[deeFive]

Hi all hope that you are all well,

the time has come (or about to come i'm buying in the jan sales) for me to replace my current rig (which will be passed down to my sister). here's an draft overview of the rig i'm looking at:

CPU: two options

1.) i7 2600k

2.) E3 1270

HDD: 1 SSD for o.s. + 2 HDD for media storage

GPU: whatever is the fastest single GPU in jan

Memory: upwards of 16GB

Display: a 27" work monitor + a 120hrz game monitor

MB: not sure yet as i haven't decided on my cpu yet, but i would like Bluetooth support.

anyway my question is has anyone else looked in to the Xeon E3 and do SNB motherboards support xeons?

i also discounted SNB-E as I dont like the idea of having 2 cores (4 threads) disabled , i would of paid the money if they had not crippled them!

if you need any more info please feel to ask any questions!

[homerdog]

Can't see a reason to go with the Xeon over the 2600k. They are basically the same except the 2600k is slightly cheaper, unlocked, and sports a 95W TDP as opposed to the Xeon's 80W, although it is likely they draw about the same amount of power regardless of what the TDP says.

Oh the Xeon supports ECC memory but you don't want that, and the mobos you'd be looking at wouldn't support it anyway.

[deeFive]

thanks for the response homer but if i said that i could get a e3 1270 for £200 and the cheapest 2600k i saw as £250 (including shipping) would you be swayed toward the xeon?

Also am i correct in thinking that i could use a consumer MB with the xeon?

[pcchen]

In general, yes, but I'd suggest that you check the MB manufacturer's CPU support list.

[homerdog]

Originally Posted by deeFive

thanks for the response homer but if i said that i could get a e3 1270 for £200 and the cheapest 2600k i saw as £250 (including shipping) would you be swayed toward the xeon?

In that case yeah I'd go with the Xeon. Your prices are way different than what I can get on Newegg. Even the 2600k is $20 cheaper than the 1270, and the regular 2600 is $40 cheaper. I assume you don't care much about overclocking?

Originally Posted by deeFive

Also am i correct in thinking that i could use a consumer MB with the xeon?

Yes it should, but check into whichever mobo you decide on to be sure there aren't any problems (don't see why there would be but you never know).

[homerdog]

Out of curiosity, what did you decide on? I'd like know your experiences going the Xeon route since I don't know anybody who's done that.

[deeFive]

sorry had some family and work stuff to sort, in the process of building a S2011 intel rig, as i need to able to play FM2012 (wan game which always runs, BF3 and compile at the same time! i currently have the motherboard (asus sabertooth x79). hope to finsh it(the rig) beforeborderlands 2 is out so i can give my old rig to my sister!

[Albuquerque]

Very, very happy with my S2011 rig; wish you luck on yours!

I used the Intel DX79Si board; no frills, but very happy with the performance (after the 430 firmware flash.) My little 3930k does 4.5Ghz at 1.33v in bios / 1.28v actual on air cooling via the 1.25x strap setting. Wickedly fast

[Davros]

didnt want to start a new thread so is there any method to intel's naming madness and if there is can someone explain it to me ?

[Albuquerque]

Originally Posted by Davros

didnt want to start a new thread so is there any method to intel's naming madness and if there is can someone explain it to me ?

No.

(to both questions )

[deeFive]

Albuquerque is right just go for the highest number you can afford SNB-E starts at 3820, IVB will come in under that.

[Davros]

Thats a bad idea as I already have a q6600 why would I want a 3820 ?

[Lightman]

Originally Posted by Davros

Thats a bad idea as I already have a q6600 why would I want a 3820 ?

Going by the numbers you might end up with (AMD) FX 8150 which I think you don't want .

But yes, Intel's naming scheme is a mess. On desktop at least you can say i5 are 4 core and i7 are 4 core + HT. Then model numbers starting with 2xxx are Sandy Bridge (32nm) and starting with 3xxx are either Sandy Bridge EP (4-6 core / 32nm) or Ivy Bridge (22nm).
At least price is of some meaning in this mess and higher the price better CPU should be (but not always ).

[Davros]

Originally Posted by Lightman

On desktop at least you can say i5 are 4 core and i7 are 4 core + HT.

The i5 680 begs to differ

[Lightman]

Originally Posted by Davros

The i5 680 begs to differ

Ha!

[Albuquerque]

Davros, here are the 'general' pieces. None of them hold true across all platforms simultaneously, so you'll want to research the individual offerings to make a good decision.

Typically, the higher the "i" number, the higher the feature count. Common examples:

• i3 = no turbo, i5 = some turbo, i7 = moAR turbo!
• i3 = small cache, i5 = larger cache, i7 = EPIC cache!
• i3 = no AES acceleration, i5 / i7 = AES acceleration!
• i3 = no HT, i5 = some HT models, i7 = always HT enabled
• i3 = no VT-D, i5 =some VT-D models, i7 = almost always VT-D models

Then you have the architecture indicators. Examples:

• i3 / i5 / i7 that has three following digits are the original Nehalem architecture. Examples: i3-370, i5-640, i7-920.
• i3 / i5 / i7 that have four following digits AND start with the number 2 are Sandy Bridge architecture. Examples: i3-2300, i5-2500, i7-2700.
• The three i7's that currently exist on socket 2011 are Sandy Bridge "E" platform. Examples: i7-3820, i7-3930k, i7-3960X. To make it more confusing? The first steppings of the 3930k and 3960X were not VT-D enabled, but the second (and presumably later) steppings are. Go figure.
• i3 / i5 / i7 that have four following digits AND start with the number 3 AND are on socket 1155 platform are Ivy Bridge architecture. Examples: i5-3550k, i7-3770k.

It really sucks, TBH. Your best gaming bet is probably an i5-2500k, or the Ivy Bridge equivalent which I believe will be the i5-3550k. Just like in my other thread, it looks like any more than four cores seems to go to waste for nearly all games, and hyperthreading doesn't appear to to a whole lot for most games either.

[Davros]

Great answer
So what does the "K" mean

[pcchen]

K means unlocked (overclockable) CPU. However, sometimes CPU with K and without K have other differences, such as Core i7-2600, which has HD Graphics 2000, and Core i7-2600K, with HD Graphics 3000. Also, some "K" CPU do not support TXT, VT-d, and vPro.

[Lightman]

Originally Posted by Albuquerque

• i3 = no HT, i5 = some HT models, i7 = always HT enabled

It's not easy with Intel

Intel® Core™ i3-2120 Processor
(3M Cache, 3.30 GHz)


Status
LaunchedLaunch Date - Q1'11
Processor Number i3-2120
#of Cores - 2
# of Threads - 4
Clock Speed - 3.3 GHz
Intel® Smart Cache - 3 MB

[Albuquerque]

Originally Posted by Lightman

It's not easy with Intel
Processor Number i3-2120
#of Cores - 2
# of Threads - 4

Ack, those bastards!

Anyone getting ready to buy a processor from Intel does indeed need to do some homework, which sucks because there are so many ways they could've made this easier with the whole multi-tier branding structure they have.

iX-GsssM Where:

• iX denotes HT, Cache, AES, VTD, Turbo, blah-de-blah
• G denotes generation
• sss denotes "relative speed" in that generation
• M denotes the 'modifier' for either unlocked "K", low-power "S" or extreme "X" versions

Jerks.

[I.S.T.]

Originally Posted by Davros

The i5 680 begs to differ

It's also a discontinued or de-emphasized model.

[Davros]

de-emphasized ?
I bet you will say the mighty i7-620M dual core doesnt count either