i3 2120 Dual Core 3.3GHz vs 2 x Xeon 5420 Quad Core 2.5GHz

[jamesmcuk]

So I am using a Xeon 5420 Quad Core 2.5GHz based system which has 2 of those processors in for a total of 8 Cores. I also have a PC that has a i3 2120 Dual Core 3.3GHz at its heart.

My question is (and I understand its not quite straight forward) that all things being equal and running Windows 10 64Bit Which would be the quickest for general computer use e.g. playing video, emails, web, photo editing and playing games that don't require the latest and greatest PC's such as WOW? I guess its also worth mentioning that the first pc above is a Dell Precision 7400 and the other is a Dell Inspiron 620 both with their originally supplied motherboards.

Any insight appreciated.

Thanks

J

 

[13thmonkey]

the 5420 is from the core 2 duo era, i3-2xxx core are a lot faster, both from an IPC standpoint and in your case in terms of raw frequency.

I'd suggest that the i3 will feel 'snappier' up to a point, and that being around background tasks, as more happens in the background the more the xeons will win out.

 

[brian.h.schaefer]

Wow...well this is certainly an odd question. I don't have much experience with server hardware but for general computing tasks I would suspect you wouldn't see much difference between the two. For editing, you would most likely see a big difference in favor of the Xeons. My suggestion, use each computer for what they were designed to do. i3 2120=email, web, video, very light gaming. Xeon=things that require multithreading, editing, serving.

The Xeon would just be so inefficient to use for general user computing purposes.

 

[SoggyTissue]

passmark rates your xeon at 6425
and rates the i3 at 3902

so for real world use the xeon is gonna be doing you better by 50% (4000 x 1.5).

but gaming maybe another matter!
as you maybe aware, games are written to use a certain number of cores (only 1 or 2 use hyperthreading), and so GHz is always going to be better in games that only require 2 cores or less (given your option for cpu's). you will have to do some digging as core use per game is RARELY public knowledge, even to gamers. - this rule will hold true until games companies start streamlining their files for ryzens.

 

[brian.h.schaefer]

passmark rates your xeon at 6425
and rates the i3 at 3902

so for real world use the xeon is gonna be doing you better by 50% (4000 x 1.5).

but gaming maybe another matter!
as you maybe aware, games are written to use a certain number of cores (only 1 or 2 use hyperthreading), and so GHz is always going to be better in games that only require 2 cores or less (given your option for cpu's). you will have to do some digging as core use per game is RARELY public knowledge, even to gamers. - this rule will hold true until games companies start streamlining their files for ryzens.

You cannot compare the passmark scores and just assume the 50% better figure for real world use. The i3 is going to have much better IPC while the Xeon will have a much higher multithreaded score. Non-multitheaded tasks will be quicker on the i3, multithreaded tasks will be quicker on the Xeon.

 

[SoggyTissue]

yes true, but in the real world, windows 10 is a hog. it will use whatever you got ... in the case of xeon, thats 8 threads.

this is why i noted that games use cores ... and a lot use only 2 cores ... meaning the i3 would out perform the xeon in those games.

 

[jaslion]

So I am using a Xeon 5420 Quad Core 2.5GHz based system which has 2 of those processors in for a total of 8 Cores. I also have a PC that has a i3 2120 Dual Core 3.3GHz at its heart.

My question is (and I understand its not quite straight forward) that all things being equal and running Windows 10 64Bit Which would be the quickest for general computer use e.g. playing video, emails, web, photo editing and playing games that don't require the latest and greatest PC's such as WOW? I guess its also worth mentioning that the first pc above is a Dell Precision 7400 and the other is a Dell Inspiron 620 both with their originally supplied motherboards.

Any insight appreciated.

Thanks

J

In multi core tasks the xeon rig will be better but in more single core tasks the i3 will be better.

Almost all of your tasks don't used more than 4 threads so I would say the i3 would be the better choice.