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

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GeezerMan

Platinum Member
Jan 28, 2005
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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
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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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.
 
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onkarlad

Junior Member
Feb 16, 2021
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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
 
Last edited:

NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
10,208
4,940
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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.
 
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onkarlad

Junior Member
Feb 16, 2021
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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

Golden Member
Mar 10, 2017
1,627
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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

Diamond Member
Feb 21, 2002
6,483
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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

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
9,110
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www.teamjuchems.com
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

Diamond Member
Dec 7, 2003
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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

Golden Member
Mar 10, 2017
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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

Junior Member
Apr 6, 2021
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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

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2013
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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

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
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I think 1660v3 is the best value likely, for gaming and OC ability. And 8 cores :D
 

B-Riz

Golden Member
Feb 15, 2011
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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...