Will this be a good processor for my workstation?

[eheminger]

Hi, I am going to be building a budget workstartion (if there is such a thing). I am looking at this Intel Xeon E3-1220 Sandy Bridge CPU. I will be pairing it with a GTX 560 graphics card, 8GB of 1333MHz memory, and Asus P8B WS motherboard. Here are more specifications for the processor:

Model: Intel Xeon E3-1220
Core: Sandy Bridge
Socket: LGA 1155
Frequency: 3.1GHz
L3 Cache: 8MB
Manufacturing Technology: 32 nm
64-bit Support: Yes
Hyper-Threading Support: No
Virtualization Technology Support: Yes
Thermal Design Power: 80W

I will be using the computer to do some light software developing (C, C++, Java, HTML, if it makes a difference), email, web browsing, light gaming (I'm talking Minecraft here), homework, and virtual-machine-ing.

So, will this be a good processor for my needs? Remember, I'm on a tight budget of $900. I think the rest of the system will be good for what I need. Thanks!

 

[Pinhedd]

The Xeon E3-1220 is for all intents and purposes identical to the i5-2400 save that it has 2 more MiB of L3 cache, supports ECC memory, lacks integrated graphics. It has a similar recommended consumer price too, which is nice

Here is a comparison of the two

http://ark.intel.com/compare/52207,52269

I would suggest going for it but that motherboard is a bit overkill for what you are doing. If you don't have a compelling need for a C206 chipset don't bother with it. Instead, go with a Z77 board and put the extra cash towards a 3570 or 3770