Dual Xeons

[SufficientSwimmer]

E5 2670 Xeons are fairly inexpensive secondhand and I'm wondering if they're worth getting. Is there a better option for ~$650US (for both the CPU and Mobo?) What are some of the problems that come with having dual CPUs? Feel free to educate me about CPUs and why I'm an idiot for even considering this.

 

Getting a few questions/comments out of the way:

You do know Xeons are for servers right?

Yes.

What will you be using this system for?

-Creating and rendering 3D models (in Blender)

-Animation (in Blender and SFM)  

-Video editing (not sure what software I'm going to be using or how high-res the footage is going to be.)

-Gaming (I know Xeons aren't the best for gaming, and having 2 of them is probably even worse, but if it's better than my FX-6100-which, in a lot of games, is pinned at 100% usage while my GPU is only at 50-80%-then I'll be fine.)

-Programming

-Recording/Streaming

-Virtual machines

-Hosting game servers (I remember enjoying hosting servers, despite the fact that they were probably always laggy and garbage.)

-Making stuff in Unity and UE4

That doesn't sound like it requires 16 cores and 32 threads.

I do a lot of these things at the same time and I plan on doing even more. (e.g. In the past I would stream, record, host a game server, and play a game all at the same time. My poor FX-6100.) You're probably still right, though.

That still doesn't sound like it requires 16 cores and 32 threads.

Well... tell me why it doesn't. I don't know a lot about CPUs so feel free to educate me. 

Wow Kerf, you're an idiot. E5 2670s are so cheap because they are terrible. Just go with an I7 4790k or try to find a secondhand I7 3930k/I7 3960x/I7 4820k/I7 4930k/I7 4960x/etc.

I know I'm an idiot. I thought they were cheap because people had a ton that they didn't need after upgrading their servers 'n' stuff. I know a 4790k would definitely be better for gaming, but I'm going to use this machine for more than that (as I previously stated.)

How often do you do each of these things?

-Creating and rendering 3D models: Currently, not often. It's something I'm interested in though.

-Animation: Currently, not often. It's something I'm very interested in though.

-Video editing: Currently, not often. It's something I'm very interested in though.

-Gaming: Very often.

-Programming: Currently, not often. I'm currently learning the basics, but I am very interested in it.

-Recording/Streaming: Currently, somewhat often. I'm very interested in it though.

-Virtual machines: Currently, somewhat often. Not using it for anything special, but might later on.

-Hosting game servers: Currently, not often. It's something I'm very interested in though.

-Making stuff in Unity and UE4: Currently, not often. It's something I'm interested in though.

Why are there so many things that you don't do often?

The exact reason why this thread is a thing, CPU limitations. Whether I'm just unable to do it, unable to get the desired quality, unable to do it in a timely manner, or some other reason it's usually caused by CPU limitations.

Why don't you just wait for the new AMD and Intel processors to come out?

Because I'm not sure how long I'm going to need to wait... and 16 cores and 32 threads for $150-$200 is really enticing (It's the mobo that's gonna cost a ton...) 

Kerf, you're an idiot. You didn't __________

Well... I'm sorry. I probably didn't know, which is why I asked you guys. 

 

Current setup:

CPU: AMD FX-6100

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2

RAM: Crucial DDR3 1333 16GB (2x8gb)

GPU: ASUS STRIX GTX 960 2GB

Case: CM Elite 430 (will upgrade as soon as I know what Mobo form factor I'm going with)

Storage: WD Blue 1TB, WD Black 1TB, Kingston HyperX FURY 120GB

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2

Cooling: CM Hyper 212 Evo

[Justin_]

If you need lots of cores as rendering can definitely can use older Xeons are a good idea, one thing to look out for is that not every version of Windows supports more than one physical CPU I think that Windows Pro supports 2, but don't quote me on that, another advantage is that they support ECC RAM and that is good to have for rendering and video editing. Id say go for it.

As for Xeons being worse for gaming watch this video as for VM's the more cores the better

 

 

[manikyath]

while you're getting yourself a bunch of threads there, they're not exactly the fastest threads, and thats also a whole lot of heat into your system.

 

i'd honestly rather push towards a single processor setup, and use the extra dollah dollah bills on a cooling setup that'll allow for a sweet overclock.

[SufficientSwimmer]

13 minutes ago, Justin_ said:

If you need lots of cores as rendering can definitely can use older Xeons are a good idea, one thing to look out for is that not every version of Windows supports more than one physical CPU I think that Windows Pro supports 2, but don't quote me on that, another advantage is that they support ECC RAM and that is good to have for rendering and video editing. Id say go for it.

As for Xeons being worse for gaming watch this video as for VM's the more cores the better

-snip-

Thanks!

12 minutes ago, manikyath said:

while you're getting yourself a bunch of threads there, they're not exactly the fastest threads, and thats also a whole lot of heat into your system.

 

i'd honestly rather push towards a single processor setup, and use the extra dollah dollah bills on a cooling setup that'll allow for a sweet overclock.

I don't really care about overclocking and I don't think heat will be too much of a problem. I'm just looking for the best bang for the buck CPU(s) for the aforementioned tasks.  

EDIT: Best bang for the buck within my budget, I mean.

[astranger200]

go the zeons... all dat processing ower... also, new games are able to use 8 cores so in gaming you will get better performance

[SufficientSwimmer]

Bump. Still on the fence about this, leaning more towards making the purchase. I hope someone will be able to provide enough information for me to make a definitive decision.

 

-I know going with a single CPU setup would be better, but I don't know what CPU would be worth getting instead.

-I know it will output a lot of heat. I honestly don't mind. I live close to the Canadian border and it's usually cold up here. Would be nice to have a space heater.

-I don't know what other inherent problems come with having dual CPUs (besides extra power draw and heat.)

-I don't plan on manually trying to overclock them (because I probably won't get anything good out of it.) Just gonna let them turbo.

-I don't think the I7 vs Xeon video really helps in this scenario. That was a newer (2014) 4 core 8 thread 3.6GHz (turbo to 4GHz) Xeon in the video and I'm planning on going with 2 older (2012) 8 core 16 thread 2.6GHz (turbo to 3.3GHz) Xeons.

[SLAYR]

1 hour ago, kerfurfulsnitz said:

Bump. Still on the fence about this, leaning more towards making the purchase. I hope someone will be able to provide enough information for me to make a definitive decision.

 

-I know going with a single CPU setup would be better, but I don't know what CPU would be worth getting instead.

-I know it will output a lot of heat. I honestly don't mind. I live close to the Canadian border and it's usually cold up here. Would be nice to have a space heater.

-I don't know what other inherent problems come with having dual CPUs (besides extra power draw and heat.)

-I don't plan on manually trying to overclock them (because I probably won't get anything good out of it.) Just gonna let them turbo.

-I don't think the I7 vs Xeon video really helps in this scenario. That was a newer (2014) 4 core 8 thread 3.6GHz (turbo to 4GHz) Xeon in the video and I'm planning on going with 2 older (2012) 8 core 16 thread 2.6GHz (turbo to 3.3GHz) Xeons.

I have a single e5 2670 and for gaming performance I know that I don't get above 40% usage on it so you be getting full usage of the chip while gaming. Dx12 might effect this though. But if need the raw compute power a chip that costs $70 and getting over 1000 in cinebench is a good deal, I paid $250 US for my chip and a x79 mobo. 

[SufficientSwimmer]

18 minutes ago, SLAYR said:

I have a single e5 2670 and for gaming performance I know that I don't get above 40% usage on it so you be getting full usage of the chip while gaming. Dx12 might effect this though. But if need the raw compute power a chip that costs $70 and getting over 1000 in cinebench is a good deal, I paid $250 US for my chip and a x79 mobo. 

Well that (among other things) was enough to sway me. Going to get one E5 2670 for now and see how well that works out (I don't know why I didn't do that in the first place.) Might purchase another one later on if I find that I need more processing power. Thanks!  

EDIT: Now I remember why I didn't go with 1 in the first place: LGA2011 mobos are still fairly expensive on Ebay (so it was kinda just a better deal to go with 2 CPUs and a dual socket mobo.) I'll look on Craigslist and maybe go up to Free Geek to see if I can find a good, working LGA2011 mobo for a low price. Still, thanks for reassuring me that it's a good deal.  

Edited February 29, 2016 by kerfurfulsnitz