Can I run a single i7 on a dual LGA 2011 MB?

[nickroz]

Simple question. Can I run a single i7 on a dual LGA 2011 Xeon motherboard, letting me upgrade to dual E5- chips in the future?

I'm not against buying two low-end E5s if necessary, but would prefer a single i7 for now if its possible.

 

[jaquith]

Welcome to Tom's Forum!

I am not aware of any DP LGA 2011's that can accept a single i7-3XXX CPU, but you can run a single supported Xeon E5 CPU and then add a 2nd matching Xeon E5 later. Note certain DIMM, PCIe and other function might be disabled with a single CPU so check the manual.

DP LGA 2011's are for Workstations or Servers.

 

[nickroz]

Thank you. I'm putting together a 3D workstation, so I'll plan on cheapest E5- route so I can upgrade the processors next year. Initial money is going towards GPUs for V-Ray RT.

 

[jaquith]

Well then either wait or build it right now. You, I or everyone by now knows next year means 'new' - new CPU's and GPU's. My feeling is you'll be unhappy now and unhappy next year building a half-baked Workstation. No such an animal as 'Future Proofing.'

So, I'd look at a single (UP) LGA 2011 with an 8-core E5 now, and then reevaluate the Haswell-EX next year.

 

[nickroz]

Best answer selected by nickroz.