What were the best LGA 1366 Workstations?

[Riok]

Some Q&A about the HP Z400:
2) Is it possible to overclock ?
Yes. I like that introduction video about overclocking:
Overclocking a Xeon x5670 CPU to 4GHz

Sorry, this video is only about the xeon. The Z400 doesn't have so many options but according to this post it seems you can overclock if you have the version with 6 DIMM slots:
overclocking w3520 using HP z400 is it possible ?

 

[mobomofo]

I currently have 3x T7500's for home use....they are killer machines. I run X5670s, my passmark CPU score puts me in the 95th percentile. I found a pair of matched X5670s can be found on ebay for around $75-100 and offer great performance for little money and consume less wattage that the x5680+ line. they cannot be overclocked on this board (that I know of), but the board will accept x5690 which have a boost mode of 3.7ghz making them formidable, non overclocked CPUs.

I run Revit 2018 and Autocad Arch. 2017, and honestly my second CPU never gets touched expect for a few min in rendering. Unless you have a need for 12 cores or more than 48gb+ ram, the daughterboard is an expensive upgrade that barely even sees use during its intended purpose (precision workstation). If you are gaming, it probably will just collect dust. T7500's can be had ready with a single core and no GPU/ HDD for around $200 used. A daughterboard with matching CPU will cost about the same. I think you would be better off with a second machine than 2x the power in one that doesnt get used for the same money, but thats just my 2 cents.

Also I would mention the GPU + PSU - for anyone looking to run dual GPUs....things to consider. The 16x slots are right next to eachother for SLI linking. This is good for nvidia cards that vent through the slot or or any hybrid water cooling card, however running side venting cards makes one run around 10C hotter as there is limited airflow! The PSU is awesome, but lacking in connections. Its a 80+ Silver rated 1100w PSU and can support 2 monster video cards, but i noticed something wierd. If you run 6 pin GPU's you have a blue black and white black set so each has its own busway. However if you run 8 pin or 6+8 pin GPUs, only the white black set offers a separate 6 pin and 8 pin. There is no 8 pin on the blue black set. you can use a 6 pin to 8 pin adapter if yuou cards only need 1x 8 pin however if your GPU uses 6+8 pin you come up short a cable, and running a splitter isnt recommended as you will draw more power than the line should. Now there is a 8 pin CPU for the daughterboard, and if you are running only 1 CPU, then that can be repurposed, but if you are using dual CPU and you are intending to run two 250w+ cards (1080TI / Titan / etc) that require multiple power inputs, youre going to come up short. The only work around is the single molex connector available. Using a sata to 6/8 pin adapter will fry the cable so dont try it. Not that most people will be running dual monster cards, but I thought I'd mention it since the PSU itself can handle it, but the connections can come up short.

I would put my T7500's up against the best i7 gaming rigs out there right now and I built mine (before video card/software) for less than $500ea.

 

[Riok]

I would put my T7500's up against the best i7 gaming rigs out there right now and I built mine (before video card/software) for less than $500ea."

Nice post, it goes into details about the T7500.

Could run a bench like Firestrike or Timespy ? Then we would have a rough idea how well your rig performs compared to an i7 with the same video card. (For gaming)
Search 3dmark results

 

[mobomofo]

So to make it simple I ran a firestrike test - I dont know comparable i7's so please let me know what you think.

https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/24383803

11 563 IN Fire Strike (V1.1)

Graphics score
13 814
Graphics test 1
66.99 FPS
Graphics test 2
54.43 FPS
Physics score
15 577
Physics test
49.45 FPS
Combined score
4 434
Combined test
20.63 FPS
System information

GPU
ASUS Radeon RX 580 Series
SystemInfo
v5.3.629
CPU
Intel Xeon X5670
CPU
Intel Xeon X5670
Time
2018-01-03 14:19 -05:00

 

[mobomofo]

I just figured out how to search the other competitors and Im seated right around several i7-3770k, i7-6700, i7-6700k, i7-7700k, i7-4790k.

 

[Riok]

I just figured out how to search the other competitors and Im seated right around several i7-3770k, i7-6700, i7-6700k, i7-7700k, i7-4790k.

Fire Strike 1.1 results:
AMD Radeon RX 580(1x) and Intel Core i3 6100 (3.7Ghz) = 10000
AMD Radeon RX 580(1x) and Intel Xeon X5670 (2.9Ghz) = 11563 (mobomofo's result)
AMD Radeon RX 580(1x) and Intel Core i5 6400 (2.7Ghz) = 11700
AMD Radeon RX 580(1x) and Intel Core i7 7700 (3.6Ghz) = 11700

That's a very interesting result because you don't use overclocking and you still have no problem getting the most of your video card, just like the recent i5 or i7 !!!

There is a lot of discussion around thoose xeons because they can be overclocked but they really do just fine at default clock speed. The architecture being different, clock speed in itself cannot be used to compare them with others. Your results really proves that.

Looking better at the results at 3dmark with gtx 1080 and x5670, I realized that there was no difference between the one clocked at basic 2.8Ghz and the ones clocked at 4.4Ghz, both get the same results from that high end card. (Around 18000 points).

So it looks like we can use any X58 workstation to build a gaming rig. There is no need to have o/c capacity and it still doesn't show any sign of bottlenecking with the biggest cards available today

 

[mobomofo]

The x5670 came out in 2011 and had an MSRP of $1400+. IT has 50% more L3 cache 12mb than the i7-7700 (4mb) and 50% more cores (6 vs 4). Probably why it can still hang with the i7.

I have a 1070 ti coming early next week and I can test with the X5680 to see how it compares. I'll update everyone.

Also one other thing, the PSU as a proprietary motherboard connector, so you have to use the dell PSU, but at 1100w silver 80+, there is really no need to swap it.

 

[mobomofo]

I'll add some extra info about the T7500 -
1. I have one running 96gb of ecc ram for CAD/Revit and though revit is slow on any computer, its actually quite nice to work on, on this one.
2. It has a build in perc6-ir controller. So you can setup a raid 1 (mirror) off the internal 3gb/s ports (no raid 0 though)
3. It accepts the H700 6gb/s raid controller both 512mb and 1gb. (Raid 0,1,5,10). The 1gb allows cachecade - I have one system running two 120gb SSD cache disks before writing to the raid 1...makes my 2tb raid 1, 7200 constellation drives behave like SSD's most of the time.
4. It can run vmware no issue, has virtualization setting in bios. I ran a DC, TS, and 2 workstations from one machine without any degredation.
5. Has a step mode in bios. I have mine off, but can power save on the CPU if you want.
6. Super quiet compared to a T610. I have both with 96gb ram and 2x X5670s and the T7500 sounds like a PC not a server like the T610.
7 this is a full size case - think server size but in desktop format. I personally love it, but Ive been using full size AT and ATX machines since day 1.
8. The entire case is betal and the locking mechanisms are solid. I constantly sit on them (im around 16 stone).
9. It has 40 PCI-E lanes on the chipset with access to 36 via gen two 2- 16x, 2- 8x, 1- 4x slots, so there is plenty of room for add one hardware.
10. There are several qty on ebay with a single processor and minimal ram for under $250 shipped.
for instance. This only need a X56XX processor (around $50-100), a copper heatsink (gen 2 for over 85 watt $35), a nice SSD and a good video card....try and beat that.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-T7500...324738?hash=item28499700c2:g:bLkAAOSwhxVaHc61

 

[Retrorockit]

It's actually possible to overclock these in single CPU mode using unlocked CPUs.
Here's a thread on this.
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/throttlestop-overclocking-desktop-pcs.235975/
It's not just about T3500 workstations but that's become the most popular platform.
The Dell T3500/T5500 motherboards interchange. The T5500 supports RDIMMs which can save some money. Aftermarket PSUs fit also.
The memory controller is on the CPU and RAM speed, and capacity varies with CPU chosen and number of modules installed.
W3680 is considered the best for this purpose.
The T5500 is not X58 chipset, but neither is the T7500.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Now that vSphere 6.7 gives the Support axe to anything less than Sandy Bridge, not to mention they'll likely never see Spectre / Meltdown mitigations, I imagine these are going to become super cheap over the coming months.

 

[cbn]

Now that vSphere 6.7 gives the Support axe to anything less than Sandy Bridge, not to mention they'll likely never see Spectre / Meltdown mitigations, I imagine these are going to become super cheap over the coming months.

Some LGA 1366 chips did get Spectre v2 support.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Some LGA 1366 chips did get Spectre v2 support.

I agree, but Vendor Support is the whole other side of that. Cisco gave one last hurrah in the form of Firmware Packages for their B200 M2 and C220 M2 servers with mitigations right before the March 31st cut-off for last-day-of-support. Dell went back to their PowerEge Server Platform from the 11th generation like the R210, but I haven't seen anything for these old workstations made available. Same with the Lenovo D20. You might get lucky with the Server Variants of these systems, but I'm doubtful a lot of these workstations will see anything.

 

[mobomofo]

T5500 & T7500 received Spectre patches. T3500 is not on the list.

https://www.dell.com/support/articl...cve-2017-5754-impact-on-dell-products?lang=en

 

[cbn]

T5500 & T7500 received Spectre patches. T3500 is not on the list.

https://www.dell.com/support/articl...cve-2017-5754-impact-on-dell-products?lang=en

Yep, T5500 has a October 2018 BIOS release:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/precision-t5500/drivers

Hopefully T3500 eventually get the update as well.