Upgrade from Intel Xeon W3520 to Intel Xeon X5675

[gryffinwings]

So I just upgraded my Dell Precision T3500 from the Intel Xeon W3520 to Intel Xeon X5675... finally. No idea why I waiting so long to do it, what an upgrade, much better speed, reduced power consumption, more cores, more speed, and the core temps are much lower, I'm currently hovering in the high 20s to mid 30s depending on load which is quite low, this is much better than the W3520 could do.

I think the main motivator in getting the upgrade what to improve Cities Skyline performance, the minimum requirements says it needs a 3 GHz CPU.

 

[whm1974]

Hey if you got a noticeable performance increase and it uses less power to boot, then it is well worth the upgrade. How much did it cost you?

 

[Markfw]

Hey if you got a noticeable performance increase and it uses less power to boot, then it is well worth the upgrade. How much did it cost you?

I got one for $20

 

[gryffinwings]

Hey if you got a noticeable performance increase and it uses less power to boot, then it is well worth the upgrade. How much did it cost you?

I got one for $20

I got mine for $30 on eBay, the prices can fluctuate from time to time, it seems that the X58 platform is desirable.

 

[whm1974]

I got one for $20

I would pay $20 for that myself. Too bad I can't get a Haswell i7 CPU for that much.

 

[gryffinwings]

I would pay $20 for that myself. Too bad I can't get a Haswell i7 CPU for that much.

At this point, I don't even see the point in doing that.

Besides with the X5675, you're getting 6 cores instead of 4. Sure the clock speed isn't as high, but it works. If you want similar clock speeds and same core count, you could try the X5677, here's a link to specs:

Intel Xeon X5677 - (Ebay - less than $30)
https://ark.intel.com/products/4792...X5677-12M-Cache-3-46-GHz-6-40-GT-s-Intel-QPI-

Intel i7-4770k - (Used prices - $200)
https://ark.intel.com/products/75123/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-3-90-GHz-

Also the Xeon has more Cache as well. So I know what I would choose.

 

[whm1974]

Yeah I wouldn't get an Haswell i7 for $200 either. I would be better off saving the money for upgrading to a new platform.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I would pay $20 for that myself. Too bad I can't get a Haswell i7 CPU for that much.

My 4790 was -$80, so it's doable.

Hmm... there's a Z600 on my craigslist for $150. I wonder if I can get him down to a point where it would be worth it to put together a dual X5670 system.

 

[gryffinwings]

My 4790 was -$80, so it's doable.

Hmm... there's a Z600 on my craigslist for $150. I wonder if I can get him down to a point where it would be worth it to put together a dual X5670 system.

That's actually not bad for a i7-4790, just have to wait for the right deal.

A Z600 is a pretty nice computer, but I have Dells primarily. All my HPs are server grade hardware, which I basically paid 5 dollars each for:

HP DL360 G7 (Just installed a pair of E5645 for 20 dollars)
HP DL360 G6 (Barebones) (A pair of L5530 60-watt CPUs are like 14 dollars)
HP ML115 G5 (Need to install a lower wattage AMD CPU for like 5-7 dollars)

That's the thing I like about older hardware, still very usable, but also very inexpensive to tinker with.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Ok, I just picked up two Z600's for $60 each. I guess it's X5670 buying time.

 

[whm1974]

Ok, I just picked up two Z600's for $60 each. I guess it's X5670 buying time.

Not bad at all, what are you planning on doing with them?

 

[gryffinwings]

Ok, I just picked up two Z600's for $60 each. I guess it's X5670 buying time.

Pretty sweet deal you got there!

 

[DominionSeraph]

Not bad at all, what are you planning on doing with them?

Well I had planned on using them for encoding, but I think I may have made a mistake. They're not |loud|, but they're also not quiet even at idle. I had planned on using them to replace the two XPS 8500's sitting by my main but that's just not going to work with the noise they're throwing off. And they don't have WiFi so they can't join the gang in the other room.

 

[gryffinwings]

Well I had planned on using them for encoding, but I think I may have made a mistake. They're not |loud|, but they're also not quiet even at idle. I had planned on using them to replace the two XPS 8500's sitting by my main but that's just not going to work with the noise they're throwing off. And they don't have WiFi so they can't join the gang in the other room.

The noise can likely be remedied with fans that are more quiet, which I'm started doing in my Dell T3500, if check to see if your current CPUs are the higher TDP versions (130w), if they are then upgrading to X56xx CPU will lower the TDP to 95w which will help with the fans kicking in, also changing the CPU coolers would be helpful, I don't know how much room you have to work with, but maybe changing just the fans will work. Heck even getting Arctic fans would be more quiet, you gotta think that those fans are getting old and need replacing, that will probably reduce your noise, you would have needed fans if you intended doing a new build, so I don't think it's a bad idea.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Well unplugging the front and rear fans helped a lot. The CPU fans aren't that loud, and they don't even ramp up under load with the 80W processors in there now. (temps stay under 60C too). But they're still noisier than my main.


Since there are no fan curve options in BIOS, I'm unsure of what fans would be a good replacement. I pulled a 120mm off a Cooler Master heat sink but it definitely revs a little too high.

 

[gryffinwings]

Well unplugging the front and rear fans helped a lot. The CPU fans aren't that loud, and they don't even ramp up under load with the 80W processors in there now. (temps stay under 60C too). But they're still noisier than my main.


Since there are no fan curve options in BIOS, I'm unsure of what fans would be a good replacement. I pulled a 120mm off a Cooler Master heat sink but it definitely revs a little too high.

I've been fine with Arctic fans, they are more quiet than stock ones, Noctua fans are great from what I hear, but kind of expensive. Also recommend replacing the thermal paste, give the heat sinks a good cleaning, you should be able to drop temps pretty good.

With those 80w CPUs you should be running around as cool as I am. The temps for my X5675 hover in the upper 20c to low 30s at idle on the stock heatsink, only thing I did was add rear exhaust fans. Also dropping from a W3520 to an X5675 reduced temps further from the high 30c to mid 40c for idle. Also those fans are probably ramped up from the start, again, probably just needs a good cleaning and fresh thermal paste, the stuff doesn't last forever.

For Thermal paste I just use Arctic MX4, no issues with it, non conductive, and it's cheap for the amount you get. When I upgrade my front fans I'll have to add an adapter as Dell uses a proprietary connector and make sure to check if you need PWM, which is likely.

The other benefit of changing out the fans is that the newer fans will likely have better flow.