Skylake i5 vs. Skylake Xeon for gaming?

[JBDelta]

Hey Guys!

Just wondering, Intel's new Skylake CPUs are out, which would be better for gaming, a Skylake i5 (6500-6600) or a Skylake Xeon (1220v5 or above). Definitely a CPU below $250 with the exception of the Haswell Xeon 1231v3, I will be playing games specifically Skyrim (heavily modded), BFBC2, BF3, BF4, and Steam games like WarFace and Dirty Bomb. I will also a lot of recording and editing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DonkeyOatie]

But the Turbo Boost frequency applies to only one core. For multiple cores it is less and that matters for rendering, but less for games.

 

[photonboy]

But the Turbo Boost frequency applies to only one core. For multiple cores it is less and that matters for rendering, but less for games.

Turbo Boost does not apply to one core. Yes, in some mobile scenarios, but not desktop.

Also, I'm comparing BENCHMARKS to get my data so how turbo works isn't important, only the final score.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

The full turbo frequency does only apply to one core. An i7 4790K gets 4.4Ghz of Turbo Boost on only one core. If two cores are boosted, they drop to 4.3 Ghz and to 4.2Ghz for three or four.

This matters because of the way some synthetic benchmarks load the CPU and so do not fully model real life work, and some of the other 'real' benchmarks may use few or many cores.

It is for that reason we need to be careful using Turbo boost frequency as a comparison vs base frequency, and why note must be take of how the benchmark loads the cPU.

 

[spentshells]

The full turbo frequency does only apply to one core. An i7 4790K gets 4.4Ghz of Turbo Boost on only one core. If two cores are boosted, they drop to 4.3 Ghz and to 4.2Ghz for three or four.

This matters because of the way some synthetic benchmarks load the CPU and so do not fully model real life work, and some of the other 'real' benchmarks may use few or many cores.

It is for that reason we need to be careful using Turbo boost frequency as a comparison vs base frequency, and why note must be take of how the benchmark loads the cPU.

Just to clarify, the xeon can in fact boost to max on all cores if your motherboard has the feature, most half decent boards do and it's usually always engaged as a default.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Yes, Spentshells, I should have been clearer. That was my point, the Xeon can, but the i7 4770 being compared in the benchmarks and other i7s cannot.

 

[terry4536]

Here is an example of a LGA 1150 server motherboard. It is a "top seller" on Newegg.. It is pretty typical of server motherboards. There wasn't much of a selection in this socket (and none in LGA1151).


SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

You will notice the sparse features. As noted above, it does require ECC RAM. It also lacks most of the features that one would expect on a gaming motherboard.


Now here is a popular gaming motherboard in LGA 1151.

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Gaming Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132565

Notice the gaming features that were lacking on the server motherboard.

Now here is the list of supported CPU's for that motherboard. It doesn't list any Xeon processors.

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/HelpDesk_CPU/

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Here is an example of a LGA 1150 server motherboard. It is a "top seller" on Newegg.. It is pretty typical of server motherboards. There wasn't much of a selection in this socket (and none in LGA1151).


SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

You will notice the sparse features. As noted above, it does require ECC RAM. It also lacks most of the features that one would expect on a gaming motherboard.


Now here is a popular gaming motherboard in LGA 1151.

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Gaming Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132565

Notice the gaming features that were lacking on the server motherboard.

Now here is the list of supported CPU's for that motherboard. It doesn't list any Xeon processors.

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/HelpDesk_CPU/

The Xeons we have been discussing are LGA1150 chips and will run on the same, feature-laden boards as any other Haswell chip.

I'm using a Xeon 1231v3 on a standard ASRock H97 mITX/ac board and I have tested in on my ASRock Z97M OC Formula. although the CPU can use ECC memory, it runs just fine on DDR3 1600 and DDR3 2400.

 

[terry4536]

Here is another example.

GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128835

And here is it's list of supported processors. It also doesn't list any Xeon CPU's.

http://www.gigabyte.us/support-downloads/cpu-support-popup.aspx?pid=5481

 

[terry4536]

Here is an example of a LGA 1150 server motherboard. It is a "top seller" on Newegg.. It is pretty typical of server motherboards. There wasn't much of a selection in this socket (and none in LGA1151).


SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O Micro ATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182821

You will notice the sparse features. As noted above, it does require ECC RAM. It also lacks most of the features that one would expect on a gaming motherboard.


Now here is a popular gaming motherboard in LGA 1151.

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 USB 3.0 ATX Intel Gaming Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132565

Notice the gaming features that were lacking on the server motherboard.

Now here is the list of supported CPU's for that motherboard. It doesn't list any Xeon processors.

http://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO/HelpDesk_CPU/

The Xeons we have been discussing are LGA1150 chips and will run on the same, feature-laden boards as any other Haswell chip.

I'm using a Xeon 1231v3 on a standard ASRock H97 mITX/ac board and I have tested in on my ASRock Z97M OC Formula. although the CPU can use ECC memory, it runs just fine on DDR3 1600 and DDR3 2400.

But the OP is comparing them to Skylake processors.

 

[k1114]

There are no 1151 server mobos because 1151 xeons are not released yet. It's also why even if it did, it won't be on the cpu support list. But 1151 consumer mobos will not support them as they are removing consumer chipset support. But the 1231v3 is 1150. 1150 xeons is a different story and it does support consumer chipsets.

Donkey did you mean i7 won't get max speed turbo on all cores like xeon? This feature is for all cpus not just xeon. The i7 and i5 can reach max speed on all cores. This is actually a loophole asus found in the turbo code back with ib and intel allowed it and still does with later gens. Now you see almost all mobos with a similar feature.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I was overclocking my i7 4790K on my ASRock Z97M OC Formula. When I checked it at stock, I got 4.4Ghz on one core, 4.3 on two, and 4.2Ghz on three or four with my thread specific fluid dynamics test. It would not turbo boost more on all cores without me tweaking the BIOS.

This discussion can be continued elsewhere or by PM. We don't want to hijack this thread.

 

[iamacow]

I've read through all this and I'm a little confused. Here's my experience.

I replaced my LGA 1150 i5 4590 with a Xeon 1231v3 to handle fluid dynamics and molecular modelling software better, as well as to game. The gamin performance is about the same. I don't notice any difference. The computation is about 45% faster with the extra hyperthreads.
.

What you experienced is nothing to do with the Xeon features, but the added hyperthreads. A Xeon and it's counterpart (same speed and cores/threads) will be identical in performance. UNLESS you use the added features that Xeon offers like ECC RAM support and Advanced Networking VWMare features. Otherwise. The Consumer (i5/7) will be cheaper for the same performance.

Generally speaking if you are using a Xeon for its Workstation and server features, you wouldn't be buying a $250 CPU. The lower end Xeons are pointless as the consumer chips are just better if the extra features aren't being used.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

I've read through all this and I'm a little confused. Here's my experience.

I replaced my LGA 1150 i5 4590 with a Xeon 1231v3 to handle fluid dynamics and molecular modelling software better, as well as to game. The gaming performance is about the same. I don't notice any difference. The computation is about 45% faster with the extra hyperthreads.
.

What you experienced is nothing to do with the Xeon features, but the added hyperthreads. A Xeon and it's counterpart (same speed and cores/threads) will be identical in performance. UNLESS you use the added features that Xeon offers like ECC RAM support and Advanced Networking VWMare features. Otherwise. The Consumer (i5/7) will be cheaper for the same performance.

Generally speaking if you are using a Xeon for its Workstation and server features, you wouldn't be buying a $250 CPU. The lower end Xeons are pointless as the consumer chips are just better if the extra features aren't being used.

You are mistaken in the The Consumer (i5/7) will be cheaper for the same performance.
The Xeon 1231v3 cost $240 when I bought it, wheras the equivalent i7 4770 cost $285 at the same time. Today the cost is $228 vs $277. I am well aware that what I experience had nothing to do with the specific Xeon features, but the additional Hyperthreads do matter.

For many Xeons, what you say is true, but NOT for the Xeon 1231v3.

With the exception of the absence of iGPU, which I did not need,, the Xeon performs just like an i7 4770 for my purposes.

 

[bystander]

Just so I can know, can you OC that Xeon? I know they OC'ed on the x58 platform, but I do not know about current ones once Intel started locking the multipliers.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

No. It has a locked multiplier. I can tweak BCLK a little, but nothing much. On a Z board I can use XMP and overclock the memory to 2400Mhz for more computation improvement.

 

[bystander]

No. It has a locked multiplier. I can tweak BCLK a little, but nothing much. On a Z board I can use XMP and overclock the memory to 2400Mhz for more computation improvement.

That last option could be interesting. With my i7 5820k, when I used the XMP mode on my memory (quad channel 3000mhz), the BCLK increased by 25%, so it actually OC'ed quite a bit. I don't suppose that happens with your setup.

Due to that restriction, there definitely is good reason to go with the i7 for a bit higher price. It's faster at stock settings, and can OC much higher.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Only if you get an unlocked i7. The comparison i7 4770 is locked too. An unlocked i7 is beyond the $250 budget of the OP who started this thread. $300 for an i7 4790K today, I know because I bought one for one of my students ,and usually quite a bit more.

 

[bystander]

I was just pointing that there is a reason the higher priced i7 is priced higher.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

Compared to a locked i7 4770 or even 4790, the much cheaper Xeon 1231v3 is very worthy of consideration. If you need an unlocked chip then Xeons are not the answer (but the 5820K might be ) Seen the info on the Broadwell-E?

 

[terry4536]

There are no 1151 server mobos because 1151 xeons are not released yet. It's also why even if it did, it won't be on the cpu support list. But 1151 consumer mobos will not support them as they are removing consumer chipset support. But the 1231v3 is 1150. 1150 xeons is a different story and it does support consumer chipsets.

Donkey did you mean i7 won't get max speed turbo on all cores like xeon? This feature is for all cpus not just xeon. The i7 and i5 can reach max speed on all cores. This is actually a loophole asus found in the turbo code back with ib and intel allowed it and still does with later gens. Now you see almost all mobos with a similar feature.

That isn't correct. Here are some examples of commercially available LGA 1151 Xeon processors. including the "Intel Xeon E3-1230 v5 SkyLake 3.4 GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1151 80W BX80662E31230V5 Server Processor " mentioned earlier.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100008494%20601116092

 

[bystander]

Yeah, you are right. Especially right now with the i7 4770 being way over priced. I got my i7 5820k for $20 more.

 

[bystander]

The i7 4790K is selling for less even. I'm guessing its prices will also come down, it just hasn't yet.

 

[DonkeyOatie]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9730/intel-launches-greenlow-c236-chipset-and-skylake-e31200-v5-xeons

 

[imsannr]

The Xeon he mentioned supports socket LGA 1151. You can get gaming motherboards that work with it.

( the Xeon E3 1230 requires a server motherboard, or something that supports c232 or c236 chipsets. I went down the path thinking that any 1151 motherboard would work. But, the computer wouldn't post. )

 

[krisz_lity]

hello,
what about compatible between MB: ASUS B150 PRO GAMING and CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1240 v5 or I have to buy i7 i5?
TIA