dual 6-core xeon or one 10 core with another later(or possibly dual Opteron) For 3D and video rendering?

[Guest]

EDIT: I am considering Opteron as an option but I have never built an Intel based system so I want to do that a bit more...plus the Asus motherboard for the Xeon looks pretty solid.

I am building a dual cpu workstation for a server AND rendering. (3d and video/vegas)

Now I can get two Xeon E5-2630 v2 for $585 each, that would give me 12 cores for $1,170-

Would this be a good decision- or should I spend a little more (~$1,465) for one 10-core Xeon E5-2670 v2 and add the second cpu later?

I would go 12 core...buuuuut...2,000+ isn't worth it to me.

The 8 core isn't and option because they are almost the same price.
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What I'll be using(so far)-
MOBO: ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS
RAM: Kingston HyperX Beast 32 GB 2400MHz CL11
--I want to upgrade to 64GB after I get the second cpu (if I go for the 10-core option) but I only have half the slots with one cpu.
GPU: HD7970 3GB
HARDISKS: 8x 4tb WD RED NAS drives in Raid-10 (I want to double this...anyone suggest any raid cards too that isn't over priced?)
SSDs: 2x Samsung 840 Pro 256GB or Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB for cache and boot (I can't decide yet)
AUDIO: Asus STX
COOLING: Noctua NH-U12S (That's good enough right? does the 10 core get hot?) I don't want a liquid loop...
CASE: HAF Sacker, that cases design looks perfect...all those filters...
Would it be a better strategy to get the 10 core? or the dual 6 cores- I will be rendering multiple things at once (as a service to multiple people) and I feel the higher clock 10 core might be as good as the dual 2630s...

NOTE: I want to also maybe use this as my every-day PC as well...I am working to be an illustrator and will be using photoshop and sketchbook pro and I also play with audio editing a bit (no more than 10 tracks in REAPER...max 5 FX per)

thank you in advance!

 

[CTurbo]

That's tough but I say go with the two 2630s. It would be great performance NOW for a pretty decent price. By the time you were ready to get a 2nd 2670, you could just redo your system. I'm sure there would be newer/better Xeons released by then anyway.

 

[Bonecrushrr]

10 cores then 10 more later. 20 cores will beat 12 cores into the ground any day.

 

[CTurbo]

10 cores then 10 more later. 20 cores will beat 12 cores into the ground any day.

Sure I completely agree BUT you're comparing $3000 vs $1200

 

[Guest]

both of you are right...that's why it's so hard to choose!

The 10 core is 2.5 (3.3 boost) and the 6 cores are 2.6 (3.1 boost) so the 10 core might be the same as the two 6 cores...not sure though...

how is cooling the 10 cores? do they get hot and such with just air cooling?

 

[Bonecrushrr]

They will be designed to run on air cooling in a rack mount server so the heat load has to be manageable. There are very few companies if any that large scale water cool there server cpu's.

 

[Guest]

They will be designed to run on air cooling in a rack mount server so the heat load has to be manageable. There are very few companies if any that large scale water cool there server cpu's.

oh- okay.

That's good to know as I wasn't going to mount things in a way that would let me use liquid cooling.

For air- Do you suggest a Noctua NH-U12S, Noctua NH-U14S, Noctua NH-U12P, or dual 140mm fans to keep them cool while they turbo (I was planning on leaving them turbo'd 100% of the time)

 

[Bonecrushrr]

I don't currently have an answer to that, not sure how much room is on the mobo to allow mounting of coolers. I will have s look tonight after work if you have no reply before then.

 

[Guest]

hmm...I could go with an opteron 6348 and a Supermicro H8DGi mobo...

jk...

okay, thank you, I'm going to try to do more research on this too.

 

[CTurbo]

You could get two Cooler Master 212s or any similar styled Noctuas and add a 3rd fan in the middle for a push/pull/push configuration. They're not that hard to cool with proper ventilation.

Which setup did you decide to go with? The 12 cores @ 3.1ghz would outperform the 10 cores @ 3.3ghz by just a hair.

 

[Guest]

You could get two Cooler Master 212s or any similar styled Noctuas and add a 3rd fan in the middle for a push/pull/push configuration. They're not that hard to cool with proper ventilation.

Which setup did you decide to go with? The 12 cores @ 3.1ghz would outperform the 10 cores @ 3.3ghz by just a hair.

I'm not quite sure yet, but I will probably go for the 10 core if it won't be that much different and add a second 10 core later.

I could go 2x 16-core Opterons for the same price which is a little sad...
Unless that is faster I really don't see too much reason to go for it...(32 cores would be faster than 20 but I don't know the efficiency of those)
--
Now I'm looking at two 10-core Xeons within the same group, One seems to just be a higher clocked version of the other-
Now should I go for the:
Xeon E5-2660 v2 or the Xeon E5-2670 v2?

Is there any difference other than the clocks? Couldn't I just clock the 2660 up to a 2670 and save $150 per cpu?(maybe crank the 2660 to the 2670's turbo @ 3.3ghz) As the Asus board does OC from what I can tell...and I't's more solid than a wall...

 

[Guest]

Or do server CPUs not overclock?