Intel Xeon E3 vs E5

[crazymonkeyzero]

I am planning to build a single cpu workstation to run highly threaded computational work and was wondering which cpu I should go with? The Intel Xeon E3 1275 or the Intel Xeon E5 2620. The E3 1275 has integrated graphics (which saves me money of buying a discreet card just to use a monitor) and runs at 3.4-3.8ghz, but is a quad core. The Xeon E5 is a six core chip but runs at much lower clock speeds 2.0-2.5 ghz, and will cost me more not only for the chip, but also costs associated with the 2011 platform and the need for a video card. I have tried looking online for answers, but truth be told, there are no reviews comparing the two... My budget for the entire server is about $2000, so I unfortunately can't go with the high end Xeon E5s. So what I'm asking is whether there is a major performance difference and if the extra cost will be worth it for the E5. I have asked around other forums, but so far, no one could give me a definite answer, some saying the clock speed difference of the E3 is high enough so it will beat the E5 in 90% of work loads, while others said the 15mb cache of the E5 in addition to its two extra cores will make it the winner. If anyone can help me out onn the matter, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for any advice on the matter!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115085

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117269

 

[sk1939]

For highly threaded loads, the E5 will win due to the sheer number of additional threads (12 vs 8), but under other conditions the E3 would win due to the clock speed. Honestly, they would perform relatively close to one another. I would go with the E5 just because of the added expanadability and capability of the 2011 platform vs 1155.