Intel Xeon DP 5050 - A few gaming questions.

Quavelen

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Jul 2, 2014
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First off, I need to explain a few things:

I am quite the newbie to hardware, and everything I "know" has only come from trial, and error. I am not one of those techy guys, and most of what I say will be be entirely based on things that I have learned through my own experiences - Not from facts. I make my decisions based on things that I assume, and perceive. I apologise for any offense, or irritation I may cause within this post. I don't stick to the "norm", and I do not tend to reach out for help, unless I really truly feel that I need it. In this case, I feel the need to ask for help. So here I am.

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Well, I've had a 'Dell Precision Workstation 490' for some time now, and I have used it for 'Online' games such as MineCraft, and RuneScape without any issues. However, I am not receiving as great as a performance as I assumed I would have. I know little to nothing about Xeon Processors, and their capabilities. I only really learn as I go, and since this is the first time that I have ever actually had a hands on experience with Xeon Processors, it's a new thing to me.

This particular Workstation came 'stock' with 16GB of some old FB-DDR2 166MHz Ram, two Intel Xeon DP 5050 processors, and a Nvidia Quadro NVS 290 attached to a Dell 0DT031 'Server' Motherboard. The only thing I changed was the graphics card. I placed an EVGA 1GB Nvidia GTX 550 Ti inside of it. I was worried that I might have an issue with Bottlenecking, but... it seemed fine. However, as I stated above; my performance in the games I play - MineCraft and RuneScape, seemed to suffer slightly. In RuneScape, my fps hovered around 10 - 20. I could never get past that 20fps mark. I always played in the lowest possible graphical settings. In MineCraft, my fps was closer to an average of 60 - 80fps.

And here is my first question - By placing that graphics card within my system, was I bottlenecking it?
I have heard a few people say that Xeon processors are not particularly good for gaming. The ones I have are comparable to a Prescott 2M (Extreme Edition) CPU. Old, yet decent performance for it's age. When I saw the system, I pretty much acted on impulse, and bought it. Two processors, with four virtual cores each meant a total of eight cores. Not to mention 16GB of ram. This combination made it seem highly appealing to me. I do not regret the decision at all; in fact, I am actively attempting to find out more about it, and upgrade it if possible.

Which leads me to my next question - I recently purchased two Intel Xeon E5472 'SLANR' processors, yet... my system refused to boot up. Why?
According to the Ark Intel archive, both the 5050's, and the E5472's use the LGA 771 socket. So I don't understand why these newer CPUs refuse to work on my machine. If I try to turn it on, the fan spins very loudly, but that's it. The screen remains black, and the system does not boot. Not even to the Bios menu. I sort of thought about this afterwards, and wondered if it might be due to the speed of the processor. For example, the E5472 has a 1600MHz FSB speed, whereas the 5050 only has a 667MHz FSB. That is a massive difference. Then again... I know little to nothing about this, so all I can do is assume.

More recently - Yesterday in fact, my system crashed with a Bsod error; "Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed."
This continued to happen every time I attempted to boot up my system... so, I started with Safe Mode, and uninstalled my graphics driver. I then proceeded to reinstall it, and the same Bsod happened immediately upon startup. I then figured that I had fried my Nvidia GTX 550 Ti, (It was constantly running at 60c) and swapped it out for an older card I had laying around; an old OverClocked BFG Tech Nvidia GeForce 9600GT. I installed the proper driver for it, and it has continued to work flawlessly since. No Bsod crashes. It also seems to operate at a steady 60c temperature.

...Which again leads me to another question; my last one - I want to buy a new graphics card, should I, and if so, which one would work well with my current Processors?
I ask this, because I am curious as to the effect my system might have on the card. I believe a newer card would bottleneck, like I assumed my 550 Ti was doing. Keep in mind that I may be completely wrong, and I was actually at the top of the 550 Ti's capabilities. The 550 Ti is a bit outdated; especially for most modern games. From my experience, MineCraft has been considered by most of today's gamers as a 'Childish', or low resource-using game, but it still requires a fairly powerful system to run without any issues. OpenGL, Shaders, Anti-Aliasing, Minimaps, and Anisotropic Filtering are just a few of the Minimum requirements for it to function at a top level of quality. Therein is why I wonder if I had simply been utilising my graphics card's maximum capabilities, and it had no more to offer. So again, should I purchase a new graphics card, or no?

That concludes my questions. Thank you for taking the time to read my query.
 
Solution
Xeons are no different performance wise as consumer cpus besides if they have more cores, lower clock, other specs like that. It's branding and market segmentation. The reason for the low performance is the result of the architecture, more similar to cedar mill rather than prescott 2m. The issues you're having with rs and minecraft is a result of them being single threaded games. So you get the same performance as if you had a single core pentium 4 which is obviously only meeting minimum requirements. The requirements you mentioned (opengl, shaders, etc) are not requirements besides opengl which even $50 tablets can run. Those are features; nothing to do with what it needs, rather things you can turn on/off, extra eye candy or even...
Dude, with utmost respect... dump that system... it is not worth risking any investment. Dump it and get yourself an i5 or even an i3 and you would be a lot better off.
 



Um... I appreciate your response, and I acknowledge your opinion, but you did not answer any of my questions. Would you mind reading over them, and make at least a minimal effort to give me an answer or two?
 
Xeons are no different performance wise as consumer cpus besides if they have more cores, lower clock, other specs like that. It's branding and market segmentation. The reason for the low performance is the result of the architecture, more similar to cedar mill rather than prescott 2m. The issues you're having with rs and minecraft is a result of them being single threaded games. So you get the same performance as if you had a single core pentium 4 which is obviously only meeting minimum requirements. The requirements you mentioned (opengl, shaders, etc) are not requirements besides opengl which even $50 tablets can run. Those are features; nothing to do with what it needs, rather things you can turn on/off, extra eye candy or even gameplay elements. P4 pcs are just given away for free nowadays since they are just so useless and you can play minecraft on it. This is literally bottom of the barrel pcs being able to play. The 550ti was bottlenecked. A 6570 is more in line of what I'd put on a system like that which is nearly half the performance of a 550ti. A cpu being the same socket does not mean it's compatible; you learned that the hard way.
 
Solution
:) I did read your post thoroughly, but sure...

Firstly, the Xeon 5050 is a dual-core processor with hyperthreading (virtual cores), not a real quad-core. http://ark.intel.com/products/27210/Intel-Xeon-Processor-5050-4M-Cache-3_00-GHz-667-MHz-FSB
As per the above link, it does not receive anymore software support from the manufacturer.
So...

And here is my first question - By placing that graphics card within my system, was I bottlenecking it?
Yes, any modern graphics card would be bottlenecked by that system, which was not only NOT aimed at consumer graphics performance to begin with, but is also seriously outdated in terms of hardware features.

I recently purchased two Intel Xeon E5472 'SLANR' processors, yet... my system refused to boot up. Why?
It is most probably because the motherboard requires a BIOS update. You can look for it online, but a BIOS update is often a stressful experience for the motherboard, and in case of old hardware, an attempt to do so can have disastrous consequences- as in, the RAM, CPU, PSU or the GPU getting bricked.

Which again leads me to another question; my last one - I want to buy a new graphics card, should I, and if so, which one would work well with my current Processors?
For all the reasons mentioned earlier, and the fact that the two GPUs that you put in there ran at 60 deg C, I personally wouldn't risk putting a new GPU in that system.
 



Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Yes, I know that MineCraft doesn't "need" those settings. I stated this exactly:
"Minimum requirements for it to function at a top level of quality."
That means the "Eye Candy", as you call it. The highest graphical visuals it can display.

Other than that... everything you replied with was pretty much what I was looking for. Thank you.
However; I have one more question - What is the "Best" Xeon processor that I can buy, that would work in my Motherboard? I'm not quite sure how to determine what will, and won't work now due to it being more than just Socket based.

Again, so you don't need to scour through my post, here is my Motherboard:


Manufacturer - Dell Inc.
Model - 0DT031 (Microprocessor)
Chipset Vendor - Intel
Chipset Model - 5000X
Chipset Revision - 12
Southbridge Vendor - Intel
Southbridge Model - 6321ESB
Southbridge Revision - 09



And with that processor - whichever one it might be; what would the best Graphics Card be that I can use, without bottlenecking it?
 
It is, and in old hardware, a failed update can damage one or more components. http://www.bing.com/search?q=bios+update+failed&qs=n&form=QBRE&filt=all&pq=bios+update+failed&sc=1-19&sp=-1&sk=&cvid=d622706c70cd4566a88467abce0bda47

Edit: A lot of modern mobos come with dual BIOS, so that if the primary BIOS gets corrupted or damaged, the system can switch to the secondary BIOS. In older systems, a secondary BIOS is most often not an option, so if the update fails, you essentially have a dead system.
 


Hmm. A core 2 Quad... I'm assuming that is an Intel Core 2 processor with a Quad core?
I have an old MSI Boston 775 LGA Motherboard lying around.. would one of those work in it?