Xeon vs i7 and Compatability

[Eazy Cheezy]

Hey all,

 

So, I'm planning on doing a rig refresh within the next couple months. I use my current rig (i7 3770, GTX 960, 16GB RAM) for gaming, video editing, etc. I was looking at doing a Skylake i7 refresh, and then I came across the Xeon 1230 v5. Now, I can't seem to find a straight answer, so that's why I'm here! My questions are: is the Xeon 1230 v5 essentially an i7 6700 without an iGPU? Which would provide the best performance per dollar? If the Xeon is the better option, will it work on any LGA 1151 mobo, or will I need one that is labeled as a "server" mobo? I am fairly versed in tech lingo/processes, so please don't dumb down answers so that way I can fully understand my options here. I really appreciate any help. Thanks!

 

-Brandon Reardin

[2FA]

The Xeon E3 v5 series requires the C236 chipset and won't work with the standard 100 series motherboards because Intel got salty people were the buying the 1231 v3 over the i7s because it was cheaper.

[Neroxis]

Deadeye has it right. You will need the different chipset. Xeons are nice because they allow hardware passthrough in a virtual machine. It's super nice when you want to pass a gpu to a VM. The Xeons also will support ECC memory, which is awesome for ZFS. 

[Eazy Cheezy]

Thanks for the help!