General Intel HEDT Xeon/i7 Discussion

[MaratM]

4 hours ago, GrockleTD said:

decent DDr3 kit? wasn't really around for those days, so i don't know what is good https://www.ebay.com/itm/CORSAIR-XMS3-12GB-3-x-4GB-240-Pin-DDR3-SDRAM-DDR3-1333-Desktop-Memory-Model-CM/293267288418?epid=141775650&hash=item444817b162:g:-AgAAOSw74xdm51m

If you can get it for under $10 it is a steal) early corsair models were really bad overclokers. get unbranded oem ram sticks 3x8mb 1833mHz from aliexpress or ebay might be more expensive but 24gb of ram is still 24 gb of ram

[Zando_]

13 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

The X5670 is the most famous because of good overclocking prowess and, most importantly, phenomenal availability. The OC difference between this chip and the highest tier CPUs is non existent, the difference between a 5670 and something like a 5690 is just the stock clocks, so the added cost in a decent x58 board doesn't go to any use. someone like me would prefer one, because I'm stuck in a server motherboard and can't OC

IIRC the X5675 is the best average bin, X5690s are too expensive and shouldn't be pushed since they're not likely to OC better. Should be left as a best-in-socket upgrade for people pushing stock or lower clocks, burning one up would basically be blasphemy. The advantage of the X5670 is that it's barely behind the X5675 while being around half the price, making it the better bang for the buck IMO. 

13 hours ago, GrockleTD said:

alright thanks, i was wondering if there were any idk like 8/16 chips that i missed, so since i have the x5680 i'm good, and then if i do actually buy this NH-D15 i just overclock the stuffing out of it right?

The NH-D15 will easily handle some beefy OCs, I pushed 4.45-4.5 easily on a Gammax 400 with a single fan, the NH-D15 is in a whole different league from that. 

Also there are 10c/20t Westmere-EP chips on a different socket. I'd never heard of them but @TopHatProductions115 is planning to yoink some if I remember rightly. 

12 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

unfortunately no, like I said the thicc server board is the way to go, and unfortunately you lose overclocking

SR-2 has entered the chat

If you can find one for a decent price and don't pay $430 for yours like I did, they're basically the best board ever made for LGA1366, and one of the coolest boards in the history of motherboards. Only server mobo that overclocks as well (like I've said before it is running Intel 5520 instead of X58, so despite looking like just a giant-er Classified board, it is technically server hardware). 

And eeeeeehhh I'd avoid Dell/HP mobos if at all possible, they have proprietary connectors and yucky stuff like that. Standard form factor SuperMicro and such boards would be the best bet.
 

6 hours ago, MaratM said:

If you can get it for under $10 it is a steal) early corsair models were really bad overclokers. get unbranded oem ram sticks 3x8mb 1833mHz from aliexpress or ebay might be more expensive but 24gb of ram is still 24 gb of ram

Never tried those, I'm just the idiot who payed $60 for a single 8GB stick because I had to have a matching one for muh aesthetics (specifically a red HyperX Savage 1600Mhz CL9 stick, I already had two). Tbf the full 3x8GB kit does OC to around 2100Mhz CL10 so it's pretty solid (OCing was the other reason for a matching stick). Have only given it up to 1.65v as well, IIRC you can push a bit more on DDR3. 





 

[kaibsora]

I have the msi x58-proE motherboard, and it came with the i7 920. I'm wanting to upgrade the cpu in the machine to get better memory support for my vms(proxmox is maxing with my only 20gb of ram, and 3 containers, along with my zfs arrays) My question is, has anyone ever tried xeons in this board other than the w3520? 

[Zando_]

2 hours ago, kaibsora said:

I have the msi x58-proE motherboard, and it came with the i7 920. I'm wanting to upgrade the cpu in the machine to get better memory support for my vms(proxmox is maxing with my only 20gb of ram, and 3 containers, along with my zfs arrays) My question is, has anyone ever tried xeons in this board other than the w3520? 

From my quick look into it, it seems Westmere-EP Xeons don't work. There was a guy working on a modded BIOS at some point though: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-MSI-X58-Pro-E-MS-7522-Xeon-support

 

For the best support you'll want a Bloomfield or Gulftown i7 or Xeon and the latest BIOS (they did add official support for Gulftown). Your only options for a hexacore would be the i7 970, 980, 980X, or 990X. On the Xeon front there's only the W3690. The rest of the W series are either Bloomfield quad cores or Westmere-EP hexacores, the 3690 is the only Gulftown one.

[the pudding]

3 hours ago, Zando Bob said:

From my quick look into it, it seems Westmere-EP Xeons don't work. There was a guy working on a modded BIOS at some point though: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-MSI-X58-Pro-E-MS-7522-Xeon-support

 

For the best support you'll want a Bloomfield or Gulftown i7 or Xeon and the latest BIOS (they did add official support for Gulftown). Your only options for a hexacore would be the i7 970, 980, 980X, or 990X. On the Xeon front there's only the W3690. The rest of the W series are either Bloomfield quad cores or Westmere-EP hexacores, the 3690 is the only Gulftown one.

in terms of W series hex cores there is also the W3680 and W3670 but those and the W3690 are the only W series hex cores, though W3670s are cheap now at least 

 

edit: the latter two of the W series hex cores also have an unlocked multi, essentially 980X and 990X equivalent and this is why they hold a price premium over the W3670 which is the i7 970 equivalent which are locked and all

[Zando_]

Just now, the pudding said:

in terms of W series hex cores there is also the W3680 and W3670 but those and the W3690 are the only W series hex cores, though W3670s are cheap now at least 

Those are Westmere-EP hexacores, like I said "The rest of the W series are either Bloomfield quad cores or Westmere-EP hexacores". See the links I put for Bloomfield and Gulftown, the W3690 is the only Gulftown hexacore Xeon. 

I have a W3670, can confirm it's a Westmere-EP chip and does not work in boards that want Bloomfield or Gulftown chips. My V1.0 X58 Classy works just fine with my i7 920 and 950, not with said W3670. My Westmere-EP modded V1.0 X58 Classy 4-Way does work with the W3670, and all other Westmere-EP chips I've tried. 

W3670, Westmere-EP:


W3680, Westmere-EP:


W3690, Gulftown:


It's a really weird setup, lol. 

[the pudding]

8 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Those are Westmere-EP hexacores, like I said "The rest of the W series are either Bloomfield quad cores or Westmere-EP hexacores". See the links I put for Bloomfield and Gulftown, the W3690 is the only Gulftown hexacore Xeon. 

I have a W3670, can confirm it's a Westmere-EP chip and does not work in boards that want Bloomfield or Gulftown chips. My V1.0 X58 Classy works just fine with my i7 920 and 950, not with said W3670. My Westmere-EP modded V1.0 X58 Classy 4-Way does work with the W3670, and all other Westmere-EP chips I've tried. 

W3670, Westmere-EP:


W3680, Westmere-EP:


W3690, Gulftown:


It's a really weird setup, lol. 

ahhhhhh i missed that bit, oops

[the pudding]

to be honest though I'm half tempted to grab a W3670, if it's a better bin than my X5670 past 4.5GHz then it'll stay in my main, if not it can go in the system I have at the other halves

 

picture of that system for tax

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, the pudding said:

ahhhhhh i missed that bit, oops

Yeah it’s easy to miss, I didn’t catch it till after I got my W3670 and it didn’t work. 
 

Also on the locked multi thing, IIRC the X5650 also has one. Not too much of an issue though since you mostly use the BLCK for X58 overclocking. 

[the pudding]

10 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Yeah it’s easy to miss, I didn’t catch it till after I got my W3670 and it didn’t work. 
 

Also on the locked multi thing, IIRC the X5650 also has one. Not too much of an issue though since you mostly use the BLCK for X58 overclocking. 

ahh yeah that'd do it 

 

yeah, i mean all of the 5500 and 5600 chips have locked multipliers, as you say doesn't matter as much on X58 since you use the bclk, but a higher multi (to a point anyways) is better since you don't have to push the board as hard and all that's kinda why im thinking of grabbing a W3670 tbh, 24 multi at stock and a 26 multi if you can lock in the turbo multi, would be good for the other halves system since that R2G isn't anywhere near as capable as my R3G

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, the pudding said:

ahh yeah that'd do it 

 

yeah, i mean all of the 5500 and 5600 chips have locked multipliers, as you say doesn't matter as much on X58 since you use the bclk, but a higher multi (to a point anyways) is better since you don't have to push the board as hard and all that's kinda why im thinking of grabbing a W3670 tbh, 24 multi at stock and a 26 multi if you can lock in the turbo multi, would be good for the other halves system since that R2G isn't anywhere near as capable as my R3G

> not getting X58 Classified boards with those straight beefed northbridge heatsinks so you don't have to concern yourself with peasantry like "pushing the board as hard" smh my head 

 

/s ofc but yeah the Classified boards are knda OP

[the pudding]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

> not getting X58 Classified boards with those straight beefed northbridge heatsinks so you don't have to concern yourself with peasantry like "pushing the board as hard" smh my head 

 

/s ofc but yeah the Classified boards are knda OP

well that too but my R3G can run 220MHz passive, my R2G can barely run 200MHz at all so  that's running 200x22 on an X5660 at the moment but either way I think I'd like to grab another cpu anyways, might grab a pair of X5670s or something and run with that but we'll see i guess 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, the pudding said:

well that too but my R3G can run 220MHz passive, my R2G can barely run 200MHz at all so  that's running 200x22 on an X5660 at the moment but either way I think I'd like to grab another cpu anyways, might grab a pair of X5670s or something and run with that but we'll see i guess 

Ye I'm mostly teasing, the R3G should be dope af. I had the R3F, it was a damn good board too. By all accounts the R3E is even better (as it should be, being the flagship and all). But they still can't compete with them t h i c c heatsinks: 




EVGA really didn't skip finstack day at the northbridge cooling gym... 

[the pudding]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

Ye I'm mostly teasing, the R3G should be dope af. I had the R3F, it was a damn good board too. By all accounts the R3E is even better (as it should be, being the flagship and all). But they still can't compete with them t h i c c heatsinks: 

EVGA really didn't skip finstack day at the northbridge cooling gym... 

yeah the R3G is a solid board, not a great deal of chipset cooling mind you though but then this board doesn't need it since 220MHz with 1.27v on the NB so  but yeah those evga boards really are proper beefy on the nb cooling, i mean that's all the R3G gets, but then mine at least doesn't need more than that

[Zando_]

3 minutes ago, the pudding said:

yeah the R3G is a solid board, not a great deal of chipset cooling mind you though but then this board doesn't need it since 220MHz with 1.27v on the NB so  but yeah those evga boards really are proper beefy on the nb cooling, i mean that's all the R3G gets, but then mine at least doesn't need more than that

Tru tru, they're hella pretty boards too, though the red/black gamer aesthetic is damned common on these X58 boards lol. If you cater to that it looks damn good though, I run mine with 3x8GB Red HyperX Savage and it's . 

Really doubt you actually neeed the massive heatsinks either, the Classy boards are built to do LN2 and everything, don't think I can push them close to their limit on air/water. 

[the pudding]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Tru tru, they're hella pretty boards too, though the red/black gamer aesthetic is damned common on these X58 boards lol. If you cater to that it looks damn good though, I run mine with 3x8GB Red HyperX Savage and it's . 

Really doubt you actually neeed the massive heatsinks either, the Classy boards are built to do LN2 and everything, don't think I can push them close to their limit on air/water. 

very common indeed, but it's a nice look at least, and yeah, these are actually just heatsinks off of ebay, not actual hyper x stuff XD im running different ram now though, the 14900E stuff out of the trashcan style mac pro, fun tidbit of information too, you can run standard normal ecc (PC3#####E) on pretty much any consumer or HEDT board and cpu since it just runs in non ecc mode, i've run this stuff on everything from X58 to X79 and Z77 through to Z97  it's good ram if you can get it cheap 

 

yeah prolly not, but then tbf if you had it on LN2 you'd be freezing nearly everything around the socket so even a little heatsink would be plenty at that point

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, the pudding said:

very common indeed, but it's a nice look at least, and yeah, these are actually just heatsinks off of ebay, not actual hyper x stuff XD im running different ram now though, the 14900E stuff out of the trashcan style mac pro, fun tidbit of information too, you can run standard normal ecc (PC3#####E) on pretty much any consumer or HEDT board and cpu since it just runs in non ecc mode, i've run this stuff on everything from X58 to X79 and Z77 through to Z97  it's good ram if you can get it cheap 

 

yeah prolly not, but then tbf if you had it on LN2 you'd be freezing nearly everything around the socket so even a little heatsink would be plenty at that point

True. And lol yeah, just don't be a derp and accidentally get ECC-Reg, that stuff only works on 5520 or other server chipsets. It is super cheap though if you don't need to run it on X58. 

[the pudding]

Just now, Zando Bob said:

True. And lol yeah, just don't be a derp and accidentally get ECC-Reg, that stuff only works on 5520 or other server chipsets. It is super cheap though if you don't need to run it on X58. 

yeah ECC reg is a no go on anything other than server chipsets which is a shame, i do love how the heatsinks on ecc reg look though might even grab a 6x2 kit or something just to pinch the heatsinks from

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, the pudding said:

yeah ECC reg is a no go on anything other than server chipsets which is a shame, i do love how the heatsinks on ecc reg look though might even grab a 6x2 kit or something just to pinch the heatsinks from

Just yoink more old Mac Pro RAM, lol. IIRC those have the silver heatsinks. I think @WhisperingKnickers has a bunch of the stuff for his SR-2. 

[the pudding]

50 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Just yoink more old Mac Pro RAM, lol. IIRC those have the silver heatsinks. I think @WhisperingKnickers has a bunch of the stuff for his SR-2. 

well the mac pro 5,1's ran reg ecc ddr3 tho if we're talking 3,1 and earlier that's FBDIMMS but those don't fit very well if you have lots of DDR3 next to each other due to that gurt big bump on the side for the buffer chip 

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, the pudding said:

well the mac pro 5,1's ran reg ecc ddr3 tho if we're talking 3,1 and earlier that's FBDIMMS but those don't fit very well if you have lots of DDR3 next to each other due to that gurt big bump on the side for the buffer chip 

Yee, my point was that being ECC Registered DDR3 DIMMS they'd have the heatsinks. Didn't know about the FBDIMMS though, just know there were gens of Mac Pro that used the DDR3 with those heatsinks. There was a god-tier gen that can run two X5690s as well .

[the pudding]

24 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Yee, my point was that being ECC Registered DDR3 DIMMS they'd have the heatsinks. Didn't know about the FBDIMMS though, just know there were gens of Mac Pro that used the DDR3 with those heatsinks. There was a god-tier gen that can run two X5690s as well .

yeah, but it's just standard reg ecc so it searching for mac pro ram like that doesn't do much XD 

 

yeah that was a solid bit of kit

[TopHatProductions115]

3 hours ago, the pudding said:

ahhhhhh i missed that bit, oops

Not sure if this will help, but there are some sites that can help with identifying this info as well  I use this site when I need a quick and dirty comparison between CPUs in similar/identical generations of architecture:

• http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/858/Intel_Xeon_W3690_vs_Intel_Xeon_X5690.html

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, TopHatProductions115 said:

Not sure if this will help, but there are some sites that can help with identifying this info as well  I use this site when I need a quick and dirty comparison between CPUs in similar/identical generations of architecture:

• http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/858/Intel_Xeon_W3690_vs_Intel_Xeon_X5690.html

Lol, so the W3690 is literally just a single QPI X5690 that tells the mobo it's Gulftown while actually being Westmere-EP. 

Sneak 100 on those older boards 

[TopHatProductions115]

Yeah - I had to do the comparison at some point :3