i7 vs Xeon for a server?

[Shockeru]

Are there any advantages/disadvantages for having an i7 over a Xeon for a server? Which would be best? Some say Xeon

 

[lopri]

Can't think of any advantage other than overclocking, but even for that there are desktop boards with Xeon/ECC memory support. And if you go into nitty gritty you'll see most Xeons support VT-d while desktop i7s do not.

Xeons also support up to 3 DIMMs per channel (ECC required, iirc), which means you can have up to 9 DIMMs per socket while desktop parts make do with 6 DIMMs max.

 

[jtisgeek]

Just depends on what you mean by server.

Has to be xeon to me cause at my work everything is at least dual quad and that something that is a big difference between i7 and xeon.

 

[Sp12]

Xeons are lower power, and guaranteed for commercial usage. They also have more cache typically.

 

[Chiropteran]

ECC is the main difference. If you want it, you buy a Xeon (or an AMD CPU). If you don't want ECC, than there is nothing wrong with using an i7.

 

[mutz]

just an add, it is said that the best dies are taken to the server processors rather then the desktop due to they're higher workloads requirements
though core2 and nehalem are running DC projects full 24/7 100 percent for years.