Is it possible to use a single Xeon W3580 Bloomfield in dual-socket mobo?

[carl4286]

Hello,

I am trying to piece together a workstation, and I've run into trouble. All I require is a quad-core Nehalem-based processor at 3.33GHz and 24GB of registered ECC RAM. It turns out that there are no single-socket motherboards that support registered ECC RAM, so I have to buy a dual-socket motherboard with the 5500/5520 chipset. All of these motherboards specify that you need a 5500 series Xeon, and not a 3500 series Xeon, since the 3500 series Xeons lack a second QPI and can't be used in dual-processor configurations.

My question is, can I use a 3500 series Xeon in a dual-socket motherboard if I only use one? The 5500 series Xeon is $600 more and it's exactly the same thing but with a second QPI enabled. Since I will never add a second processor, this is a complete waste of money.

Also, if you can find any other way of getting a Nehalem-based 3.33GHz processor with 24GB of registered ECC RAM for around $4000, I would welcome your suggestions. Thanks!

Regards,
Carl

 

[Idontcare]

Hi Carl, back in June Supermicro support confirmed for me that the 5500 Tylersburg chipset only supports the 5500 series Nehalem EP's.

You can use just one 5500 series CPU in a dual-socket mobo but you cannot get away with populating just one socket with a 3500 series or i7 bloomfield CPU.

 

[hans007]

well you could buy 6 of these...http://www.crucial.com/store/p...?IMODULE=CT51272BA1067

unbuffered ECC, and a normal i7 . $280 per module is uh a lot, but maybe there are cheaper places than crucial (or other brands). thats still well under $4000 probably.. though the memory is like $1700.


Here is a link to the same item from a place off froogle at $220.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/...GB_240p_DIMM_DDR3.html

so thats $1400 or so for ram. $1000 for a cpu, and $200 for a board. you can send $1400 to me and still be under $4000.