AMD FX-9590 or Intel i7-4960X Processor Extreme Edition or Intel Xeon E5649?

[Patrixus]

Hello!
I would like to assemble a new computer and I would like to start with the processor.
What to choose between:
- AMD FX-9590 Black Edition
- Intel i7-4960X Processor Extreme Edition
- Intel Xeon E5649 ?

Important:
- the power and the cooling DON'T matter
- I intend to buy a multi-processor motherboard (so I am not interested into a processor which does not have an available multi-processor motherboard).

Thank you!

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello!
I would like to assemble a new computer and I would like to start with the processor.
What to choose between:
- AMD FX-9590 Black Edition
- Intel i7-4960X Processor Extreme Edition
- Intel Xeon E5649 ?

Important:
- the power and the cooling DON'T matter
- I intend to buy a multi-processor motherboard (so I am not interested into a processor which does not have an available multi-processor motherboard).

Thank you!

Do you mean a multi-socket motherboard? If so, your only options are Intel Xeon microprocessors (E5-2000 series or above) or AMD Opteron microprocessors (4300+)

 

[Patrixus]

I mean a motherboard for more than one processor. If Xeon and Opteron are the only two classes available, is there an Opteron better (or at least equivalent) than Xeon E5649 ?

 

[Pinhedd]

I mean a motherboard for more than one processor. If Xeon and Opteron are the only two classes available, is there an Opteron better (or at least equivalent) than Xeon E5649 ?

That would depend on what you are planning on using this for

 

[Patrixus]

I chose Xeon5649 for comparison because i saw it's afordable price. Is there an Opteron at least as performant (from all points of view) as that Xeon (no matter what I'll use it for)?

 

[Pinhedd]

The Xeon 5649 is an older microprocessor that launched almost 3 years ago. As for comparable Opteron, there may be some but I'm not really certain. AMD has had a hard time competing at that performance point.

 

[Patrixus]

I know that Xeon is pretty old, but all the other Xeons I saw are between 400 and 1.000 $ more expensive than this one... Any suggestion?

 

[Pinhedd]

I know that Xeon is pretty old, but all the other Xeons I saw are between 400 and 1.000 $ more expensive than this one... Any suggestion?

All of the dual socket CPUs are going to be fairly expensive. They come at a price premium for just that reason.

If you tell me what your use case is I can provide better advice

 

[vmN]

Unless you will be running a server which needs to be handling tons of task all the time, I wouldn't suggest a dual socket motherboard.

Just get a normal board.
I would recommend the 4930k as it's way cheaper and only around 5-10% performance loss.
Dont ever consider AMD 9xxx series as it was rushed out and was a major fail by AMD trying to compete with intels extreme CPU's.

 

[Patrixus]

Hello again!
Please help me choose between:
- Opteron probably 6348
and
- Xeon E5-1650 or E5-2440 or E5-2430 or E5-2640

P.S.: I saw the Xeons processors support 256GB RAM (the first one in the list) and 384 GB RAM the rest. Does anyone know how much support the Opteron 6348?
Thanks again!

 

[Pinhedd]

Hello again!
Please help me choose between:
- Opteron probably 6348
and
- Xeon E5-1650 or E5-2440 or E5-2430 or E5-2640

Thanks again!

The E5-1650 is single socket only on the LGA-2011 platform.

The E5-2430 and E5-2440 are dual-socket capable but require an LGA-1356 platform (not to be confused with the older LGA-1366 platform) which is often found only in rackmount and blade servers.

The E5-2640 is dual-socket capable and uses the LGA-2011 platform.

 

[Patrixus]

...and what does it mean? I have no ideea what are those platforms or if your observations are advantages or disadvantages... The only thing i understood is the elimination of E5-1650 from the list.
How about a comparison with the Opteron 6348?

 

[Pinhedd]

...and what does it mean? I have no ideea what are those platforms or if your observations are advantages or disadvantages... The only thing i understood is the elimination of E5-1650 from the list.
How about a comparison with the Opteron 6348?

You will have a hard time finding whitebox parts for the LGA-1356 platform. The best way to get those is through a hardware vendor such as Dell or HP. It is unlikely that you will be able to find them in a desktop formfactor either.

The Opteron 6348 is cheaper than the E5-2640 but doesn't perform quite as well. A pair of E5-2640s would offer the best performance.

 

[Patrixus]

Could you give me some details? From what i see Opteron has more cores, bigger frequency, bigger cache memory and supports DDR3 at higher frequency... Sorry, I am not a specialist, but from what i see all the parameters are superior to Opteron... Is there some other parameter to consider?

 

[Pinhedd]

Could you give me some details? From what i see Opteron has more cores, bigger frequency, bigger cache memory and supports DDR3 at higher frequency... Sorry, I am not a specialist, but from what i see all the parameters are superior to Opteron...

The Opteron 6200 and Opteron 6300 series of microprocessors are based on AMD's Bulldozer and Piledriver microarchitectures, the same architectures driving the FX-8150 and FX-8350 flagships respectively.

If you look at the technical overview of those microarchitectures you'll find that they trade core complexity for core count. There are more cores, but each one is less capable. This is a result of AMD simply not having the R&D budget to keep up with Intel. The same is true with AMD's memory controller, it's less capable than Intel's so they make up for it by running it faster (although Intel's memory controller can easily handle memory at speeds in excess of DDR3-2133 without issue). It's the exact same deal with the cache; their cache controller and branch prediction hardware isn't quite as good, so they need more cache.

The single best indicator of comparative performance is price.

 

[Patrixus]

Ok, now i understand well what you wrote, but talking about price, 2 processors E5 2640 cost (more or less) as 4 Opterons 6348. Wich system will perform better one with 2 x E5 2640 or one with 4 x Opteron 6348?

Additional issue: E5 supports 384 GB RAM, how much for Opteron (i cant find this info on AMD site)?
"Intel's memory controller can easily handle memory at speeds in excess of DDR3-2133 without issue" - does it mean overclocked?

 

[Pinhedd]

Ok, now i understand well what you wrote, but talking about price, 2 processors E5 2640 cost (more or less) as 4 Opterons 6348. Wich system will perform better one with 2 x E5 2640 or one with 4 x Opteron 6348?

Additional issue: E5 supports 384 GB RAM, how much for Opteron (i cant find this info on AMD site)?

4x Opteron 6348 would perform best, but you'd need a huge motherboard, case, and power supply to feed that.

As for the maximum memory, I have no idea

 

[Patrixus]

I just found E5 2640 v2 which is newer and much better than v1. The specs for DDR are: DDR3-800/1066/1333/1600. How can use it for what you wrote about DDR - 2133 ?

 

[Pinhedd]

I just found E5 2640 v2 which is newer and much better than v1. The specs for DDR are: DDR3-800/1066/1333/1600. How can use it for what you wrote about DDR - 2133 ?

The E5-2650 v2 is based on the Ivybridge microarchitecture whereas the E5-2650 is based off the slightly older Sandybridge microarchitecture. Higher speed memory can be used by enabling XMP profiles or maually entering the higher performance specifications. However, this is not recommended on servers or other high-reliability systems as memory error rates increase dramatically at higher speeds.

 

[Patrixus]

Thank you! Where can I find suggestions about the best motherboard for each (Opteron 6348 and E5 2640 v2)?

 

[Pinhedd]

Thank you! Where can I find suggestions about the best motherboard for each (Opteron 6348 and E5 2640 v2)?

I honestly have no idea. There are only a few whitebox manufacturers that I know of, my personal favourite is Supermicro

 

[Patrixus]

What does it mean whitebox?

 

[Pinhedd]

What does it mean whitebox?

Whitebox computers are computers without a well known brand name. All computers built from barebones components (such as one built from components purchased at a computer shop) are whitebox. Companies such as Dell and HP are major brand name OEMs that sell whole machines with brand name labels slapped all over them. Supermicro is basically the Asus of the server world

 

[Patrixus]

Thanks, I'll start looking on Supermicro site.