Intel Xeon 1230v3 or Xeon 1231v3 or i5 4690?

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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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So, here's my rationale:

The Xeon is highly recommended on here by many prominent users, and as a noob, I'm inclined to take their words over my judgment. The 1231 is out now and only $23 CAD more on Newegg.ca, due to a sale (the 1230 is also on sale), so I'm wondering if the 1231 is worth the additional $23 for simply 100MHz more and absolutely no reviews on its quality/reliability/performance?

Furthermore, the other option is a reasonably cheaper i5 such as the 4670 or 4690, I'm going with an H97 motherboard, so I will not be overclocking. I'll be playing games almost exclusively (primarily strategy games), and won't be streaming or doing any multitasking while gaming. I need to know if the Xeon is worth it, if so, which one, or if I should go with the i5s. The 4690 is almost $50 cheaper.

If the i5 meant I could put more into a GPU, which would you say? I'm almost ready to order, but I'm torn between the Xeon and i5.

Thank you for your time.
 
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The lower tier Xeons and usually offer better or equal performance to other processors of similar price. I have had a Xeon 1230v2 and Xeon 1230. Both are as good as the 3770 and 2600 respectively. However, keep in mind you can't overclock those. There's also memory and motherboard incompatibilities that can arise with Xeon processors on consumer based motherboards. I also have a Xeon 1650 (2011 socket) and it IS compatible with the Rampage IV extreme motherboard with older BIOS firmware, but the newer firmware won't allow it to overclock. Some memory won't work with Xeons as well. Generally, you won't have to worry about the BIOS having problems since you can't overclock Xeons on the 1150 platform, but if I were you , I would get...
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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So you would pick the 1230 v3 over the 1231v3?

Here is the build, courtesy of Numanator. I formatted my PC last night and forgot about the cookies I'd lose.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/NJzWBm

It still needs an aftermarket cooler, I'm leaning towards the nicely priced CoolerMaster EVO 212.
 
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ff6shadow

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The lower tier Xeons and usually offer better or equal performance to other processors of similar price. I have had a Xeon 1230v2 and Xeon 1230. Both are as good as the 3770 and 2600 respectively. However, keep in mind you can't overclock those. There's also memory and motherboard incompatibilities that can arise with Xeon processors on consumer based motherboards. I also have a Xeon 1650 (2011 socket) and it IS compatible with the Rampage IV extreme motherboard with older BIOS firmware, but the newer firmware won't allow it to overclock. Some memory won't work with Xeons as well. Generally, you won't have to worry about the BIOS having problems since you can't overclock Xeons on the 1150 platform, but if I were you , I would get Corsair or Crucial memory since they are highly compatible and would work almost without a doubt. One more thing too is that they don't have integrated graphics, so you will definitely need a dedicated graphics card to use one. But, that's about it for problems that can occur.

I am just trying to help you in terms of concerns. Xeons are excellent and I have about 4 of them or so. They are as good as the non K i7s generally. So if you are not planning to overclock, you don't need integrated graphics, and you know that the motherboard and ram you choose will be compatible I would 100% get a Xeon. They are excellent. Oh, and to answer your newest question, yes the 212 EVO is great. I have put it on the Xeons. Do you need an aftermarket? Not really. But, it's nice. One last thing is that RAM usually won't be able to go past 1600 either. This may have changed with Haswell, I don't know. But, I doubt it.
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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The motherboard I'm planning on getting doesn't even support Xeons apparently. So, for the memory, would Corsair Vengeance be good then? I think that's what's in my build. I figured I'd get the aftermarket cooler to be safe, may as well go with a cheap one that is also good. So I'll stick with 1600mhz then, no reason to change. I don't think the H97 will allow more than 1600.

Thank you for the input and help!
 
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ff6shadow

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Corsair Vengeance memory will work fine for any mobo. As far as Xeons not being supported, they officially never are for consumer boards, but it should work fine. The only concern you should really have is whether the memory is supported and if you need integrated graphics. That's about all really. I would go with CL10 or CL9 Corsair Vengeance memory. It will work.
 
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Alpha3031

Alpha3031

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Here's what I suggest
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.88 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($103.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.97 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($264.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($62.05 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.82 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($105.84 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: BenQ GW2255 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($119.99 @ NCIX)
Keyboard: Perixx PX-1000 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($29.90 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1169.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Dropping the xenon in favor of the i5 4590 gets you a better GPU
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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I was thinking of doing something similar to what you mentioned, although going for the GTX 770. Something about AMD bothers me, I think it's probably all the negative comments, which I shouldn't base my decision on. That being said, the reviews on the MSI 280x are pretty bad, it has a mean of 3 eggs.

That's a nice build, nice price too, thank you! That being said, is the MSI 280x good in your opinion? Do you use it?

I think I'd consider going for the 4690 if it were on sale at the time of purchase, since it's like $230 now. Is the $20 markup price worth it for 200MHz? Will you notice much of an improvement?

Reducing the CPU for a better GPU is sound advice, but CPU intensive games are going to be my main games I play, like Civilization. Will the 4590 be enough for modern strategy games do you think? I'd rather play Civ 5 or something on medium settings and have the game run and process well, then play on ultra and wait 3 minutes per turn, like I do on my laptop. Although, I play on the lowest settings and still wait ages.

Honestly, when I play Planetside 2, I get like 5 frames per second in a warzone on the lowest settings and like 15-20 on Far Cry 3 on medium and low settings. If I could get 50-60 on those settings or higher settings, that would be an amazing improvement. All this crappy performance, plus my laptop feels like there's a coal fire burning inside, it's almost painful to rest my hands on it.
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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Good, so you can go wrong with Corsair Vengeance then I guess lmao. I ended up finding the list of supported CPUs for both the Gygabite and Asus mobos, and both support all sorts of Xeons apparently, according to their lists.

Well, I'd buy a dedicated GPU, like a GTX 760 or something, but an iGPU would be nice for backup if the main GPU fails or something. Also, what do CL10 and CL9 mean? I'm so uneducated with this stuff..
 
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ff6shadow

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Gigabyte boards are very compatible with a lot of stuff. Many people even use them to build Hackintoshes. A dedicated graphics card is good to have. What's your budget with one?

Higher CL means that the RAM has better CAS latency. The reason I say it is negligible is because it is measured in nanoseconds. You would need to be a super human to notice the difference between CL9 and CL10. The difference is roughly 1 nanosecond per bit time.

First word=(CAS latency*2) +(1-1))*bit time
Fourth word=(CAS latency*2) +(4-1))*bit time
Eighth word=(CAS latency*2) +(8-1))*bit time
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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So Gigabyte boards are pretty good then? My budget for the board is technically $160 since I've been looking at Z97s, but I'm eyeing an H97 Gigabyte for $109, because I don't need to overclock or SLI. The GPU budget is more flexible, I'm looking at a $280 or so GTX 760 right now, either ACX cooled or a superclocked model.

So CAS latency is basically something you can ignore and won't make any noticeable difference in performance?
 
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MrCanEHdian

MrCanEHdian

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I'll probably go with that Vengeance, may as well, thank you!

Yes, I hope it will, but some Z97s seem to have some nice "bells and whistles". I guess if I see a super sweet sale on a good Z97 before I buy, I may go Z97 and have all the options down the road.

Thank you for the help!
 
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