Used Intel Xeon?

[MrSpock1701]

I am thinking of upgrading my PC and I have found these CPUs on eBay:
-E5-2650 v3
-E5-2630 v3
do you think I should buy these or just buy a 4690K?
Is it worth buying used hardware?

Main use: Gaming and some occasional video editing...

 

[HardwareExtreme]

If you are going to be gaming, then you should probably avoid these. They have a low clock speed and high number of cores. You would be much better off you get a i5 or i7 or a socket 1150 or 1151 Xeon as these will be better for what you are doing. Also, be careful at the Xeons on Ebay since even though they are cheap they're often ES or Engineering Sample CPUs which are not the same as an actual Xeon and are often illegal. Unless you do heavy video editing and rendering and virtualization or it's for a server, you don't need one of these. They will often cost more than a regular i5 or i7 in total anyways.

 

[MrSpock1701]

If you are going to be gaming, then you should probably avoid these. They have a low clock speed and high number of cores. You would be much better off you get a i5 or i7 or a socket 1150 or 1151 Xeon as these will be better for what you are doing. Also, be careful at the Xeons on Ebay since even though they are cheap they're often ES or Engineering Sample CPUs which are not the same as an actual Xeon and are often illegal. Unless you do heavy video editing and rendering and virtualization or it's for a server, you don't need one of these. They will often cost more than a regular i5 or i7 in total anyways.

All I have found are ES... Is there something wrong with them? (as for these Xeons I have found that their Turbo frequency is 3.0 GHz and 3.2GHz respectively, so they shouldn't be way worse than the 5960X (Max Turbo 3.5GHz))

 

[photonboy]

Hi,
Your post is confusing because:

1) You don't specify what CPU and GPU you have

2) the i5-4690K is not the same socket as the XEON's you listed so what motherboard do you have?

3) How much are those used XEON's you are looking at?

For GAMING, what's most important is:
a) four cores (more rarely helps much), and
b) highest processing per core

In fact, an 8-core Xeon with 3.2GHz Turbo is going to lose in many games to a $110 i3-6100, dual-core CPU.

4) When you say "upgrading" do mean to just change the CPU, or are you talking about building a new computer?

a) if just changing the CPU it has to be listed for your motherboard (see CPU support list at motherboard site), and
b) if building a new system I recommend a SKYLAKE build and probably an i7-6700K since you edit video

You also want 16GB at least for video editing. More than 16GB may or may not help depending on the video, program etc, and of course you'll need SSD's etc for the optimal setup

 

[MrSpock1701]

Hi,
Your post is confusing because:

1) You don't specify what CPU and GPU you have

2) the i5-4690K is not the same socket as the XEON's you listed so what motherboard do you have?

3) How much are those used XEON's you are looking at?

For GAMING, what's most important is:
a) four cores (more rarely helps much), and
b) highest processing per core

In fact, an 8-core Xeon with 3.2GHz Turbo is going to lose in many games to a $110 i3-6100, dual-core CPU.

4) When you say "upgrading" do mean to just change the CPU, or are you talking about building a new computer?

a) if just changing the CPU it has to be listed for your motherboard (see CPU support list at motherboard site), and
b) if building a new system I recommend a SKYLAKE build and probably an i7-6700K since you edit video

You also want 16GB at least for video editing. More than 16GB may or may not help depending on the video, program etc, and of course you'll need SSD's etc for the optimal setup

Sorry, let me clarify, I have an AMD FX-6100 and a GTX 950 (might upgrade to a 1070). Because my CPU is ancient I am going to upgrade my CPU/Mobo... The Xeons costs $170 shipped... A 4690K with a Z97 mobo costs the same as the Xeon with an X99 motherboard
As for Skylake I am unwilling to shell out $600 because I might as well go for X99

 

[MrSpock1701]

Hi,
Your post is confusing because:

1) You don't specify what CPU and GPU you have

2) the i5-4690K is not the same socket as the XEON's you listed so what motherboard do you have?

3) How much are those used XEON's you are looking at?

For GAMING, what's most important is:
a) four cores (more rarely helps much), and
b) highest processing per core

In fact, an 8-core Xeon with 3.2GHz Turbo is going to lose in many games to a $110 i3-6100, dual-core CPU.

4) When you say "upgrading" do mean to just change the CPU, or are you talking about building a new computer?

a) if just changing the CPU it has to be listed for your motherboard (see CPU support list at motherboard site), and
b) if building a new system I recommend a SKYLAKE build and probably an i7-6700K since you edit video

You also want 16GB at least for video editing. More than 16GB may or may not help depending on the video, program etc, and of course you'll need SSD's etc for the optimal setup

As for RAM I will buy 16GB and I already own a SSD, also can't I raise the Bclock a bit?

 

[HardwareExtreme]

Avoid ES CPUs. These are Engineering Sample CPUs for testing. They often have lower specs than the retail CPUs and can have problems. They are also illegal, and are likely stolen from Intel. These CPUs are still owned by Intel, and if you buy one Intel could ask for it back at any moment. Avoid them at all costs. And, if you say that you will not be doing much video editing, you don't really need a SSD. You could probably get by on 8 to 12gb or something like that, but more RAM can't hurt. You probably want a i7 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 or v4 or v5 since they are quad core with 8 threads which will help in rendering.

 

[MrSpock1701]

Avoid ES CPUs. These are Engineering Sample CPUs for testing. They often have lower specs than the retail CPUs and can have problems. They are also illegal, and are likely stolen from Intel. These CPUs are still owned by Intel, and if you buy one Intel could ask for it back at any moment. Avoid them at all costs. And, if you say that you will not be doing much video editing, you don't really need a SSD. You could probably get by on 8 to 12gb or something like that, but more RAM can't hurt. You probably want a i7 or a Xeon E3-1230 v3 or v4 or v5 since they are quad core with 8 threads which will help in rendering.

But are they any good for gaming?(The Xeons you mentioned)

 

[HardwareExtreme]

No. They may be able to play games, but these are made for running virtualization programs or CAD programs or in servers, and therefore cannot be overclocked and lack features that a normal consumer CPU has. They have a low clock frequency, which will impact performace. And, as I said before, ES CPUs tend to have issues.