[SOLVED] [URGENT] Dual xeon E5220 or single xeon W3690

[ghassanelgendy]

I just bought a z600 with dual xeon e5220 without HDD or ram for 185USD and after i just bought it i found an ad online for a T3500 with single xeon w3690 without HDD and 12gb ram for 166USD, i cannot really find a good comparison between dual processor and single processor and i can't find out which is better, dual e5220 or single w3690 i want it for video editing tho, maybe some gaming with the rx 470 4gb Nitro+

 

[SamirD]

Well nobody runs an intel cpu without turbo.
2.53 x 8 = 20,240
3.73 x 6 = 22,380

Not much of a difference overall. But thats not really equitable because the dual cpus have a combined 16Mb of cache vs the 12Mb of the W3690, which makes a difference, 4 QPI vs 1QPI, 11.8GT/s vs 6.4GT/s, etc.

There are definite advantages to the E5520 that the W3690 just can't match, which don't apply to simply multiplying speed x cores.

Oh, and the 80w TDP of the E5520 isn't exactly hard to cool, not like the 130w + OC? of the W3690.

Oh, then this will be even more fun.

3300 MHz X 12 cores = 39600
3700 MHz X 6 cores = 22200

Yep, and 6 channels of memory and the ability to have 2-4x as much memory too. It's not just the cpu, especially when doing video projects.

 

[Karadjgne]

Looked up the Passmark for dual E5520. It's a dismal 4933. For the W3690 it's 7731. For gaming purposes alone, the W3690 blows the doors off the dual E5520's, no matter which way you look at it. Even single thread was 1k vs 1.5k.

But, as I said, it depends on the other software. If it uses the higher thread count to better advantage, like compiles do, or has more need for ram (upto 144Gb is verified) etc then the dual cpu setup has a clear advantage regardless of its dismal gaming performance.

 

[SamirD]

The E5520 only runs at 2533 MHz when 1 core is active. It drops to 2400 MHz as more cores become active. A W3690 can maintain 4000 MHz regardless of load.

Like what? The only advantage is you can sell those 2 CPUs for $10 if you can find a buyer and invest in a pair of 6 core Westmere CPUs if you need 12 cores and 24 threads.

Using your own comparison system (which is a debatable metric because it's not accounting for architecture changes and only Mhz), a dual x5670 will wipe the floor with even a 4ghz w3690:

2900 MHz X 12 cores = 34800
4000 MHz X 6 cores = 24000

While the T3500 and W3690 is a solid platform, for another level of performance, you need to move to the z600 or the T5500. In fact, the T3500 has not really been a fair comparison to the z600 as that's more of a competitor for the z400.

 

[SamirD]

Looked up the Passmark for dual E5520. It's a dismal 4933. For the W3690 it's 7731. For gaming purposes alone, the W3690 blows the doors off the dual E5520's, no matter which way you look at it. Even single thread was 1k vs 1.5k.

But, as I said, it depends on the other software. If it uses the higher thread count to better advantage, like compiles do, or has more need for ram (upto 144Gb is verified) etc then the dual cpu setup has a clear advantage regardless of its dismal gaming performance.

Single thread is actually what matters for a singular task. And in my experience, a good gpu can make a 1k system feel faster than a 1.5k passmark system. I've never looked at passmarks cpu mark since I've found them to be wrong on many occasions.

Most definitely the software is a huge component of speed for any system. I can't tell the performance difference on dos programs on any of these platforms, haha!!