Xeon E3 or i5

john925

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Since they're both 1150 socket types, which would be a better route to take for an upgrade? I'm just curious. I'm not looking to upgrade right now, but I have a g3258. Gaming would be the main thing to consider.
 

Hi-Fi Man

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Some of the Xeons provide a cheaper way into an 8 thread CPU so it's up to you whether the additional threads and L3 cache are worth it over an overclockable i5. If it's strictly for games then I would probably opt for an unlocked i5 unless you don't have a Z board.
 

john925

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I don't. I mean it'll be a pretty distant future before I upgrade my cpu unless I absolutely have to. I was just looking around and I see that Xeons are more used for servers and things like that, but not limited to only that. I know the i5/i7 are obviously used more for gaming, but the xeon looks to be priced closely to an i5. My g3258 is unlocked and I've heard that overclocking it is pretty easy so I'll probably try my hand at that. This was more of just a random thought to see what people's views are on it
 

lyssword

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There is absolutely 0 difference between e3 xeons and i5/i7 if they have similar speed/core count and same stepping (like haswell xeons are == haswell i5/7's). I mean at stock speeds. The difference comes with K series where u can have unlocked multiplier.
 

lehtv

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I'm guessing what lyssword was trying to say was that your question "which would be a better route to take for an upgrade?" doesn't make sense unless you specify whether you mean Xeon E3 with HyperThreading (you know like an i7) or without it (like an i5).

Xeon E3 has the exact same performance per clock speed per core as consumer LGA1150 CPU's. For example, there's no difference between Xeon 1225 V3 and i5-4570 - clock speed is the same, neither is hyperthreaded.

In the end it won't matter much what you go with - as long as it's a quad core, it'll be a lot faster than G3258. I'd probably choose between i5-4460, i5-4590 and Xeon 1231 V3 (hyperthreaded like i7), depending on budget and what graphics card you're planning to pair it with. If you have a Z97 chipset board you can also get i5-4690K and overclock it.
 

lyssword

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I'd say if you can get 1231/1241 for same price as i5 it would be better to go with xeon, with newer games like witcher3/gta5 8threads running 3.6ghz will be similar to 4.7-8ghz i5 while consuming less power.
 

john925

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I'd say if you can get 1231/1241 for same price as i5 it would be better to go with xeon, with newer games like witcher3/gta5 8threads running 3.6ghz will be similar to 4.7-8ghz i5 while consuming less power.
See that's kind of what I was thinking. I suppose an i5 would be better for the long run if you wanted to overclock when games get a little more demanding
 

lyssword

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not quite 1231, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...918125?hash=item419eab90ed:g:5cUAAOSwT5tWJ749
That's potentially 3.7ghz 8 threads running (although could b limited to 3.3 depending on bios/mobo).
4590 is around $30 cheaper, but you can't oc it either and I'd say its worth 30 more.

I bought my 1275 off ebay for 220, you gotta watch for them popping up. Running 3.9 and couldn't be happier coming from g3258. Running 2400ram too.
 

john925

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Sure but no one sells 1231 anywhere close to i5-4460 or even i5-4590 price
No the i5 is about $100 give or take cheaper. I'll probably wind up upgrading to the i5 when my g3258 is completely obsolete. It'd be nice to be able to either upgrade my laptop graphics or be able to swap out my processor. It's an i7 2760QM and it's total overkill on any game specs even clocked at 2.4GHz when paired with my Radeon HD 6770M which is way outdated.
 

john925

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not quite 1231, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-...918125?hash=item419eab90ed:g:5cUAAOSwT5tWJ749
That's potentially 3.7ghz 8 threads running (although could b limited to 3.3 depending on bios/mobo).
4590 is around $30 cheaper, but you can't oc it either and I'd say its worth 30 more.

I bought my 1275 off ebay for 220, you gotta watch for them popping up. Running 3.9 and couldn't be happier coming from g3258. Running 2400ram too.

You went from a g3258 to a 1275? EBay is great for low ass prices. I got my g3258 for for about $45. I won't be upgrading yet, I still need to build this one. Just waiting for all my parts to come in. But I'm always looking and making comparisons
 

lyssword

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Dec 15, 2005
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That's the main advantage of xeons imo, as businesses want to unload them to upgrade to next gen, not necesarily best price retail (altho not bad), but can be much cheaper off ebay.

G3258 was definitely great for older games (I gave away to my younger bro), but w games like witcher3, dragon age:I and cod:aw it is definitely choppy to unplayable even at 4.6ghz. With my new xeon, things are mostly butter smooth with gtx 970.
 
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john925

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That's the main advantage of xeons imo, as businesses want to unload them to upgrade to next gen, not necesarily best price retail (altho not bad), but can be much cheaper off ebay.

G3258 was definitely great for older games (I gave away to my younger bro), but w games like witcher3, dragon age:I and cod:aw it is definitely choppy to unplayable even at 4.6ghz. With my new xeon, things are mostly butter smooth with gtx 970.
That's odd, I saw some gameplay videos with the g3258 paired with the 750 ti and it was pretty smooth.
 

lyssword

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That's odd, I saw some gameplay videos with the g3258 paired with the 750 ti and it was pretty smooth.

you mean this ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxUPJdcChzE
Pay attention when the video is not cutscenes but heavy action going on. Also, single player was ok on cod:aw but in multiplayer it literally dropped into single digit slideshow. Same for DA:I. The witcher 3 was surely playable, 25-30 fps, but improved to 50+
 
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john925

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you mean this ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxUPJdcChzE
Pay attention when the video is not cutscenes but heavy action going on. Also, single player was ok on cod:aw but in multiplayer it literally dropped into single digit slideshow. Same for DA:I. The witcher 3 was surely playable, 25-30 fps, but improved to 50+
There was that one and a few others. But I'm not looking to play multiplayer anyway. Never really interested me.
 

john925

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I don't know exactly why either but that's how it is http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/2182-fallout-4-cpu-benchmark-huge-performance-difference . My 1275 is pretty much equal to 4790k here. Open world type of games tend to like more cpu power, altho metal gear seems to be an exception.
Oh yeah I know it. Granted most specs that are released before the game comes out tend to be higher than what can actually run it. Google fallout 4 dual core and you'll see. There was a guy with a g3258 OC'd at 4.4GHz and a gtx 750. He had some solid framerates given he was playing with everything bottomed out. I could probably run at medium with minimal lag. I've been playing on a 6770M for years so a little lag isn't gonna bother me much.
 

lyssword

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yeah I guess coming from cs:go where the difference between dying and living is miliseconds I have less tolerance for fps drops :p