Question Does a purchase of a E5-1650v3 make sense today?

[GeezerMan]

A local computer shop deals in retired corporate computers . They have heavy, well made workstations with
Xeon E5-1650v3, ( passmark 13618,) six cores (2 logical cores per physical)
16 GB DDR4 @ 2133MHz ,
700 watt ps,
two 15K SAS Hard Disk Drives,
256GB Solid State Drive ,
quadro 4200,
windows 10 pro.
These parts are all obsolete now, and the cpu is a 140 watt monster!.

They sell these for about 400 bucks.

opinions please for use as a video encoder, maybe some gaming with a different card compared to building a new Ryzen machine

thanks

 

[kastriot]

If they give you 2 year warranty yes, if not then is not worth more than $200

 

[DrMrLordX]

If they give you 2 year warranty yes, if not then is not worth more than $200

Why? That's a pretty robust system for $400. Not ideal for certain applications . . . but for the price, what can you expect?

 

[aigomorla]

personally i think Dell looks nicer aesthetically.
The HP will probably be cheaper if you need to source replacement parts tho.

The HP motherboard will probably also have better compatibility with outside hardware then dell.

 

[onkarlad]

hello @Arkaign
what do you think of below configuration for 3D animation and high quality games.

Dell T5810 Workstation
Processor: E5-1650v3 3.5ghz
6 core physical 6 core virtual ,12 threads.
RAM: 128GB DDR4 original Server RAM with Load Balancing 6 gbps enterprise SSD
SSD: 512GB
2 tb seagate skyhowk hdd
GPU: Nvidia Quadro k2200 4gb professional Graphics Card

if i replace GPU which one could make it best for 3d animation and gaming use?

Thanks

 

[NTMBK]

hello @Arkaign
what do you think of below configuration for 3D animation and high quality games.

Dell T5810 Workstation
Processor: E5-1650v3 3.5ghz
6 core physical 6 core virtual ,12 threads.
RAM: 128GB DDR4 original Server RAM with Load Balancing 6 gbps enterprise SSD
SSD: 512GB
2 tb seagate skyhowk hdd
GPU: Nvidia Quadro k2200 4gb professional Graphics Card

if i replace GPU which one could make it best for 3d animation and gaming use?

Thanks

What price are they charging for it? If you can get a really good bargain on it, it might be worth going for. But bear in mind that you might be stuck with that GPU for a while- there's currently a big shortage in graphics cards.

 

[onkarlad]

What price are they charging for it? If you can get a really good bargain on it, it might be worth going for. But bear in mind that you might be stuck with that GPU for a while- there's currently a big shortage in graphics cards.

exactly same thing is happening... i am getting it for only $1050..its not used much.. But there is confusion with GPU as there is shortage and rates are too high..

 

[LightningZ71]

I'm with a lot of you here. The place that I work for is retiring for disposal a batch of older servers and I'm going to be getting a lot of 16GB ECC-DDR4-2400 Dimms and a few E5-2630 V4 processors. I've been meaning to upgrade my current home server to something larger and have my eye on a barebones HP Z840 to put the RAM and CPUs in. I can find them cheaply enough, and, with the 2630V4 being an 85W processor, there's not much of a concern about the PSU either. 20 Boradwell cores, 8 channels of 16GB DDR4 at 2133 speeds; that's not a bad little VM server for the house. I already have the drives on hand too.

If I wanted to, all over Ebay, you can find E5-2690 V4s for VERY good prices. That's 14 cores each, 3.5Ghz boost/2.6Ghz base, 35 MB L3 per processor, only dual ring buses (anything with higher cores in that generation had three ring buses), 40 PCIe lanes per processor (+8 more from the chipset) and it runs the RAM at 2400. It does suffer a little in single core tasks, but, you don't get significantly faster than that, until the 3000 series Threadrippers. On anything that spills out of cache, the 2000 series Threadrippers take a significant hit on the 17th and above cores. That's about the sweet spot with Broadwell Xeon on the used market. You can get more, but slower cores, for a reasonable price, but if you want the top end SKUs (22 cores on the 2699), they still command a significant price. For gaming, you really won't beat the E5-1680 V4 (8 cores, 4.0Ghz boost) for flexibility (in other words, its a decent gamer, but still has good usefulness for productivity) until you get to the 8700 (though short of cores)/9900 (beats it everywhere).

 

[fleshconsumed]

Eh, unless you're in need of actual server hardware it's typically no longer worth getting used Xeons. In the past used/decommissioned Xeons was the most cost effective way to get lots of cores. Since Ryzen came out used Xeons are no longer really worth it. Even a simple AM4 provides up to 16 4Ghz clocked cores. I would only recommend buying Xeons if you have r\homelab aspirations.

 

[blckgrffn]

Eh, unless you're in need of actual server hardware it's typically no longer worth getting used Xeons. In the past used/decommissioned Xeons was the most cost effective way to get lots of cores. Since Ryzen came out used Xeons are no longer really worth it. Even a simple AM4 provides up to 16 4Ghz clocked cores. I would only recommend buying Xeons if you have r\homelab aspirations.

IDK, you can get really cheap CPUs that are Xeons. I think as long as you have board to drop them in there are some pretty stellar "deals" out there.

I picked up $15 (shipped) haswell 4c/8T ~3.3ghz CPU, right now getting even an older i7 can cost quite a bit. Shopping just a speed bin or two from the top reveals a lot of cheap CPUs on a per core basis.

Which isn't to say you aren't better off in the long run with the desktop platforms, lots of folks probably are, but there are use cases that make sense.

@LightningZ71 was talking about a 14C xeon for ~$250. I mean, I would still think a 10850k might be a better Intel route for most just $100 more but if you have access to the right board and memory, the Xeon might make sense. The Xeon has ECC, PCIe and cache all in its favor.

 

[MrTeal]

It's probably worth it if you need the RAM and you get add in 256GB and 20 cores for minimal cost. A 5950X system would be faster of course, but if you wanted to add that much ram you're looking at $1000 right there.

 

[LightningZ71]

That's kind of my reasoning. I have enough sticks of ram to fill every socket, and two processors. I'm not going to beat that system for anywhere close to that money anywhere. I admit that I am in a very special situation, and most won't have access to those parts already. However, used Z840s with a couple of processors and a few sticks of RAM aren't that pricey. Unless you REALLY need the single core performance, its a solid foundation to build from to get you started now, instead of saving up for something more capable down the road. Except for AVX-512, and the handful of new instructions that have been introduced since Skylake came along, there's nothing that it can't do. If you need superfast NVME storage, there are inexpensive expansion cards for that.

 

[solnyshok]

For those reading it later, wanted to add that 1650v3 (6cores,12threads, 3.5GHz base clock) is now a good value for gamers. It is unlocked, (as well as 1660v3, 8/16) and sells around 100usd on aliexpress. together with chinese x99 motherboards of 2019-2020 (best e.g. huananzhi x99f8 or x99tf, also around 90-100usd), there are options for nice gaming rig or server with up to 256gb RAM. on ddr3 ecc or ddr4. these cpus overclock to 4.2-4.6GHz like other Haswells, making this similar to 7700k in performance.

 

[zir_blazer]

For those reading it later, wanted to add that 1650v3 (6cores,12threads, 3.5GHz base clock) is now a good value for gamers. It is unlocked, (as well as 1660v3, 8/16) and sells around 100usd on aliexpress. together with chinese x99 motherboards of 2019-2020 (best e.g. huananzhi x99f8 or x99tf, also around 90-100usd), there are options for nice gaming rig or server with up to 256gb RAM. on ddr3 ecc or ddr4. these cpus overclock to 4.2-4.6GHz like other Haswells, making this similar to 7700k in performance.

100 U$D for a 7 years old 6C/12T seems like an horrible value, I think I would take a modern Ryzen 3100 before it.

Some days ago on ServeTheHome someone published the Xeon E5 2699v4 for 108 U$D (The top 22C/44T part) and they got sold rather quick. It may not clock as high and it is not overclockable, but Broadwell-E is newer and more efficient than Haswell-E, and you have a bunch of cores that you are impossible to get at similar price ranges. Now THAT is what I call good value.

 

[Shmee]

I think 1660v3 is the best value likely, for gaming and OC ability. And 8 cores

 

[B-Riz]

For those reading it later, wanted to add that 1650v3 (6cores,12threads, 3.5GHz base clock) is now a good value for gamers. It is unlocked, (as well as 1660v3, 8/16) and sells around 100usd on aliexpress. together with chinese x99 motherboards of 2019-2020 (best e.g. huananzhi x99f8 or x99tf, also around 90-100usd), there are options for nice gaming rig or server with up to 256gb RAM. on ddr3 ecc or ddr4. these cpus overclock to 4.2-4.6GHz like other Haswells, making this similar to 7700k in performance.

The biggest issue, as popular tech tubers have highlighted, is buying into an old platform with used parts and importing a board from China with questionable support.

7700K vs 2600 on AT Bench, yeah, 2600 does not look that great, but you can get a 1600 AF from aaawave.com for ~$150 and slap it in a B550 right now. So the same ~$200 gets you a modern setup with future Zen3 upgrades and PCIE4 NVME support.

If gaming on a budget, probably very similar game perf (7700K vs 1600 AF) with RX 580 / GTX 1060 level card...

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[Gold197]

A local computer shop deals in retired corporate computers . They have heavy, well made workstations with
Xeon E5-1650v3, ( passmark 13618,) six cores (2 logical cores per physical)
16 GB DDR4 @ 2133MHz ,
700 watt ps,
two 15K SAS Hard Disk Drives,
256GB Solid State Drive ,
quadro 4200,
windows 10 pro.
These parts are all obsolete now, and the CPU is a 140 watt monster!.

They sell these for about 400 bucks.

opinions please for use as a video encoder, maybe some gaming with a different card compared to building a new Ryzen machine

thanks

Well this is years later but...I am still running a HP z440 and 2 Dell T5810s. The HP I have overclocked with a e5-1660 v3 to 4.4 GHz. On one of the Dells with a e5-1660 v3I have gone to 4.5GHz and gamed for sever hours at 1.26V. On the other I have an E5-1680 v3 but it only clocks to 4.3 GHz stably. In Fortnite I get over 120 fps in 4k and max to high on everything with out up-scaling. With the Dells I just use sleep mode and Throttle Stop 9.4.2. With the HP I use https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=39334#google_vignette. I only download Throttle Stop from Tech Power Up....XTU???? One other thing....I paid $65 for one of the Dells plus $9 for the 1660 v3, 20 for 32gb ram. It came with 2 2tb hdd .... and I am using an 3080 ti that someone thought was trash that I got for $180.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Well this is years later but...I am still running a HP z440 and 2 Dell T5810s. The HP I have overclocked with a e5-1660 v3 to 4.4 GHz. On one of the Dells with a e5-1660 v3I have gone to 4.5GHz and gamed for sever hours at 1.26V. On the other I have an E5-1680 v3 but it only clocks to 4.3 GHz stably. In Fortnite I get over 120 fps in 4k and max to high on everything with out up-scaling. With the Dells I just use sleep mode and Throttle Stop 9.4.2. With the HP I use https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=39334#google_vignette. I only download Throttle Stop from Tech Power Up....XTU???? One other thing....I paid $65 for one of the Dells plus $9 for the 1660 v3, 20 for 32gb ram. It came with 2 2tb hdd .... and I am using an 3080 ti that someone thought was trash that I got for $180.

These old workstations make nice gaming rigs. Can you overclock the Dells? I have been wanting to try out one of the HP z440's.

 

[Gold197]

These old workstations make nice gaming rigs. Can you overclock the Dells? I have been wanting to try out one of the HP z440's.

Yes. It is a lot easier than the HPs. Fewer hoops. I have tried 2 or 3 throttle stop versions and only 9.4.2 worked. First put the computer to sleep then run TS. If you want to do it to a HP z440 then follow the instructions in the link above. If you find a repository for XTU that you are fairly sure is safe let me know. I trued to get it from Intel from their user forum. They didn't give a **** and they have puled down all the old copies. I think they realized how much the Xeons were cutting into their gaming business. For me 4.3-4.5 GHz is more than enough with a 3080ti. I know I am giving up frames but if I am over 120 what do I care.

 

[jamesdsimone]

Yes. It is a lot easier than the HPs. Fewer hoops. I have tried 2 or 3 throttle stop versions and only 9.4.2 worked. First put the computer to sleep then run TS. If you want to do it to a HP z440 then follow the instructions in the link above. If you find a repository for XTU that you are fairly sure is safe let me know. I trued to get it from Intel from their user forum. They didn't give a **** and they have puled down all the old copies. I think they realized how much the Xeons were cutting into their gaming business. For me 4.3-4.5 GHz is more than enough with a 3080ti. I know I am giving up frames but if I am over 120 what do I care.

I know it's really irritating when software gets pulled because they don't want you using older hardware. The same thing happened to me when I was looking for NVMe drivers from WD. This is an old post. I would go with a v4 at this point like an E5-1680v4. I would go with a w-2135 or w-2145 they both boast to 4.5Ghz. What CPU are you using?

 

[Gold197]

which one has a better build quality? Z440 or 5810?

The Xeons are extremely over-designed for mission critical use cases.

In my experience Z440s are bulletproof but the BIOS is totally locked. I have never heard of someone modding an HP bios. Increases security but decreases the ability to hack to higher performance. You have to go through a bunch of hoops to overclock the v3 1650 1660 and 1680 but it is very doable. I have a Z440 that I run at 4.4 (or maybe 4.3 GHz) but you have to run Throttle Stop and then XTU and you need the correct versions. Look at this link: https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=39334. I did the last post under user name 197. Read it if you want to overclock the Z440 with unlocked e5 1650 1660 and 1680 V3 Xeons. I have never heard of someone doing the turbo unlock hack on an HP.

I have had more issues with purchasing used Dells on eBay (getting broken equipment) but they are easier to hack. You can run Throttle Stop and overclock the v3 1650 1660 and 1680 way beyond their design limits with a 5810. I have a 5810 with a e5-1660 v3 that runs all day at 4.4Ghz. Under heavy load (eg. Cinebench R23) it drops to 4.0GHz due to TDP limitations but when I am gaming it will run hours at 4.4Ghz. I don't see the temperature on the voltage regulator module of the 5810 go over 70C. I have used a laser thermometer to check. People has also turbo unlocked the E5-26XX processors on the 5810s. The master is Miyconst (https://miyconst.github.io/hardware/workstation/dell/2020/05/01/dell-t5810.html as well as Miyconst Hardware on youtube). Occationally I have a crash (once every 20 hours) when gaming hard.

One other thing. The speed you can run your CPUs is really based on the silicone lottery. I have one e5-1680 v3 and it doesnn't colck as well as my several of my 1660s but better than others and the 1660s are all different. You may need more voltage for some and less for others. And remember that when overclocking you are beating up the chip shortening it's life. I have been buying the 1660s for $9-$15 so I am not that converned and I haven't had one fail but I have heard of some users frying chips.

 

[Shmee]

I am thinking of picking up a 2699 v3 on ebay, to upgrade my server's current 1660 v3. I am not overclocking the CPU as I want the system nice and stable, but I could. So I am thinking the extra cores might help with hosting game servers and VMs and such. I tried setting up a few game servers (valheim, enshrouded) in VM, but other players were complaining that they were rather laggy. I am hoping upgrading the CPU could help, though it is also possible that I just need to reconfigure the VM settings or possibly use a different hypervisor.

 

[dttprofessor]

E5 2630V4 $1 in China. I buy one.

 

[jamesdsimone]

I have been buying the 1660s for $9-$15 so I am not that converned and I haven't had one fail but I have heard of some users frying chips.

ebay?

 

[zir_blazer]

I am thinking of picking up a 2699 v3 on ebay, to upgrade my server's current 1660 v3.

Can't you at least get a Broadwell-E for the higher IPC and power efficiency due to the node shrink? Notwithstanding that you would need to research if the server emulators you use scale with cores or are ST limited, cause you could be downgrading instead.

 

[Shmee]

Can't you at least get a Broadwell-E for the higher IPC and power efficiency due to the node shrink? Notwithstanding that you would need to research if the server emulators you use scale with cores or are ST limited, cause you could be downgrading instead.

Definitely something to consider, and I have looked at some of the Broadwell EP options. Not sure what exactly would be best, and to save money I may just stick with the 1660 v3 for now. I think the Broadwell EP chips go for a bit more money usually, and I am not sure how much power savings and IPC boost there would be. I wasn't sure if they were significant, but if so that could be a nice bonus.