Old XEONs for multi-tasking

[Fidycent]

Hello, so, whilst browsing ebay i stumbled upon an old 2x6 Xeon server for around 300 Euros, which gave me an idea of improving what i currently do. I have multiple processes for work running pretty much all the time I am at the pc, each consuming around 3-5% CPU on my 4690k OC'ed to 4.0 GHz(Let me know if theres a better way to measure that), around 500MB ram and barely any GPU at idle, and around double the CPU usage whilst focused. I know how multiple cores/threads affect rendering, but have not looked into its effect to multi-tasking. So, my first question would it even be worth doing such a project for my task?

 

2nd part - Whilst just looking at random deals on Ebay i remembered Linus's video on the 150$ server hardware gaming build, and as usual for enthusiasts, figured building my own would be cheaper, and more fun (if it actually is worth doing). The process is does use multiple threads, but most of its usage is the main thread. At this point, I've not put much research into it, and looking for a simple "Yes its a good idea" or "No its terrible" from someone more experienced, before doing more, but what would be more beneficial for this? More cores or higher clock speeds? For example, after a quick search on ebay, the L5638 with 6 cores and 2 GHz, or the X5450 with 4 cores and 3 GHz? Sorry for the broad question, but any input would be appreciated.

[Electronics Wizardy]

What are you doing? What are these processes?

 

These systems are normally loud and hot, will need new ram(but this ram is cheap) as well. 

 

I have a few of these systems, just stoped using one as my server due to power usage(with l5630's). 

 

stay away from anything 54XX or older, those are worse.

 

They really aren't that much faster than your i5, id probably spend you money on a ryzen system that will be faster and get you things like built in audio, usb3, nvme support, and other modern features.

[Pasi123]

3 minutes ago, Fidycent said:

For example, after a quick search on ebay, the L5638 with 6 cores and 2 GHz, or the X5450 with 4 cores and 3 GHz? Sorry for the broad question, but any input would be appreciated.

I wouldn't recommend either of those. L5638 is a low power CPU and many LGA1366 4 core CPU's beats it easily in multicore performance. And X5450 is older generation (LGA775) and it is worse than most 4 core LGA1366 CPU's.

 

For dual LGA1366 workstation a Xeon X5670 (6 core, LGA1366) or higher would be ideal.

[NoxiousOdor]

Look for the LGA 1366 xeons in the 5500 and 5600 series. They will be much better as @Pasi123 suggested. If you need help choosing there is a whole community that use these xeons

 

 

 

[Fidycent]

8 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

What are you doing? What are these processes?

 

These systems are normally loud and hot, will need new ram(but this ram is cheap) as well. 

 

I have a few of these systems, just stoped using one as my server due to power usage(with l5630's). 

 

stay away from anything 54XX or older, those are worse.

 

They really aren't that much faster than your i5, id probably spend you money on a ryzen system that will be faster and get you things like built in audio, usb3, nvme support, and other modern features.

Sorry, should have probably stated that, I'm not upgrading, but just building a system, the processes require input like once per 6 minutes most of the time, so my idea was to put the server hardware in my garage or something, and use remote desktop to control it, so yeah, that would include new ram etc, but I don't require any audio output or any other modern features really. I'm just wondering if it's better to use old server than build a budget pc for this task

[Electronics Wizardy]

21 minutes ago, Fidycent said:

Sorry, should have probably stated that, I'm not upgrading, but just building a system, the processes require input like once per 6 minutes most of the time, so my idea was to put the server hardware in my garage or something, and use remote desktop to control it, so yeah, that would include new ram etc, but I don't require any audio output or any other modern features really. I'm just wondering if it's better to use old server than build a budget pc for this task

So if this is a server id just get something like a r710 for this use. Pretty cheap(less than 200 on ebay) and more than fast enough.

[Jasco1997]

Keep in mind that old server boards usually don't have integrated graphics and are often picky on what memory they'll work with.

 

I'm all for reusing old and used hardware however it might be cheaper and easier just to pick up an old Optiplex or cheap notebook off Craigslist.