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Intel Xeon E3-1275 Review: Sandy Bridge Goes Professional

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  • Sandy Bridge
  • Workstations
  • Intel
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May 3, 2011 4:00:04 AM

We've already seen Sandy Bridge impress in the desktop space. Does Intel's latest processor architecture have what it takes to dominate the single-socket server and workstation space, too? We run the fastest workstation SKU through our benchmark suite.

Intel Xeon E3-1275 Review: Sandy Bridge Goes Professional : Read more

More about : intel xeon 1275 review sandy bridge professional

May 3, 2011 4:22:50 AM

Stop teasing and give us a six core Sandy Bridge CPU!
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May 3, 2011 5:49:07 AM

one-shotStop teasing and give us a six core Sandy Bridge CPU!

Sandy Bridge-E, LGA 2011 X79, Q4 2011.
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May 3, 2011 6:48:00 AM

Finally a compilation benchmark! Now please make it standard in your test suite for CPUs and storage so there's a real benefit from it all for actual comparisons.
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May 3, 2011 8:00:57 AM

They still make xeons?
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May 3, 2011 11:57:56 AM

Thanks for this review Chris, very well covered. I'll probably be refering back to this when it comes to spec our next workstations.
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Anonymous
May 3, 2011 2:15:05 PM

I think this is a useless review. Why are we comparing Apples to Oranges? Lets compare current generation Xeons to Previous generation Xeons.
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May 3, 2011 2:31:28 PM

one thing I can attest to: companies who cheap out on their workstations and servers never perform well as companies, and eventually fail.

I've worked with many small businesses, and every one that used a desktop chip for a server or a discount chip (Celeron, Duron, etc) for their desktop computers all performed very poorly. Some seemed to hang on by the sheer will of the owner, and in a couple cases, when the owner got sick for more than a week, the businesses folded like lawn chairs.

I've also seen an Engineering shop of ~30 engineers invest nicely into a real server and real workstations, and had me set up their entire network with SBS. their business ramped up so fast and well that they had to hire several more engineers and outgrew SBS (limited to 50 users at the time) within the next 2 years, and I had to go back and rebuild their domain with full enterprise level software, and add another server specifically for email. the owner said the investment in that SBS system was the best thing he'd invested in the business since he hired his first engineer.

Business owners who do not invest in their IT infrastructure fail at business. It's pretty plain and simple. While investing in good IT gear and software doesn't mean you'll ramp up your business to unheard of heights, it does give you a major leg up on the competition.
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May 3, 2011 3:59:36 PM

No quick sync on a Zeon??
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Anonymous
May 3, 2011 4:14:01 PM

given the option of a cheaper Xenon that does not have the P3000 im pretty sure 90% of companies would choose that option, discreet graphics would almost exclusively be employed for the majority of workstation class desktops
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May 3, 2011 4:26:04 PM

Very informative and useful article Mr. Angelini, thank you.
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May 3, 2011 5:26:01 PM

GeekApprovedNo quick sync on a Zeon??


Thats a very bold statement, not all companies require top of the range computer equipment
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May 3, 2011 5:28:00 PM

So what happens when AMD brings an Opteron with a more-than-competent GPU onboard? At least in GPU-influenced situations they should see a nice advantage I would think.
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May 3, 2011 5:43:42 PM

DiscreetSolutiongiven the option of a cheaper Xenon that does not have the P3000 im pretty sure 90% of companies would choose that option, discreet graphics would almost exclusively be employed for the majority of workstation class desktops

I think you're wrong. I spend most of my day at work making and compiling code. For me the HD graphics work really well and getting anything more powerful than that, as evidenced from the tests, would be a waste of money. I also don't think I'm in the 10% group.
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May 3, 2011 5:55:50 PM

Great article/job!
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May 3, 2011 6:07:45 PM

Nice job Chris. You made some excellent points. I too have seen far too many try to run servers on desktop hardware - not as big of a problem for home, but that is not quite as mission-critical, right?

Are you going to do a follow-up to compare to current Xeons?
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Anonymous
May 3, 2011 7:39:06 PM

@zerapio

how many folks compile codes the size of which require a Xeon? im pretty sure your in the 10% group, IMHO for the majority of cases if your not pairing the Xeon with a discreet GFX card then chances are Xeon would be overkill
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May 3, 2011 7:59:08 PM

GeekApprovedNo quick sync on a Zeon??


Geek,
Intel says the Xeons support Quick Sync (at least that's the case on the ark.intel.com site). However, I suspect that current apps do not recognize the Xeons, and consequently cannot yet take advantage of the hardware. Perhaps it'll be enabled in upcoming app revisions. Until then, I still recommend the desktop CPUs if Quick Sync is important to you.
Chris
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May 3, 2011 8:00:26 PM

fball922So what happens when AMD brings an Opteron with a more-than-competent GPU onboard? At least in GPU-influenced situations they should see a nice advantage I would think.


Then the market will get more interesting, to be sure! We still need to see them do this on the desktop, though. I'd be surprised if they didn't end up releasing a FirePro-branded integrated solution at some point!
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May 3, 2011 8:02:02 PM

huronNice job Chris. You made some excellent points. I too have seen far too many try to run servers on desktop hardware - not as big of a problem for home, but that is not quite as mission-critical, right?Are you going to do a follow-up to compare to current Xeons?


You're very welcome Huron, and thanks for the feedback.

Which Xeons would you like to see compared? And in which workloads? I'm happy to field ideas on this if it's something you can use!
Best,
Chris
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May 3, 2011 10:54:59 PM

I will say one thing and that is Intel made such a big mess with 3+ types of socket

LGA1155
LGA1156
LGA1366
LGA2011
LGA1356

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May 4, 2011 12:31:22 AM

Good review, it is definitely helpful when building a workstation for professional applications.
Hope to see more of such reviews.
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May 4, 2011 1:28:26 AM

video = cool, and i liked the review in general!
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May 4, 2011 1:41:41 AM

Quote:
In the server space, however, you have 10 Gb Ethernet controllers, SAS cards, and Fibre Channel HBAs using x8 and x4 slots. An additional four lanes of PCIe come in useful.

Quote:
come in useful.

I think that should change to handy there.
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a b å Intel
May 4, 2011 2:12:45 PM

The entire purpose of Xeon, ECC, and Pro GPU(s) is for 'Mission Critical' error free work; e.g. medical, professional rendering, business, etc.
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May 4, 2011 8:02:12 PM

cangeliniYou're very welcome Huron, and thanks for the feedback. Which Xeons would you like to see compared? And in which workloads? I'm happy to field ideas on this if it's something you can use!Best,Chris


Thanks for the response. Honestly, if you were to compare it to similar level Xeons - probably not the x56xx series (though that could be interesting).

I'd like to see database, virtualization, and even some programming benchmarks - SAS workloads (if you could swing it), etc.

Thanks again.
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May 4, 2011 8:02:38 PM

lradunovic77I will say one thing and that is Intel made such a big mess with 3+ types of socket


You forget most of Intel's desktop business is probably still LGA775. At least, of all those sockets you list, there are no compatibility exceptions.
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May 5, 2011 5:25:04 PM

Quote:
For that reason, if your money-making app depends on 3D performance, don’t even chance it—buy the discrete GPU.


Chris, I know you know that any 100$ GPU will be leagues better than quadro 580, let alone the integrated thing. I couldn't, not to point that out. I have yet to meet a singe "pro" app that finds that low end quadros faster. I work only with Max, Maya, After Effects, Premiere, Composite, Combustion... Quadro is only good for one thing- wasting money, and maybe solidworks.. I can't really tell. Point is, if you're using software actually written after year 2000, chances are you dont need or want a quadro. (unless you're using iray/vray rt that require massive amounts of ram in which case high end quadro/tesla are your only options since no gaming card has that much ram)


On to the CPUs. You open with how the difference in CPUs isnt "just branding", but other than ECC memory I'd like to avoid, and overclocking, that you're not going to do on a server/workstation- what are the benefits of spending extra money? You insist there are benefits, but I failed to find any. Lets assume i dont have the need for the additional connectivity it offers- unless it supports 3x pcie 16x cards to play and I missed that too. Single CPU workstations obviously.
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Anonymous
May 5, 2011 5:54:01 PM

Is the Xeon heat sink fan the same as the core i7/5s?
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Anonymous
May 6, 2011 1:47:52 AM

Can you use an Xeon E3-1240 with a P67 chipset? Has anyone tried this with success?
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May 10, 2011 12:57:46 AM

Im kinda sick of intel weeding the life out of the those quad cores. I can see for desktops, it would be fine but for servers, and workstations 6 cores can actually be used in alot of situations. I mean AMD has 12 core processors, Intel has the speed but they need to be ready for the future.(which is atleast 6 cores)
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Anonymous
May 12, 2011 12:25:48 AM

Could we get more compiler tests? I mean Visual Studio is fine, but what about GCC and the rest? I guess, I'd just like to see some more tests for the software development crowd. It is still a great article!
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May 15, 2011 9:58:25 PM

lradunovic77I will say one thing and that is Intel made such a big mess with 3+ types of socketLGA1155LGA1156LGA1366LGA2011LGA1356


how do they have 3+? 1156 is dead and so is 1366, 2011 isn't even out yet. why does it matter if they have 5+? if you ask me AMD is a mess, where is BD? Bulldozer this Bulldozer that, where is Bulldozer?
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Anonymous
May 21, 2011 9:29:53 PM

What was the idle/max power draw of the C206 platform? It looks like it is around 60W idle and 130W max but the idle in particular is difficult to read form the graph (which was intended to show power draw over time).

Thanks!
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May 25, 2011 4:39:51 AM

I have implimented the E3-1230 on the Asus P8B-X, running ESXi 4.1 update1, and let me tell you first hand, for a CPU
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May 25, 2011 4:44:46 AM

I have implimented the E3-1230 on the Asus P8B-X, running ESXi 4.1 update1, and let me tell you first hand, for a CPU sub $250, this thing beats the holy hell out of our other pre-sandybridge xeon servers. The mobo is only $190, is blade-ready, is ESXi compatible and has dual GB lan. RAM for it is ~$75/4gig stick. I'm posting because it is a sub $750 powerhouse server. Blade-ready. Cloud-ready. Powerhouse. When this core was launched, I pounced.
Dual socket versions of this will not be available until Q1-2012, FYI.
TH, as happy as I was to see this core and this mobo reviewed, you should really shop for better server-related benchmarks. Really liked the article though, and I wouldn't mind some more =)
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May 31, 2011 6:52:02 AM

rendering in Premier CS5 would hardly be even if the i2600 had been paired with any decent gpu utilizing cuda.
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Anonymous
August 5, 2011 7:44:20 PM

Intel is working just slightly ahead of software companies ability to get mutithreaded apps out the door. I am glad they are not trying to give us 16-cores at 1.4GHz. Thermals need to be compensated and more apps need to be better developed. Give me 3.4GHZ on 6-cores over 2.66GHz on 8-cores or more any day. I use a ton of SW and most of the time my single core is the only thing being used on my Xeon W3680.
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August 16, 2011 4:30:44 PM

How many slots in the past 5 years?
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October 24, 2011 2:36:14 AM

cangeliniYou're very welcome Huron, and thanks for the feedback. Which Xeons would you like to see compared? And in which workloads? I'm happy to field ideas on this if it's something you can use!Best,Chris


Actually I have a question that keeps me from choosing any e3 xeon or perhaps wait for xeon e5.
What is this intel graphic integrated for?
I work with autodesk max, mudbox, softimage, Unreal Engine and Cry engine, Photoshop cs4 and 5, Premiere pro, after effect/Mocha, and Painter 11.
Does this intel graphic integrated work in combination with professional GPU Nvidia Quadro lineup and Firepro V lineup for better performance in all mentioned products?. Or do I have to choose to work exclusively with the intel integrated graphic or Quadro line up/Firepro V line up. If the solution is the latter then intel IGP does not suit me at all... I assume.
Perhaps mainstream xeon e5 would suite me better as they do not have any IGP at all, more cache, and more memory controller which might be beneficiary as I sometime lend my PC to render scenes with mental ray....

Any help and recommendation please,

Thanks
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Anonymous
February 13, 2012 11:01:30 AM

Does this Xeon processor works on Intel DH67BL (H67) mainboard?
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March 16, 2012 8:51:42 AM

Chris,
Im right about to make up my decision - buying e3 1275 or 1280. The big question is: is the 1280 one worth its price (double-price of 1275)? Are the differences between those really as big as the price is?
Thank you in advice,
Pawul
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Anonymous
May 11, 2012 10:21:06 PM

E3-1270 and E3-1275 are the same, save the P3000 graphics, so you are paying more than double for the E3-1280. If you don't need bleeding edge and depending on what CPU you are coming from, I think the E3-1270 will be sufficient.
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April 29, 2013 9:21:55 PM

I believe the C202 only has 4 PCIe lanes. Can someone confirm whether I can run an 8x RAID card and another 8x at the same time at full speed?
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April 29, 2013 9:22:47 PM

The C202 has only 4 PCIe lanes. Can someone confirm whether I can run an 8x RAID card and another 8x card at full speed on the S1200BTS?
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!