General computer talk/advice

And clocked way lower and is very expensive.

Server grade CPUs are built for extreme multi-tasking and special work loads. While they may be built on the same architecture, The i5 will perform better in single-threaded workloads, as it has a higher clock speed. Single threaded computing makes up about 90% of what the average every-day consumer does.

Gaming wise, a Xeon is the worst thing you can buy. They have no overclocking ability by design, aren't usually clocked above 3 GHz, and are about 15% more than their desktop counterparts.

 

pipeline is deeper which can cause issues for certain tasks.
Multiplier is locked.

 

Don't buy a Xeon CPU. They are clocked lower than their Core i counterparts, and the deeper pipeline doesn't help for gaming either.

And if you have an extra $100 to spare, go for a GTX 980 Ti. The performance gap between 980 and 980Ti is HUGE, the Ti is actually very close to a Titan X.

 

If not a Xeon, what then? I don't have any plans to overclock CPU or video.

 

A non-K counterpart to that Xeon will do, then.

If it has hyperthreading, then buy an i7-4790. No hyperthreading is an i5-4690.

 

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8

GTX 980 for $370 and 970 for $250.

I'm very tempted to but a 650ti.. ($60)

 

I hope you were supposed to type buy not but.
You cannot compare a 980/970 to a 650ti at all. ever.

 

I don't think you understand just how badly I want to but a 650ti.

Also I'm not willing to spend that kind of money for a 970/80. I want the 650ti because I need a shorty card to mod into my low profile HP as a longer card like the 6790 I have lying around simply will not fit in any way. Also because I used to have a 2GB Superclocked version which was pretty fun to overclock and stuff. (Sold it for $100 last year. Heh heh.)

 

bananas coated with chocolate and deep fried in KFC oil.

 

Okeydoke.

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Anyone got any Core 2 Quads they could sell on the cheap? Specifically:

Q8400
Q9505
Q9550
Q9650

 

making a computing cluster is difficult. Mainly when your trying to use laptops, but all your 2.5 hdds are dying. I could use a bunch of my desktops, but i dont have as much space and it requires going through the hot attic first(i built a server room in the attic. basicly a separted part of the attic that has a insulated wall and an ac unit)

 

The only real difference between the 4790 and the Xeon is clock speed, and with the Xeon having a slightly lower clock it's only slightly slower than a 4790.
http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Xeon-E3-1241-v3-vs-Intel-Core-i7-4790/m15164vs2293

And obviously the Xeon doesn't have an iGPU...

 

But while their architecture is the "same", it's also slightly "different". 6677 mentioned that the Xeon's have deeper pipelines. This is for server computing and causes problems for the average home consumer.

Also, the 4790 is around 309 USD, the Xeon is around 275 USD. But you must keep these things in mind:

The Xeon has user unfriendly server components in it.
It only supports one PCI-e X16 GPU.
It only supports 1600MHz DDR3.
Its stock cooler is beyond useless (this is common among Intel right now).
It will not overclock by design.
Its slower than its desktop counterpart and cannot compensate.

It simply isn't a liable choice. A better match to the Xeon wold be an i5-4690(non-k). Those two CPUs perform about the same for about the same price.

Also, never, ever, EVER use UserBenchmark.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/275734

It rated my 5400 RPM mechanical drive the same as my SSD, and tells me that my 7850 isn't enough for modern games (bullshit).

 

> Wat
> Maybe right, cba to check
> 'Officially' so does the 4790
> So is the one included with the 4790, but the Xeon will be binned for lower voltage/power
> Neither will the 4790
> For a £30 price drop dropping 100MHz off the boost and base seems OK.

Intel's ARK compare function shows a lot of similarities: http://ark.intel.com/compare/80806,80909

Anyone got a source on that deeper pipeline thing? Only place I've ever seen it mentioned is on this forum and I can't find much info with a quick Google.

 

They are probably the same thing. Just the xeon supports error correcting ram and has a couple other specialist features, but the consumer part supports consumer features such as quick sync. They both support the same GPU configurations.

For home use the consumer chip is the better one, for professional/server use the xeon chip is probably better due to the error correcting ram support unless you need to utilize quick sync for transcoding. Essentially you have a pretty nice chip and could have done far far worse for yourself. Usually i would recommend getting the consumer "k" parts and run them at stock, then rather than replacing your CPU when you start having performance issues just overclock it and keep it for an extra few years.

 

I bought a new HDD (Red 6TB WD) and have to decide between MBR and GPT. Which one do I choose? I am initialising the hard drive.

 

ughhh can you spare a few of those terabytes? I need them.

Also you need to use GPT, as MBR doesn't support drives over 2TB in size.

 

I've been having graphics problems (Glitches when scrolling, etc) which ended up being a driver thing but before I figured that out I swapped around my GPUs to see if it was a GPU problem first. I haven't played anything with Crossfire in a long time so my second GPU hasn't been on for awhile and for some reason it was running at half clock speed after a few minutes in a game..


(imported from here)

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Turns out I've been running my second GPU without the fans plugged in for months.

>.>

 

Thinking about the "Revolutionary Computer Case Design" exchange earlier. What material could their case be made, functionally creating a neutral thermal barrier between sandwich stacked GPU and motherboard components?


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Brings peace to the air.

 

How did that thing not turn into flames and destroy itself, I will never know, I guess that thermal throttle is really trying its best to keep it alive.