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Intel Core i7 4790 vs Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3?

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boyski33

Junior Member
I'm building a new PC mainly for programming (and other Computer Science work) and occasional video gaming. It came down to the following CPUs: the i7 4790 3.6 GHz or the Xeon E3-1231 3.4 GHz. The main differences between the two models are:

the i7 is clocked slightly higher than the Xeon (a negligible difference in my opinion)
the i7 has HD 4600 graphics, which is unessential for me, since I'm going to get a dedicated video card
the Xeon is cheaper - $40 difference in my country, which would let me get an SSD for my OS or a slightly better video card/MoBo
the i7 is MUCH more popular among personal computers (this is not an essential difference, but there is much more info about it around the web, which could be beneficial at some point e.g. picking other components, looking for solutions to potential problems, checking video games requirements)
So, bottom line, the Xeon offers basically the same performance, and would save me some cash. All of the advantages of the i7 are not at all essential, but they are still advantages. Which one should I get? Again, I'm building a new PC because mine is pretty old. I plan to use it mainly for work as a future Computer Science student. I don't plan on using extreme software for 3D design and rendering (Visual Studio and Photoshop are by far the most extreme programs I've used and they run OK on my Dual Core Pentium), but you never know, so... However, there are some pretty compelling games on the market (Watch Dogs, Bioshock, BF4, ?GTAV?, etc), and I'm pretty sure I'm going to play them if I have the proper computer.
 
I think you make a good case for the Xeon. I hadn't even paid attention to the fact that there were some Haswell Refresh E3 Xeons out now. It's a great value, and I think you'd be hard pressed to ever realize the difference between it and the 4790. I presume from your choices that overclocking is off the table?
 
Just cherry picking the following:
boyski33 said:
I'm building a new PC mainly for programming (and other Computer Science work) and occasional video gaming.

<snip>
the i7 has HD 4600 graphics, which is unessential for me, since I'm going to get a dedicated video card
<snip>
Click to expand...

You can always use OpenCL and code against the HD 4600 graphics😉 Just speaking as a comp geek.

No real opinion either way between the two. Although I'm debating a 4690k or 4790k for my next build just for giggles.:whiste:
 
I'm reluctant to overclock because I did it on my Pentuim some time ago. It was clocked @2.8GHz and I overclocked it to 3.2 - 3.3. I didn't notice ANY difference in terms of performance. The temperatures increased a little, but they were still bellow 75-80 degrees Celsius under pressure, which is OK I guess.
 
Lil'John said:
You can always use OpenCL and code against the HD 4600 graphics😉
Click to expand...
boyski33 said:
I'm not sure I understood that 😀
Click to expand...

Ahh. you are not quite that computer science geeked out yet.😛

Basically, OpenCL allows you to utilize the graphics processor to do non-graphics related activities(GPGPU is vernacular)

The graphics processor used can be a discrete card or it can be integrated in the CPU.
 
Last edited:
boyski33 said:
I'm reluctant to overclock because I did it on my Pentuim some time ago. It was clocked @2.8GHz and I overclocked it to 3.2 - 3.3. I didn't notice ANY difference in terms of performance. The temperatures increased a little, but they were still bellow 75-80 degrees Celsius under pressure, which is OK I guess.
Click to expand...

If you ever think you will overclock, neither of the CPUs you have selected will work. You'll need the upcoming 4690K or 4790K, or the currently available 4670K or 4770K. I'd guess that the majority of participants here would suggest at least a mild overclock on a machine that is not intended for work. If you asked me to suggest a gaming CPU in your price range today, it would be the 4670K no question, unless there is a particular reason you need four core, eight thread capability (4C/8T).
 
crashtech said:
If you ever think you will overclock, neither of the CPUs you have selected will work. You'll need the upcoming 4690K or 4790K, or the currently available 4670K or 4770K. I'd guess that the majority of participants here would suggest at least a mild overclock on a machine that is not intended for work. If you asked me to suggest a gaming CPU in your price range today, it would be the 4670K no question, unless there is a particular reason you need four core, eight thread capability (4C/8T).
Click to expand...

I was considering the i5 4670K, but as I said, I don't think I want to overclock the CPU in the future, and the Xeon is only slightly more expensive, but much better in my opinion. I think I'll stick with it... I might have to save some cash for a 32, 64 GB SSD to put the Windows on.
 
i wouldnt look at anything lower then a 120gb...

trust me... thats the bear min i would get for an OS drive SSD.
 
I've used a 64GB in the past, but it takes a bit of customization. The way prices have fallen, there's little savings to going with such a small size. Actually, I think the best $/GB ratio is in the 240-256GB range right now. I just picked up of the new Crucial M100 256GB drives for $99 shipped.
 
Do you think the Radeon R9 270X 2GB is a good fit for gaming needs? It's almost as expensive as the CPU itself... 😀
 
Even on small projects (say <10K LOC) you will see a speed up with 4 cores and an SSD when running a build. For moderately complex projects I'd say 4-6 cores w/HT and an SSD is a must unless you like killing time.
 
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