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Xeon for gaming?

mojothehut

mojothehut

Senior member
Hey all,
Going to be building an intel rig soon.
I've been kicking around the idea of using a Xeon instead of an i5 ivy bridge?
Like this one..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117286

Seems a bit unorthodox, but hey, no on chip graphics, more cache, lower wattage. Looks better than an i5 3570k. 😀
Pretty much just going to use it for gaming, not interested in overclocking though.
Guildwars 2, WoW, Crysis, Metro2033 and a few others..

Other hardware I already have for the rig.
16gb (2x8gb) Corsair DDR1600
Sapphires 7950oc
Just need to find a motherboard that will jive with a possible Xeon.
 
Not worth it. Desktop 1155 boards aren't going to work with the Xeon and a server 1155 motherboard will be at least twice as expensive. Also most server chipsets require use of ECC RAM, making what you have unusable.
 
Actually, the ASUS P8C-WS isn't that expensive for what it offers.
ECC memory isn't that expensive either, especially since you'll be needing the unbuffered kind. Additionally, you don't usually need ECC memory. See the recent test of the Gigabyte board with C606 chipset.

I always looked at the Xeon as the cheap way to get into Socket 2011, as there the Xeons can be had for quite a bit less than the cheapest i7.
 
Phantomaniac said:
Not worth it. Desktop 1155 boards aren't going to work with the Xeon and a server 1155 motherboard will be at least twice as expensive. Also most server chipsets require use of ECC RAM, making what you have unusable.
Click to expand...

That is only partially true. Yes, desktop chipsets will not work with a Xeon, but you can get a workstation board like this one:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8C_WS/

It works fine with regular unbuffered DIMMs, and so far has been rock stable here.

I have no idea about American pricing, but were I live the asking price is between the P8Z77-V Pro and P8Z77-V Deluxe.
 
I'm still running xeon equivalent of Q9450 in one of my rigs on Abit IP35Pro. Works fine, no complaints. If you can find a motherboard that supports xeon then go for it. However, by the sound of it consumer chipsets are a lot less friendly at supporting xeons nowadays.
 
Xeons do work on 1155 boards. I've used the E3-1230 (32nm version) in two different boards now, without any issues at all, and no bios updates were required to boot. However, if you're just gaming you should consider a 2500K or 3570K and overclock.

But the Xeon's are at a good price if you find the extra threads beneficial (allowed me to run a couple more VMs before maxing CPU usage). However, you cannot overclock them period outside of BCLK adjustment (limiting you to 100-150Mhz overclock). So in that perspective, even a lightly overclocked K-series chip would be over 700Mhz faster than an E-series chip.
 
Xeon's work just fine with normal desktop chipsets, apart from ecc memory which is of limited relevance anyway for normal consumer use.

And yes, if you don't overclock and have no need for an igp this is basically an i7 at i5 price. But why not overclock? It's really easy and can give a nice perf boost which might be needed in the future.
 
Running an Intel® Xeon™ processor for gaming shouldn't really make any difference in gaming performance but it may not be the most efficient use of your money since the board and RAM that maybe required to run it can run more than the cost of desktop components.
 
mojothehut said:
Hey all,
Going to be building an intel rig soon.
I've been kicking around the idea of using a Xeon instead of an i5 ivy bridge?
Like this one..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819117286

Seems a bit unorthodox, but hey, no on chip graphics, more cache, lower wattage. Looks better than an i5 3570k. 😀
Pretty much just going to use it for gaming, not interested in overclocking though.
Guildwars 2, WoW, Crysis, Metro2033 and a few others..

Other hardware I already have for the rig.
16gb (2x8gb) Corsair DDR1600
Sapphires 7950oc
Just need to find a motherboard that will jive with a possible Xeon.
Click to expand...

Graphics is still there, just disabled on that SKU. You get same TDP on a regular CPU with it disabled.

A 3570K is better actually. The base 100Mhz higher frequency yields an overall better performance in gaming. Not to mention you can overclock it.

None of the games you listed can use more than a quad already. And atleast 1 (GW2) is 2 threads.
 
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The IGP also gives you backup options if your GFX card dies or needs troubleshooting. Or you can use both the same time to power more screens. Not to mention quicksync.
 
Ehm, actually it makes perfect sense. But only if you're really certain you're not going to overclock (although you can still add 400Mhz to every turbo bin so you can get 4.1GHz on 1 core).

mojothehut said:
Hmm yea missed that. :hmm:
So I dont need to buy new ram for it that motherboard&xeon as well?
Shame to not be able to use the 16gb I just bought.
Click to expand...

You don't need ecc memory, it works fine on a Z77 mobo with regular ram.
 
I have been using the Asus P8B WS with a Xeon E3-1275 for about a year now. Works with non-ECC memory. Im using it mostly for business but its great for games too. Its the best rig I've ever had. Total reliable and lightning fast. Highly recommended.
 
With nodes dropping the way they are (with atoms staying the same size, cosmic rays still hitting us, radioactive decay still happening, etc.), I will be pissed if they don't mandate ECC memory within two more shrinks for everyone, not just servers. It doesn't cost THAT much more to implement.
 
my work machine is a xeon worstation. great for multitasking and compiling/dev. it wont benefit a gaming rig much. spend the money on gpu
 
MustangSVT said:
?????
Click to expand...
Please read the thread first, this was debunked several times already. Useless post.

@ OP

I'd recommend an i5 if you don't actually do anything that truly benefits from more than four threads. There are some games that can use more than four threads but none of the ones you listed. An i5, even the 3570K, is still cheaper than the Xeon 1230.

If you're not interested in overclocking, buy a H77 board like Asrock H77M, and a locked i5 like i5-3470 or i5-3550. If you are interested in overclocking, buy a Z77 board and a 3570K along with an aftermarket cooler.
 
It will run the same, why spend all that money for ?

Xeon is for DAW , or Adobe Premiere ,

games just need 4 cores now adays,,

If your getting xeon then RAM is expensive but you can put 128GB RAM

youll you will never use more then 6GB in your life ,,
 
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