Overclocking Intel Xeon X5550?

pp51dodo

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Hey all.

New Job means better money, means new build. I want to build a powerhouse of a machine.
Mainly for photoshop (large large files, 2-4 gbs+)
will be running multiple VM's as well


Wanted to get some opinions on whether to single i7 or dual xeon 1366's.

The other option is a very very pricey Mac Pro System (don't want to do that)

It all comes down to clock speed, I think
My train of thought goes something like this:

single i7

pros:
- easily overclockable (will probably go water), push for 4+Ghz
- cheaper

Cons: max 24gbs ram with 4gig dimms, pricey if you can find them

Dual xeon X5550's

Pros:
- more processors (though costly)
- more ram (wouldn't necessarily have to go with 4 gig dimms)

Cons:
- pricier (but probably wont be an issue)
- Harder to overclock, if at all (cant find anyone who has been overclocking dual x5550's)


-Does anyone have experience overclocking dual 1366 xeons?

-Do you think a single i7 would handle a bunch of vm's, photoshop, and whatever else i can throw at it, if clocked to 4ghz+?


Thanks guys.
 
I don't think you can overclock the Xeons - the boards don't allow it. However, dual X5550s will be quite a bit faster than even a 4GHz single i7 in a highly threaded workload. You can get a lot more RAM too.
 

josepi

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Well I just recently built a server pc and I'm using it as a render pc, I use 3ds max, cinema 4d, and that's kind of software, so as far as I know this programs use multi core, that's a good thing :), but U have to see what u really want because for core i7 u would need to buy ddr3 memory and I know that's expensive, but for a server pc and like u ask for using xeon 5550 u need to use ecc/reg ddr2 memory and that memory is kind of expensive too because this memory are kind of special, because the idea of this is if u lose a bit while u where in the middle of something the memory recover the bit and repair the error, but u should read some of that :)

I'm using a pair of xeon 5350 2.66Ghz, and I have 12Gb 667Mhz ram :), but if u want to overclock this chip u have to use a liquid cooling system, Im using 2, one for each chip.

I overclock my machine to 3.16 Ghz, and the ddr2 ram to 780Mhz, almost 800Mhz, stable using prime95 to check :) but If u want to go higher u have to change the fsb:dram ratio clock, I don't know how to do it, because I don't have that option in bios, but if u change it to 1:1 u can overclock it even more, I use a software called setfsb :) but do it at u own risk

but as for the benchmarking, my machine @ 3.16 Ghz is faster just by a little, than the core i7 @3.8 Hgz, but ram is slower, just because I have to use ddr2 =/

hope this help u a lil
 
G

Guest

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To josepi:
Hello, I have one question to u - I have Asus P6T WS Pro,iX58 chip, I would like to buy the same CPU - Xeon 5350 or 5550, but I don't know it will work with my MB , and it's not enough information about it. If this CPU is intended for work 2 CPUs, whether it will work one with P6T? Thank u
 

CaptainPuffy

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Hey guys sorry to bring up an old topic.

You've said that dual xeons would crush a 4ghz i7 on multi threaded apps, but what about multiple single threaded apps such as if Someone was hosting 10-20 game servers out of one box. (10-20 instances of one individual exe)

I also am trying to decide between an OC'd i7 920 and a Dual E5520's.

Thanks for your time

Dieter.
 

wuzy

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but what about multiple single threaded apps such as if Someone was hosting 10-20 game servers out of one box. (10-20 instances of one individual exe)
That shouldn't be a problem even for 4core/8threads as most game server (per instance) don't use more than 50% per thread. A dual E5520 setup will allow more instances obviously. If you have instances that has many slots (>64) then it might push thread usage over 50%, therefor less instances allowed.
The bottleneck for that many instances will lie in HDD instead. Commercialised dedicated game servers I've seen in the past all use at least 2x15K SAS drives in RAID0. A single Intel X25-E with its godly high IOps will work even better if budget allows.
 

simkiss

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JOESPI!!!
This is my biggest dilemma. In an ideal world, of course we want Nehalem Xeons in dual config 8C/16T. I currently OC an i7 and I would like to do the same to the Xeon, but as we both know, you can't find any mobos that let you OC the Xeons.

I love the idea of setFSB. I have long been searching for something like this.

My question is, which dual Xeon X58/1366 motherboard are you using? Also, why stop at 3.16GHz? What if anything do you use for cooling?

Thank you!

Please let me know ASAP!!! I'm configuring now. :eek:)
Mark

email: 2009(d0t)public(dot)mark((a))simkiss(dÖt)net
 

CaptainPuffy

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Ty for the reply, I've known that the hdd does have to be fast, especially when dealing with multiple servers on one box. My plan was to use 1 10k raptor for every 2 servers I was hosting. (With all drives in a RAID 0 config)

Will this suffice? I've heard some reports that the 15k SAS drives have been outperformed during some tasks by the 10k raptors? Whats your oppinion on this? Whats your oppinion on SSD drives?

 
15k drives are outperformed by 10k raptors in low queue depth applications, such as single user environments. The 15k drives destroy the Raptors for server type applications though. 15k drives plus a good RAID card would work well.
 

wuzy

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Will this suffice? I've heard some reports that the 15k SAS drives have been outperformed during some tasks by the 10k raptors? Whats your oppinion on this? Whats your oppinion on SSD drives?
Opinions are like asshole, everyone has one and it's smelly. ;)
No, I give out fact and data only.

The closest benchmark I find is to look at IOMeter Database pattern, which is a closer resemblance of what a game server does in terms of disk activity.
For those they rank in the order of; SSD (enterprise class SLC), 15k, 10k. When comparing with the same generation of drives that is.
This is the sort of difference the X25-E can make over 15/10k HDD in that area.

All it really depends on is what benchmark(s) to look at for the specific task you're doing. For example with typical single-user desktop usage you would look at completely different benchmarks which I won't go into detail here.
Benchmarks to totally ignore as they don't apply to real-world are synthetic raw throughput diagram produced by apps like h2benchw, HDTune, HDTach... etc.

With newer generation mechanics and firmware, yes it is possible for 10K drives to outperform older 15K drives in areas where it once held advantage.

Since you already have some Raptors, try those first and if things don't work out then upgrade using recommendations above.
 

krazynutz

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Dual 5520's will destroy a 4Ghz I7

This is untrue.

I have a Core i7 920 at home OC'd to 3.8GHz. I have two workstations at work - a dual Xeon e5520 (2.26Ghz x 2) and a dual Xeon 5410 (2x 2.33GHz)

3ds Max 2010 Benchmark scene:

2x 5410 @ 2.33Ghz, 8GB RAM - 41 seconds.
1x 920 oc @ 3.8GHz, 6GB RAM - 34 seconds
2x e5520 @ 2.26Ghz, 16GB RAM - 29 seconds.

Yes, the dual 5520's are faster, but I'd hardly call that "destroyed". If my i7 rig was at 4Ghz (as in your quoted comparison) the margin would be even less.

Just thought I'd throw a real world comparison out there for anyone interested.