidth even if the cards are not actually capable of running at gen 5 speeds? if the shared lanes are going to end up being locked to the slower gen 3 speeds thats not a great solution as my 10gig fiber card would still be limited by pcie bandwidth (which is part of the reason im upgrading from the 6850k which only supports pcie gen 3) only now its also sharing that limited bandwidth with the sound card and the raid card, slowing things down even further.

[Blue4130]

9 hours ago, plasma757 said:

if i use a cpu/mobo with pcie gen 5, such as ryzen 7000, can i still take advantage of the increased bandwidth when sharing lanes between older cards (gen 3/gen 4). if i have the 3080ti (or any future gpus) in the server using 16 lanes will the remaining 8 lanes end up locked at the slower speeds when sharing the lanes between the remaining 3 cards, or can i take full advantage of the increased bandwidth even if the cards are not actually capable of running at gen 5 speeds? if the shared lanes are going to end up being locked to the slower gen 3 speeds thats not a great solution as my 10gig fiber card would still be limited by pcie bandwidth (which is part of the reason im upgrading from the 6850k which only supports pcie gen 3) only now its also sharing that limited bandwidth with the sound card and the raid card, slowing things down even further.

The card can only use the bandwidth of it's generation. Putting a gen 3 x16 card in a bifurcated gen 4 x4 slot is only going to get you gen 3 x4 speeds, not gen 4 x4 speeds.

 

[plasma757]

16 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

The card can only use the bandwidth of it's generation. Putting a gen 3 x16 card in a bifurcated gen 4 x4 slot is only going to get you gen 3 x4 speeds, not gen 4 x4 speeds.

 

thats what i suspected, which means that i really do seem to need more pcie lanes than i can find in consumer chips.

[Bersella AI]

On 1/30/2023 at 8:34 AM, plasma757 said:

can i still take advantage of the increased bandwidth when sharing lanes between older cards (gen 3/gen 4).

No, and never do this. Only the halo products are applicable for lanes sharing. And older cards installed on newer motherboards would still run at the highest spec supported by these cards.

On 1/30/2023 at 8:34 AM, plasma757 said:

if the shared lanes are going to end up being locked to the slower gen 3 speeds thats not a great solution as my 10gig fiber card would still be limited by pcie bandwidth

It won't be. A typical 10 Gigabit fiber PHY should have a PCIe interface using 4 lanes, which under Gen 3 have a maximum bitrate of 32 Gbps, way more than enough.

[DogKnight]

I really only see your options as Threadripper or Xeon options as all consumer range chips are limited. 

 

For Intel, the x299 platform topped out at gen 3 PCIE. So you would need to look at Xeon CPU's due to the lack of HEDT options. New workstation CPU's are on the way but I don't believe a date has been confirmed. These CPU's are a step above what would have been previously considered HEDT and are more like high speed Xeon's. 

For AMD, you have threadripper. Which really seems like your best choice if you want more lanes of PCIE gen 4. Probably worth investigating previous generations as the TR Pro chips are quite expensive.