Xeon E5-1650 v3 vs. 5820K for stability and longevity

[ahdonehaddabowddanuffayew]

Hello everyone. I am trying to decide between an E5-1650 v3 and a 5820K for an upcoming workstation build, and would love some advice.

Short version: the performance and price difference(s) do not really matter that much to me, nor do the extra PCIe lanes; what matters is stability and longevity. I tend to keep my machines in service for a long time (10 years or so, in diminishing roles and if the hardware lives that long). With that in mind, will the Xeon features and ECC RAM make a significant difference? If so, then I am willing to poney up the extra cash, but if not, then I'll go with the 5820K.

Long version: I am upgrading a general-purpose 2500K build into a workstation that will handle rendering, video editing, and heavy office productivity during the day, and media consumption/gaming after hours. It will run 24 hours a day, year in and year out. It will be my main machine for everything, powering my livelihood and entertainment alike. I understand that both the 5820K and the 1650 overclock well, but I'm not a speed demon and tend to use overclocking as a long-term "insurance policy" if machines start to feel slow after 4 or 5 years (e.g., I'm just OC'ing my 2500K now, in its fifth year). I also understand that the 1650 is more directly comparable to a 5930K, and in that comparison the 1650 with ECC RAM is a no-brainer for me, but the 28 PCIe lanes of the 5820K are plenty for me and there is no Xeon equivalent, so the choice is between the 1650 and the 5820K for me. I have access to a Micro Center, so the 5820K is significantly cheaper than a 1650 ($300 vs. $560 or so), but in the grand scheme of things and over a decade or so, the extra cash is worth it to me if it will make a tangible difference. What I crave more than anything, far more than performance, is stability and dependability. I don't want my machines to crash or lose data, ever. True, I'm not running any mission-critical software like a bank or an enterprise server, and I won't be thrashing it with huge renders all day, but the CPU will likely end up in a 24-7 NAS after it can't keep up as my main productivity machine.

There are a couple of other threads about the 1650 v3, but nothing that seemed to directly answer my question. Could anyone give me some guidance? Many thanks.

 

[RobCrezz]

I would go for the 5820k. If you dont know if you need ECC ram, then you probably dont. The 5820k is a "bargain" considering its 6 cores / 12 threads, and unlocked multiplier (4.0Ghz is a realistic 24/7 overclock).

Spend more on data redundancy and backup. Run a good RAID in the system and a good backup set.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Given the price difference, I'd recommend the 5820K as well. Besides the PCIe lanes, the only tangible benefit of the 1650 is its support for 256GB of RAM.

 

[ahdonehaddabowddanuffayew]

I would go for the 5820k. If you dont know if you need ECC ram, then you probably dont. The 5820k is a "bargain" considering its 6 cores / 12 threads, and unlocked multiplier (4.0Ghz is a realistic 24/7 overclock).

Spend more on data redundancy and backup. Run a good RAID in the system and a good backup set.

Thank you both for your answers, brm and RobCrezz. I already have a pretty solid redundancy / backup setup, but you can never be too secure. So, just to confirm, you don't think there will be a noticeable difference in the long-term stability of the CPUs? I've found a few anecdotal pieces online about Xeons outliving other processors, but nothing with rigorous testing. Most people seem to think that the enthusiast processors are good enough. The substantially lower price of the 5820K is tempting, but I don't want to regret it down the line.

 

[KingDingDong]

Make sure you use a top quality PSU and a solid cooling system if you want stability. That said Windows never has been nor never will be "stable".

FYI MC just raised processor prices. The 5820K is $319 now.

 

[RobCrezz]

I would go for the 5820k. If you dont know if you need ECC ram, then you probably dont. The 5820k is a "bargain" considering its 6 cores / 12 threads, and unlocked multiplier (4.0Ghz is a realistic 24/7 overclock).

Spend more on data redundancy and backup. Run a good RAID in the system and a good backup set.

Thank you both for your answers, brm and RobCrezz. I already have a pretty solid redundancy / backup setup, but you can never be too secure. So, just to confirm, you don't think there will be a noticeable difference in the long-term stability of the CPUs? I've found a few anecdotal pieces online about Xeons outliving other processors, but nothing with rigorous testing. Most people seem to think that the enthusiast processors are good enough. The substantially lower price of the 5820K is tempting, but I don't want to regret it down the line.

If treated the same, the 5820k should last just as long. CPU failure is very rare these days. The last cpu failure I had was an amd K6-2 in 1998, don't recall having one since and I work in it infrastructure with 1000s of systems.

 

[ahdonehaddabowddanuffayew]

Thanks, everybody. Looks like it's the 5820K with regular DDR4 for me. At least in my usage scenario, maybe all this worrying about Xeons and ECC memory is for nothing. Heck, I've been running a 2500K with the same two sticks of DDR3 for five years, and it's been absolutely rock solid. Thanks for saving me some cash.

 

[STbob]

Hello everyone. I am trying to decide between an E5-1650 v3 and a 5820K for an upcoming workstation build, and would love some advice.

Short version: the performance and price difference(s) do not really matter that much to me, nor do the extra PCIe lanes; what matters is stability and longevity. I tend to keep my machines in service for a long time (10 years or so, in diminishing roles and if the hardware lives that long). With that in mind, will the Xeon features and ECC RAM make a significant difference? If so, then I am willing to poney up the extra cash, but if not, then I'll go with the 5820K.

Long version: I am upgrading a general-purpose 2500K build into a workstation that will handle rendering, video editing, and heavy office productivity during the day, and media consumption/gaming after hours. It will run 24 hours a day, year in and year out. It will be my main machine for everything, powering my livelihood and entertainment alike. I understand that both the 5820K and the 1650 overclock well, but I'm not a speed demon and tend to use overclocking as a long-term "insurance policy" if machines start to feel slow after 4 or 5 years (e.g., I'm just OC'ing my 2500K now, in its fifth year). I also understand that the 1650 is more directly comparable to a 5930K, and in that comparison the 1650 with ECC RAM is a no-brainer for me, but the 28 PCIe lanes of the 5820K are plenty for me and there is no Xeon equivalent, so the choice is between the 1650 and the 5820K for me. I have access to a Micro Center, so the 5820K is significantly cheaper than a 1650 ($300 vs. $560 or so), but in the grand scheme of things and over a decade or so, the extra cash is worth it to me if it will make a tangible difference. What I crave more than anything, far more than performance, is stability and dependability. I don't want my machines to crash or lose data, ever. True, I'm not running any mission-critical software like a bank or an enterprise server, and I won't be thrashing it with huge renders all day, but the CPU will likely end up in a 24-7 NAS after it can't keep up as my main productivity machine.

There are a couple of other threads about the 1650 v3, but nothing that seemed to directly answer my question. Could anyone give me some guidance? Many thanks.

No question get the E5-1650 v3 . You want ECC ram. And Xeons can be overclocked to around 4.7 stable. Put that in a Asus X99 Deluxe/U3.1 MB and you have a stable workstation that you can game on. Its not a real workstation unless you put ECC ram in it. And it can handle much more ram than a regular i7.

Single bit errors happen more than people think. The higher the altitude the more you get. If you are shutting down your computer every day then regular ram is probably ok, but I leave mine running 24/7 never shut it down and it never ever locks up. It just runs.

Most people don't get ecc because they don't know what it is and they are too cheap. Get the xeon for a real workstation and say by by to the kiddie I7s.