Advantages and Disadvantages of having 6C and 12T - Comparing Xeon E5560 (1366) to i7-3770 (1155)

[matt4x4]

Now I know any gaming rig will run excellent with a high frequency i5 that has 4 cores and 4 threads. No need for an i7 with 4 cores and 8 threads.

The main question I got is, why would you need 6 cores and 12 threads or higher. Is it just for video editing and rendering?

The reason I ask is because there are Xeons available for a real cheap price. Used 6C/12T from $50, and new 4C/8T for under $100. A mobo is around $100, slam in 8gb for $40, cpu cooler $30. Then reuse my PSU, GPU, SSD and case. And all in I am at $230. All Canadian Dollars.

I look at refurbished desktops i7 2nd gen $400, i7 cpu is $150-$200. Anything newer and the prices just jump dramatically.

The last question I got is this
Is there a major difference between the performance of a Xeon E5560 @ 2.8-3.2GHz, 8MB, 4C/8T on a 1366 mobo, and a i7-3770 3.4-3.9GHz 8MB 4C/8T on LGA 1155.
I know the frequencies dont line up. and yes Xeon's dont come with iGPU, 1366 is older yes.

Im just wondering is all.


Thanks

 

[leo2kp]

Interesting you ask - I am writing up a review right now comparing the X58 1366 against the X99 2011-V3. I had a i7-970 @ 4GHz and upgraded to the 6850K and set it to 4GHz because I was most interested in single-core performance and clock-for-clock efficiency. Multi-core performance is excellent on the 970 as you can imagine, but nearly all MMOs today are still CPU-bound and only use one core at 100% and sparingly use other cores. My results were that even though there was ~50% improvement in multi-threaded task performance, I saw a 100% improvement in minimum framerates in WoW and ESO from areas known to be difficult to render. In these situations, frequency and per-core efficiency can make or break a game. So to answer your question, I would go with the 3770.

 

[Faux_Grey]

Totes go the 3770.

Multi-core is only useful for running things like Virtual Machines & Rendering as you said.

if you've currently got an i5 3XXX I wouldn't even bother upgrading.
Will hardly see any performance jump in games by having 4+ threads.

 

[leo2kp]

Beyond just core-count, the frequency and architectural differences themselves are huge. The Xeon would be much much slower in gaming.

 

[matt4x4]

Well I dont have a 3770, just want to compare performance.
My desktop in the office is an i5-4570 upgraded from a AMD Athlon x2 from HP. So I want to use the parts from that to build a $200cdn Xeon + 1366 + ram computer, reusing my PSU, GPU, SSD. There are lots of Xeons available, and most are stated as "new", the motherboard however will be used, from a Dell T3500. 6 Ram slots, 1 cpu.

So yes I guess what it comes down to is I will probably use it to play around with Virtual Machine. Because I dont want to buy an O/S, probably just install Xubuntu.

 

[matt4x4]

I priced out some i7 1st gen, about the same price as Xeon.

What about performance differences between i7-9xx vs Xeon X56xx or E55xx?
Then those against a 3rd gen i7?

Someone said the performace increase from 1st gen i7 to second gen i7 was 15-20%, is that true?
The price difference between the two is dramatic. 1st gen i7 $50 compared to $150 2nd gen i7.
Where as Xeon E55xx is $50. Thats why I want to compare 1st gen i7 to Xeon E55xx and X56xx.
Yeah I know Xeon's dont have iGPU, it can do ECC, power etc etc etc.

Any help here would be appreciated, cuz my brain is being overwhelmed here with conflicting statements from another forum.

 

[leo2kp]

Well I dont have a 3770, just want to compare performance.
My desktop in the office is an i5-4570 upgraded from a AMD Athlon x2 from HP. So I want to use the parts from that to build a $200cdn Xeon + 1366 + ram computer, reusing my PSU, GPU, SSD. There are lots of Xeons available, and most are stated as "new", the motherboard however will be used, from a Dell T3500. 6 Ram slots, 1 cpu.

So yes I guess what it comes down to is I will probably use it to play around with Virtual Machine. Because I dont want to buy an O/S, probably just install Xubuntu.

All that being said, it will still game, just not as well as a 3770. You could attempt overclocking to get a little more performance out of it.