Question Are Xeon processors any good for gaming?

[Veloci]

I'm about to build a new gaming PC and torn between two CPU sockets, LGA1155 and LGA1366.

I noticed that Xeon branded LGA1366 processors are generally much MUCH cheaper than similar performing i Series processors on the LGA1155 sockets. For example; I can easily find a Xeon X5675 for under $30. Meanwhile, an i7-3770 usually goes for around $75.

Now here's the interesting part. The X5675 has 6 cores, 12 threads whereas the i7-3770 has 4 cores, 8 threads. And according to GeekBench 4.0:

Processor	Single-Core	Multi-Core
Xeon X5675	2,675	13,074
i7-3770	3,770	12,318
i5-2300	2,902	8,088

The i5-2300 (4-Cores w/o HT) also costs around $30-35, but its multi-core performance is no match for the X5675. Also, they both consume the same amount of power at 95W.

So, should I go with the Xeon or am I better off with an 1155 mobo?

Thanks!

 

[Eximo]

LGA1366 motherboards, on the other hand, are very expensive. And at this point, very old, up to ten years. Xeons are for servers and workstations, that means they were likely online 24/7 for literal years.

Most games still rely on a single master thread, even if other parts of the game are multithreaded. So the big score is impressive, but only useful for more workstation type loads, and a few of the latest games that scale well with cores/threads (Which these CPUs would struggle with anyway)

The only DDR3 CPUs I can recommend are the 4th generation. You can get entire working PCs with i7-4770/i74790 in them for about $250, i5s are usually around $200 or lower if you don't mind getting your own drive and OS.

https://www.newegg.com/p/1VK-0001-3RCB1

But given that you can go out and buy a brand new Ryzen quad core for under $100, a $50 motherboard, and 8GB of some shiny DDR4 memory for about $40, I really don't see the point in buying used.

You are saving about half the money for a system that will be obsolete in a year or three and can't be upgraded.

Sadly we are on the tail end of the DDR4 generation, so that might also be true of socket AM4 and certainly LGA1151 from Intel in the next year or so.

 

[mitch074]

These old Xeon are nice to experiment with, but for a gaming rig any Ryzen would kick their butts.

 

[theonerm2]

Mod retracted


As for the answer to your question...

The Xeons are just as good as the i7's for gaming if they have similar clock speeds. Typically these CPU's are made for different workloads and thus one will be better for work while the other is better for gaming. Usually i7 is better for gaming. That Xeon in particular is not great for gaming.

 

[Veloci]

LGA1366 motherboards, on the other hand, are very expensive. And at this point, very old, up to ten years. Xeons are for servers and workstations, that means they were likely online 24/7 for literal years.

Yes, the processors used as serves are online 24/7 but I just can't overlook their price to performance ratio!

For example, the E5645, a hyperthreaded hexa-core CPU is available for just $8, with shipping! Meanwhile, the top tier Core 2 Quad Q9650 goes for $40 (I currently have an LGA 775 system).

You're also right about the x58 / LGA 1366 mobos. They indeed are rather expensive, on par with 4th Gen. mobos.

Let's see what I end up getting...

P.S My budget is kinda tight at around $80-100 (excluding the GPU) so Ryzens are out of question, unfortunately.

Mod retracted