Can I overclock an Intel Xeon E5630? If so how hard and is it worth it?

hansel81

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Dec 11, 2013
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I have a Dell Precision workstation computer that I am converting to be my gaming pc. It has 2 Intel Xeon E5630's, quad core server/workstation cpu's. I really don't want to buy new cpu's as I already dropped a bit of cash on a new graphics card. Game debate website rates the Xeon at 7 out of 10 for gaming purposes so it works ok, but I want to know if I can get a little more out of it by overclocking the cpu's. I'm a novice when it comes to overclocking. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
What is a LGA 2011-3? Is that a specific type of Intel cpu or are you talking about the motherboard?




 


You are falling victim to a common mistake about xeons. Xeons range from low end dual cores up to lots of cores of what you are thinking of. And I'm talking current gen. Current gen is locked multiplier but back then were not. You can still get decent oc with bclk though. Tom's even had an article about ocing a similar cpu. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/xeon-e5620-overclocking-westmere-ep,2767.html The xeon brand is nothing more than a name change for many cpus. A lot of the consumer cpus use the same die.
 


LGA is the socket and LGA1150 is the mainstream socket type that the average joe uses. If you want the latest and greatest there is the LGA-2011 series which is more expensive but has better CPU's etc. LGA-2011-3 is the latest version which has the biggest changes, as in two of the CPus have 6 cores and 12 (Hyperthreaded) and the other has 8 and 16 (Hyperthreaded again) and overclock like a charm. It also adds in support for DDR4 which is the latest and greatest in memory

 
So if I wanted to upgrade to that socket I would need a new motherboard? NOVICE HERE! Thanks for your help BTW.