What do you consider the best value in used processors today?

[boozzer]

X5570 (4C/8T) 2.93 Ghz base with 3.33Ghz turbo is going for $22 shipped in ebay "Buy it now" auctions.

Not a bad deal when we consider i5-750 (4C/4T) 2.66 Ghz base with 3.2 Ghz turbo goes for $43 shipped.

Of course, those are 45nm chips.

I'm still price researching the 32nm quad cores listed in Intel Ark:

http://ark.intel.com/products/series/47915/Intel-Xeon-Processor-5600-Series#@All

is there any benchmarks pitting these old xeons vs the new stuff(anything from the last 2 or 3 gens of cpu)? hard to tell anything without actually benchmarks.

 

[cbn]

is there any benchmarks pitting these old xeons vs the new stuff(anything from the last 2 or 3 gens of cpu)? hard to tell anything without actually benchmarks.

Closest I could find was Core i7 860:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2437733

 

[boozzer]

Closest I could find was Core i7 860:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2437733

quick question. I still have the old mobo that I used for my old E8500. I got it back when I bought a 3258 for my naphew.

what xeon cpus works with it? I think the mobo is the gigabyte ud3 variant for the E8500 cpu.

edit: found the exact name gigabyte ep45 ud3

 

[MongGrel]

These, but finding a cheap Mobo to run one is a problem and raises the price a bit.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636&page=101&highlight=l5639

X58's are at a bit of a premium because of that.

 

[boozzer]

These, but finding a cheap Mobo to run one is a problem and raises the price a bit.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2335636&page=101&highlight=l5639

X58's are at a bit of a premium because of that.

bah, they cost 110+ and 140 new on amazon. at that price range I can't just buy one to play with it.

 

[Burpo]

is there any benchmarks pitting these old xeons vs the new stuff(anything from the last 2 or 3 gens of cpu)? hard to tell anything without actually benchmarks.

Yes, the hexcore Xeons when overclocked can keep up with modern chips..

$59 Xeon X5650 @ 200Bclk (4.4Ghz)

There's some factory refurb Dell XPS 730x boards that can be flashed w/Alienware bios, available for $94 shipped. Once these are flashed, they overclock pretty well (MSI OEM board). People are even flashing them & selling them on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-XPS-73...Motherboard-/281790679184?hash=item419c088890

You can build a 32nm Xeon hexcore rig for <$200 if you have ram & a decent HSF. X58 boards w/USB3 & SATA3 are more.

 

[cbn]

quick question. I still have the old mobo that I used for my old E8500. I got it back when I bought a 3258 for my naphew.

what xeon cpus works with it? I think the mobo is the gigabyte ud3 variant for the E8500 cpu.

edit: found the exact name gigabyte ep45 ud3

That exact motherboard is not listed, but variants (eg, GA-EP45-UD3R, GA-EP45-UD3P) of it have been reported to work with 5xxx Xeons:

http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/3/#gigabyte

General Info on compatibility of P45 chipset here:

http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/2/

 

[skipsneeky2]

Worst case scenario you would have to update the BIOS.

E5200 came out nearly 9 months after the E5450 so it should be a drop in.

 

[cbn]

E5-2670 (Sandy Bridge 8C/16T, 2.6 Ghz base with 3.3 Ghz turbo) is now down to $153.99 shipped on ebay buy it now listings. (and the number of processors available appears to be increasing considerably compared to a few months ago).

Once 14nm E5s hit, I expect these (and others like it) to drop much more.

In contrast, the consumer Sandy Bridge desktop chips (even the locked ones like i5 2500) appear to be holding value (ie, very little change since I wrote the opening post of this thread).

 

[Walternowi]

Yup, Xeon E5-2670 is very attractive these days.

 

[cbn]

Yup, Xeon E5-2670 is very attractive these days.

It might even work well for gaming on a budget level (particularly if we see the price drop even more....and I expect it will).

Looking at these results for Fallout 4, it will be slower than the i7 3970X due to having 900 Mhz lower base clock and 700 Mhz lower turbo:

2.6 Ghz base (for E5 2670) works out to be 74% of the 3.5 Ghz base clock of the i7 3970X.

If we extrapolate that % to frame rates (and assume it scales linearly) it would work out to 78 minimum FPS and 94 avg. FPS (compared to i7 3970X).

Of course, that simple estimate doesn't take into the fact the turbo delta (4.0 Ghz vs. 3.3 Ghz) is smaller than the base clock delta (3.5 Ghz vs. 2.6 Ghz). So that might make the gap a bit smaller (in favor of the E5 2670). Also the E5 2670 has two more cores and 5MB more cache than the i7 3970X (which is another variable I didn't factor into my estimate).

With that mentioned, I see this type of CPU more as a budget work horse for virtualization set-ups. (Example: NAS and Desktop together)

 

[SantiClaws]

What about something like an E3-1230v2 Sandy Bridge? 3.2Mhz and LGA 1155, which is an easy to find and cheaper mobo. They tend to sell for a little more than $150, but I've seeen them go for less than $150. A Haswell 1220 goes for $130 or less, with a 3.1 Ghz core, 3.4 Turbo. There is also the e5 1620, which runs about $140.

 

[cbn]

What about something like an E3-1230v2 Sandy Bridge? 3.2Mhz and LGA 1155, which is an easy to find and cheaper mobo. They tend to sell for a little more than $150, but I've seeen them go for less than $150. A Haswell 1220 goes for $130 or less, with a 3.1 Ghz core, 3.4 Turbo. There is also the e5 1620, which runs about $140.

The motherboard cost is always a factor.

With that mentioned, I do hope LGA 2011 Workstation prices drop as well. Nice thing about buying a used workstation is that they almost always come with a Windows Pro license.

For 1P models, I believe Dell Precision T3600/T3610, HP Z420 and Lenovo S30 would be your choices. (These usually come with a E5-1620, which is good CPU for single thread)

E5-1620: Sandy Bridge 4C/8T with 10MB cache, 3.6 Ghz base/3.8 Ghz turbo.

 

[Mercennarius]

If you want a budget multi-threaded workhorse you can do what I did and buy a dual socket 1366 chipset with dual X5690s(3.47Ghz-3.73 Turbo, totaling 12C/24T). Bought my entire computer (Lenovo D20,1060W PSU,48GB RAM) for less than $1,000.

Stock clocks:

 

[cbn]

Price on the E5 2670 (Sandy Bridge 8C/16T, 2.6 Ghz base with 3.3 Ghz turbo) continues to drop.

It is now available for $139.00 shipped (in high quantities) on ebay buy it now listing.

As I mentioned in post #109, I wonder where this price will be after the Broadwell E5 Xeons launch?

 

[cbn]

E5-2670 now available for $104.99 shipped (in high quantities) on ebay buy it now listing.

The price has been tumbling fast.

Back in early November these were starting @ $179 shipped.

 

[Byte]

They are obsolete. A G1820 is as fast as an old Core 2. An i3 4330 is faster than most if not all of the quad's. No point upgrading a box from 2007 or 2008. A new chipset brings huge improvements never mind a new CPU. Its $7 of crap. May as well save up and buy new.

$7 is skipping a venti latte, not bad if your mobo supports it. They do have bare systems with 3ghz haswell penguins for around 125-150 at dell though. Just add ssd and you got a screamer.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Prices on the i3 4170 are nice at $125 right now on Newegg,it's got the 3mb cache but a 3.7Ghz clockspeed.Wonder if it can touch the i5 2500?

Ordered a G1820 and some other odds and ends for a second build,but a i3 certainly will be dropped in later and that i3 4170 is like $3 more then the 3.5Ghz based i3 4150.

 

[SPBHM]

Prices on the i3 4170 are nice at $125 right now on Newegg,it's got the 3mb cache but a 3.7Ghz clockspeed.Wonder if it can touch the i5 2500?

Ordered a G1820 and some other odds and ends for a second build,but a i3 certainly will be dropped in later and that i3 4170 is like $3 more then the 3.5Ghz based i3 4150.

the i5 2500 will clearly beat it in some games (check Crysis 3 welcome to the jungle), while the i3 will beat it in games more limited to 2 threads (check StarCraft 2), on average they are not to far for most games, but it's clear that the i5 2500 can be a lot faster for 4t load
http://pclab.pl/art66945-29.html

 

[skipsneeky2]

the i5 2500 will clearly beat it in some games (check Crysis 3 welcome to the jungle), while the i3 will beat it in games more limited to 2 threads (check StarCraft 2), on average they are not to far for most games, but it's clear that the i5 2500 can be a lot faster for 4t load
http://pclab.pl/art66945-29.html

Best performance out of any chip for the dollar has been the i3 2100 i used to have before i dropped in my i5 2500.BF3 was the only game that could choke somewhat on a i3 but everything else in my library flew on the i3.

2100 and a 4710 are 2 whole different beasts i am sure.It's why my money would be on the 4170 for my older games while BF4 and the like would fly on the i5.:thumbsup:

 

[cbn]

Price on the E5 2670 now starts at $95 shipped in ebay buy it now listings.

In fact, seeing the price on this particular processor decrease so fast inspired me to make a new thread on the topic of using old chipsets for new motherboard manufacture:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2461269

 

[superstition]

Considering the ease of overclocking 8 core FX "E" chips, the $100 for 8320E plus $50 for UD3P 2.0 board combo deal from Microcenter seems hard to beat for a cheap multicore workstation. You don't have to deal with used product worries. (I actually got my combo for $133.75 with tax when the board was on sale, lol.)

I would never invest in 45nm tech today. My i5 750 is a plain quad and it's a power pig when overclocked.

However, if your goal is to get past 4.5 GHz the UD3P 2.0 won't do. It throttles after that speed, regardless of temps, in Linpack. Cinebench multi shows improvement even at 5 GHz but stress testing isn't so simple with the throttling. Regardless, 4.4 or 4.5 on that board seems like it will run Fallout 4 just fine, looking at that chart.

 

[ArisVer]

I would never invest in 45nm tech today. My i5 750 is a plain quad and it's a power pig when overclocked

E5-2670 is 32nm

 

[Raduque]

I've been trying to find a Sandy/Ivy to go in an older Intel board I have (DP67BG) to upgrade my server - it's currently running an ancient E6300 and Gigabyte mobo.

Problem is, everything I find is just insane on price considering how old it is! It came out in 2011, finding a good quadcore for it should cost no more than $100, but everything I've found is vastly overpriced (almost $300 for an i5-2500, $250 for an i5-2320).

 

[cbn]

Price on the E5 2670 now starts at $95 shipped in ebay buy it now listings.

In fact, seeing the price on this particular processor decrease so fast inspired me to make a new thread on the topic of using old chipsets for new motherboard manufacture:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2461269

Price dropped again to $83.36 shipped. (quantity sold in the particular listing I am referring to is 575 processors so far)

P.S. So far E5 2670 Price history on ebay "buy it now listings" (according to my records) has been:

November 11, 2015: $179.00 shipped
Novemeber 18, 2015 : $153.99 shipped
December 15, 2015: $139.00 shipped
December 29, 2105: $104.99 shipped
January 19, 2016: $99.99 (or best offer) shipped
January 20, 2016: $95 shipped
January 22, 2016: $83.86 shipped