upgrade from i7 870 to xeon x3480 - worth it?

[OCD-FREAK]

hey everyone,

 

i currently have an imac with i7 870 and iam thinking all the time if it's worth the upgrade to xeon x3480 for the price of 80$ ?

iam using my imac for general heavy tasks and workstation activities (like video editing- programming - app development - CAD designing - graphical designing etc...)

 

thanks in advance  

[NoxiousOdor]

It probably wouldn't be worth it unless you really need a small speed increase. The xeon only has slightly higher speeds and you may be able to overclock your i7 to match or pass the xeon's speed

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, WhisperingKnickers said:

It probably wouldn't be worth it unless you really need a small speed increase. The xeon only has slightly higher speeds and you may be able to overclock your i7 to match or pass the xeon's speed

well if it's an iMac, then RIP overclocking... so if the Xeon is a bit faster it will help. Also, if it's any newer it probs has a better IPC. 

[OCD-FREAK]

2 minutes ago, WhisperingKnickers said:

It probably wouldn't be worth it unless you really need a small speed increase. The xeon only has slightly higher speeds and you may be able to overclock your i7 to match or pass the xeon's speed

imacs cant be over clocked in any way, they are already over heated with their poor airflow cooling design, the i 7 870 is a great over clocker but unfortunately thats not even possible in an imac, does that small speed give me any benefit if any ? and is it true that the xeon x3480 has more features than the i7 applicable to an imac ? 

[OCD-FREAK]

3 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

well if it's an iMac, then RIP overclocking... so if the Xeon is a bit faster it will help. Also, if it's any newer it probs has a better IPC. 

yes, but my concern also is that a friend of mine did an upgrade to an imac and installed the x3480 but the system is showing wrong CPU name and that is really concerning me, will the imac use the full potential of the xeon ? 

 

[NoxiousOdor]

2 minutes ago, OCD-FREAK said:

imacs cant be over clocked in any way, they are already over heated with their poor airflow cooling design, the i 7 870 is a great over clocker but unfortunately thats not even possible in an imac, does that small speed give me any benefit if any ? and is it true that the xeon x3480 has more features than the i7 applicable to an imac ? 

Oh shoot yeah I forgot you wouldn't be able to overclock. The xeon has a higher speed which is nice but otherwise it is pretty much the same. The xeon supports more ram than the i7 but ram amount is also limited to what the motherboard supports

[OCD-FREAK]

iam using 32gb ram with the i7 870, so it's not an advantage and also i have read that an imac don't make use of ecc memory or any other server grade functions used by xeons, so i think the only benefit i will be getting is the 130MHz difference which iam still thinking if its worth the 80$ 

[OCD-FREAK]

4 minutes ago, Joel2003 said:

Not really worth it, with a oc to the i7 it would most likely outperform the xeon, unless your using a apple system then overclocking isn't possible and I would recommend the xeon

yeah overclocking an imac is just a dream that will never come true, but would you be able to tell me why you recommend the x3480 ? 

[OCD-FREAK]

i have read that an imac don't make use of ecc memory or any other server grade functions used by xeons, so i think the only benefit i will be getting is the 130MHz difference which iam still thinking if its worth the 80$ 

[bimmerman]

You posted this exact same topic last week, are you expecting a different answer than you got in that thread?

 

The TL;DR of that thread was "you won't notice any difference" and you're getting the same answers this time around as well...

 

 

 

[OCD-FREAK]

1 minute ago, bimmerman said:

You posted this exact same topic last week, are you expecting a different answer than you got in that thread?

 

The TL;DR of that thread was "you won't notice any difference" and you're getting the same answers this time around as well...

 

 

yeah true, iam trying to get different answers for another imac i have. i will still appreciate your discussion  

 

[PotatoYT9]

5 minutes ago, OCD-FREAK said:

 

if you think it will benefit you, get the xeon.

if you think your current i7 is good enough and isn't worth the $80 stay with the i7 

[OCD-FREAK]

Just now, PotatoYT9 said:

if you think it will benefit you, get the xeon.

if you think your current i7 is good enough and isn't worth the $80 stay with the i7 

you didn't help me out with anything except that you made it more confusing.

[bimmerman]

The speed difference is 130 MHz, or 0.130 GHz.

 

0.130 GHz on a 2.93 GHz chip is 4.4%. Will you notice a 4.4% improvement?

 

If you think you will, and have $80 to spend as well as a couple hours of time to troubleshoot, go for it and buy the Xeon.

 

It might not work, and you will either have wasted $80 or will be able to resell it to not have lost as much money.

 

Ultimately no one will be able to say it is worth it (it's absolutely not) or whether it will work (guess and check, honestly).

 

Real talk: it's a dumb idea, and you'll never notice an improvement, but if you have $80 burning a hole in your pocket, go for it.

[JR88]

It may not be that much better...all that old stuff needs clocked anyways...but It's a Xeon they were binned and selected better and a lot of those chips are still good.

I find it unbelievable the x5650 is still ok and benches still like it should. They just about all had higher Tmax's, Quality and reliability went into them. 

[OCD-FREAK]

7 hours ago, JR88 said:

It may not be that much better...all that old stuff needs clocked anyways...but It's a Xeon they were binned and selected better and a lot of those chips are still good.

I find it unbelievable the x5650 is still ok and benches still like it should. They just about all had higher Tmax's, Quality and reliability went into them. 

You didn't really answer my question