Xeon E5-2650 v2 vs. E5-1650 v2 vs. E5-1650 v1

Feb 24, 2018
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Hi,

I know these Xeon E5-2xxx and E5-1xxx CPU series are rather old, but comparing to the setup that I'm currently having (Athlon 64 x2 4800+ and a pesky 4GB DDR2 RAM), they would be a massive improvement.

The plan is to purchase either of the 3 CPUs mentioned above, to go along with an HP Z420 and 8 x 8GB DDR3 ECC+registered RAM (PC3-10600R -- yes, very surprisingly registered/buffered 1333MHz DDR3 seems to work with Z420 even if their service manuals do not say so). From a highly-reputable e-bay store.

The E5-1650 v1 is priced for $110, E5-1650 v2 for $140 and E5-2650 v2 for $150.
The PassMark benchmark scores are:
E5-2650 v2 = 13,019
E5-1650 v2 = 12,658
E5-1650 v1 = 11,767
[And for reference, i7-3930K = 12,020]

Which one, in your opinion would you go for? I am inclined to go with the 2650 v2 or 1650 v2 (since they seem to be both a newer, 22nm technology).
And I have a decision paralysis, because:
- 2650 v2 is octa-core and 8 x 2.6GHz base clock = 20.8.
And an all-core boost freq = 8 x 3.4GHz = 27.2.
- 1650 v2 is hexa-core and 6 x 3.5GHz = 21.
And an all-core boost freq = 6 x 3.9GHz = 23.4.

2650 v2 has a lower TDP than 1650 v2. Lower clocked but higher number of cores. While 1650 v2 has base clock but lower number of cores (and lower L3 cache size).

In single-core benchmarks, the E5-1650 v2 seems to win?
My use case is this:
1. No intention to overclock (unless the HP Z420 bastardized bios would allow for that).
2. I am terrified by past experience with the Intel PresHOT, so I am fearful of thermal issues with Intel. Even though the HP Z420 towers have a state-of-the-art heatsink + fan (both maaaasive).
3. No intention to run server software/daemons etc.
4. It is a home use setup - HTPC-like, planning to also have an nVidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB installed. with Media Player Classic HC, LAV filters and 1080p HEVC video playing and a new thing for me to try - gaming.
5. I usually stay heavy-loaded in terms of web browser use: Pale Moon (a lightweight FireFox fork) or Opera 12 and constantly 50-75 tabs open almost all the time.
6. I might plan to do also HEVC / H.265 video encoding, but not sure.

So overall, the use case is HTPC activities + gaming. For software development (I'm an IT professional) I use a different PC at home (A used Asus All-in-One i3 with 6GB)

Which one would you personally go for?
=> The cost differential is minimal between all 3.
=> Is the single-core performance a key factor for gaming or apps that are not multithreading / HT affine?
=> Does the total boost freq constitute a relevant factor in the decision?

Thank you so much for your input.


















 
Solution
You're right - I wasn't counting too much on the z420 being overclockable. And ideed, not too much difference performance-wise, between the v1 and v2 versions of E5-1650.

The ebay store has received the defective z420, and didn't wish to mention what the root cause was, for only 32GB DDR3 ECC+Registered seen out of 64GB. And it turns out they didn't want to keep my already paid money and instead of providing a replacement, they decided to refund me 100%.

So now I'm back to square 1. I wasn't particular attracted to Xeons, except for the RAM, which is cheaper due to being ecc, ddr3 and a tad slower - so the same money can buy more memory with Xeons instead of i7.

For $435 I was able to get that e5-1650 v1 with 64GB ram and 1TB...
Feb 24, 2018
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Unfortunately, anything other than the HP Z420, with 64GB ECC Registered DDR3 (clocked for 1333 MHz) and one of the 3 Xeon E5 CPUs mentioned in the OP, is not a possible outcome.

The whole thing has already been paid for ($435.00 including a 1TB spinning 7200rpm Western Digital hdd).

And actually I got the PC about 1 week ago, with the E5-1650 v1 installed. And it was experiencing issues, such as absolutely no RAM seen by the HP Z420 in the DIMM 1...4 region (front region). So basically it was seeing only 32GB out of the total 64GB installed (only the banks 5...8 in the rear).

Suspecting that it must be a mobo defect or some pins bent in the LGA2011 socket (caused maybe due to shipping, but I find it improbable, because the pins would be more vulnerable when traveling without a CPU mounted in, right?), I have returned the PC back to the ebay store (which otherwise has a 100% reputation score and they collaborated well in dealing with this). The RAM chips seemed to be ok, because no matter how I interchanged them or picked a subset and testing "dual channel" ram configurations and involving both ram regions, the result in the bios was always the same: nothing shown from banks 1...4.

So, I am trying to use this situation in my favor and once the PC gets back to the seller (next Monday Feb 26 2018), I'd like them to upgrade my CPU to one of those 2 v2 CPUs, most likely the E5-1650 v2? Any v2 would require the HP Z420 tower pc to have a mobo / bios with bootblock dated 2013 (mine was having 2011), so this will also be a good opportunity to be sure that they will replace the tower completely, with another pc from their large recycled stock (assuming they don't do "mix and match" for mobos and cpus).

I have also been told that E5-2650 v2 is not overclockable. E5-1650 v1 (version 1) is in theory overclockable but that Intel tool used for overclocking (forgot the name) does not report any gains/changes. And that E5-1650 v2 would respond to such overclocking better? Not to mention 100 MHz gain in the base single-core clock rate? (3.5Ghz vs 3.4Ghz) :)

So, that being said, would you still not recommend an upgrade to v2? Again, I don't have the means to buy an i5, and I would like very much to have 64GB ram. I never had more than 6GB (s-i-x!) in my whole life. It must feel something :)

Thank you.
 

XM Keeper

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As far as I know, overclocking on the z420 is either impossible or at the most, going to be very limited. I wouldn't put much faith on being able to buy a lower clocked cpu and being able to overclock to a high speed on the z420. I have attempted overclocking mine. And it doesn't really work.

In addition to all this, the e5 1650 is still a powerful cpu. It's got 6 cores, hyper threading, and a base frequency of 3.2. Is it holding you back?
 
Feb 24, 2018
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You're right - I wasn't counting too much on the z420 being overclockable. And ideed, not too much difference performance-wise, between the v1 and v2 versions of E5-1650.

The ebay store has received the defective z420, and didn't wish to mention what the root cause was, for only 32GB DDR3 ECC+Registered seen out of 64GB. And it turns out they didn't want to keep my already paid money and instead of providing a replacement, they decided to refund me 100%.

So now I'm back to square 1. I wasn't particular attracted to Xeons, except for the RAM, which is cheaper due to being ecc, ddr3 and a tad slower - so the same money can buy more memory with Xeons instead of i7.

For $435 I was able to get that e5-1650 v1 with 64GB ram and 1TB spinning hdd (but the hdd was quite noisy).

Now my quest for a replacement for my Am3 mobo with Athlon 2 x64 4800+ and 4 GB of ram continues.

For a gaming (i.e. AAA games like Rise of the Tomb Rider, The Division, GTA 5 etc) and general HTPC purposes (preferably with H265/HEVC fixed decoding function in the GPU), what PC would you go for?

I'm looking for something used, on e-bay. At least 32GB would be preferable, case not too big (just to fit a full height+length PCI-e x16 video, and a 1 PCI slot for my DTS audio card), PSU powerful enough etc.

What I can see on e-bay, for stuff that is not Xeon, is i7-3770 or i7-3770k, or some i5 4th generation. But with the exception of z220 CMT or some OptiPlex MT versions, everything seems to be very small / cramped space inside.

How low could I go with the wattage for the PSU? 300 watt? For something like a GTX 1060 which usually needs only 1 x PCI-e 6-pin power connector.

I would be purchasing such stuff being very aware that I will have to throw it away after x years. So not necessarily thinking about upgrade-ability. Hence the reason why proprietary PSUs or I/O front panel stuff (which is a characteristic of these brand-name, pre-built PCs), is not a super-issue, right?

I have built my own PCs in the past, but with these picky Intel cpus nowadays (thermally-wise) I prefer to go with something prebuilt. Not to mention the astronomical prices if you buy everything separately and/or new.

Price should be less than $450, ideally for 32GB ram or more. Graphics card price considered separately from that.
I am new to gaming.

Many thanks.
 
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