Xeon E5450 with GTX670

[ccdesigns]

I have an opportunity to buy a Xeon e5450 with an Asus GTX670 DirectCU II Top (clocked to be like GTX680). I am planning to overclock the CPU to 3.6-3.8 ghz (default - 3.00ghz). Is it possible for the CPU to bottleneck the GPU? And what is the best GPU to get for this CPU? I was planning to buy R9 290 or R9 290x, but I heard Xeon E5450 would bottleneck them.

 

[bambiboom]

I have an opportunity to buy a Xeon e5450 with an Asus GTX670 DirectCU II Top (clocked to be like GTX680). I am planning to overclock the CPU to 3.6-3.8 ghz (default - 3.00ghz). Is it possible for the CPU to bottleneck the GPU? And what is the best GPU to get for this CPU? I was planning to buy R9 290 or R9 290x, but I heard Xeon E5450 would bottleneck them.

ccdesigns,

At first this seemed like an eccentric pairing of old and new, but I've had good results using long obsolete Xeons with modern graphics cards and Passmark results show that the Xeon E5450 can do very well. With an E5450 OC to 4GHz > GTX 970 on ASAUS P5Q Pro turbo and OCZ Vertex 2 > the system Rating was 2534 with a CPU score was 6000, and 2D=637, 3D=8335. This system is let down by the DDR2 RAM (Mem=1157) and the disk subsystem (Disk=1153). That disk score is terrible for an OCZ Vertex and many E5450 seem to be disk limited. The disk score is solvable be using a PCIe SATA III controller, but, in my view, the memory type and speed is going to be the bottleneck. Also, DDR2 is tremendously hot running as standard.

Given your moniker is "ccdesigns", are you planing to use the proposed system as a workstation? If so, I'd mention that the E5450 is not hypertheading and while that can be an advantage in some games, it is a definite disadvantage in most graphics design (Adobe CS) , 3D CAD, and especially CPU-based rendering where every thread is counted as a core. If this is to be used as a workstation, I'd suggest going to a fast X58 Xeon like the X5680 (6-core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz) or X5690 which is fast enough 6-core @ 3.47 /3.73 not to need OC, and which can use DDR3- 1333 (triple channel). A Xeon X5680 is about $200 these days (4.15) on Ebahhh. On Passmark, there is an X5680 system with 2X CPU's overclocked to 4.2GHz! on EVGA Classified SR-2, with a GTX 780. The Rating was 5198 with a CPU score was 16769, and 2D=803, 3D=7494, and importantly, Memory =2084 and the disk subsystem (Disk=6324) with a RAID 0 on an Intel controller.

Regardless of what you decide, when buiding on technology of this age, look into 6GB/s PCIe RAID controllers, like LSI and Adaptec

Of course, the use and budget are important considerations, but I feel investing in one or two generations later technology- especially and that can use DDR3 and a CPU that is hyperthreading if there is any workstation use is worth a stretch. It's also worth condieringThe overall system potential is simply so much higher. The X5680 too has an advantage that it may be used a dual CPU configuration if your rendering.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]

Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB /WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1440)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]

Pending upgrade: PERC H310 6GB/s SAS / SATA RAID controller (NOS $60 2.15. on Ebahh , 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB

 

[LucoTF]

I have an opportunity to buy a Xeon e5450 with an Asus GTX670 DirectCU II Top (clocked to be like GTX680). I am planning to overclock the CPU to 3.6-3.8 ghz (default - 3.00ghz). Is it possible for the CPU to bottleneck the GPU? And what is the best GPU to get for this CPU? I was planning to buy R9 290 or R9 290x, but I heard Xeon E5450 would bottleneck them.

That core 2 quad with a gtx 670 is ok, but I wouldn't go any higher if I were you

 

[ccdesigns]

Bambiboom,

thanks for your response. So, as I understood - if overclocked, the CPU can handle even better GPUs?

This PC is going to be used mostly for gaming. I am trying to get a good system for less money and I see a really good opportunity with these LGA771 Xeons with some P35 motherboard. It is very cheap and can handle even newer GPUs.

 

[bambiboom]

Bambiboom,

thanks for your response. So, as I understood - if overclocked, the CPU can handle even better GPUs?

This PC is going to be used mostly for gaming. I am trying to get a good system for less money and I see a really good opportunity with these LGA771 Xeons with some P35 motherboard. It is very cheap and can handle even newer GPUs.

ccdesigns,

I'm coming from the workstation world, but it seems to me that very good 2D and 3D results can be attained on old crock CPU's:

Precision 390 (2006) (Original): Core2 Duo 6300 dual-core @ 1.86GHz, 2GB DDR2 667 > Quadro FX550 > 2X WD 320GB . Windows XP Pro 32-bit
[ Passmark system rating =397, CPU = 587 / 2D= 248 / 3D=75 / Mem=585 / Disk = 552 ]

Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Firepro V4900 (1GB) > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1458, CPU = 3699 / 2D= 431 / 3D=1350 / Mem= 885 / Disk=552]

For comparison, on Passmark, an I7- 3770K > ASUS Z87 > 16GB DDR3 > V4900 > Samsung 840 system has a 2D=992 and 3D of 1389. Notice that the 2D score is related to the CPU score, while the 3D score seems consistent- independent, so an OC CPU is going to bring the 2D score up noticeably. I've seen very good 3D GPU scores on slower, older CPU's again and again in Passmark results, and Passmark I think is somewhat weighted towards gaming results. Of course, the gaming experience is dependent on a lot of factors and this is where the RAM and disk subsystems become important and I think in gaming, RAM speed and latency is very important. The disk situation is solvable, but again, if possible I suggest steering towards a DDR3 system.

Still, I'm all for getting up full steam in the old crocks.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Vintage Systems:


Dell Precision T5400 (2008) > 2X Xeon X5460 quad core @3.16GHz > 16GB DDR2 667 ECC> Quadro FX 4800 (1.5GB) > WD RE4 500GB / Seagate Barracuda 500GB > M-Audio 2496 Sound Card / Linksys WMP600N WiFi > HP 2711X, 27" 1920 X 1080 and Dell 19" LCD > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit >
[ Passmark system Rating = 1859, CPU = 8528 / 2D= 512 / 3D=1097]

Dell Precision 390 (2006) (Revised): Xeon X3230 quad-core @ 2.67GHz > 8 GB DDR2 ECC 667 > Firepro V4900 (1GB) > 2X WD 320GB >Linksys WMP600N WiFi > Dell 24" > 1920 X 1200 > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[ Passmark system rating = 1458, CPU = 3699 / 2D= 431 / 3D=1350 / Mem= 885 / Disk=552]

Dell Dimension E520 (2006)( Revised): Core2 Duo E6700 dual core @2.66GHz > 4GB DDR2 667 > GeForce GT440 (1GB GDDR5) > 2X Dell 19" LCD > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
[Passmark system rating = 1219, CPU = 2024 / 2D= 457 / 3D=978 / Mem= 828 / Disk=576]

HP Elite m9426f (2007) Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz > 8GB DDR2 667 > AMD Radeon 6650 > Seagate 750GB > Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit > Dell 17" LCD

Dell Optiplex 740 (2004) AMD Athlon X2 64 6000+ 3.0GHz, > 6GB DDR2 667 > Quadro FX 580 (512MB) > Seagate 750GB> NEC 22" CRT > Windows XP Pro 64-bit

Dell Dimension 8400 > Pentium 4 630 @ 3.0GHz > 4GB DDR RAM > Quadro FX570 > WD 760GB

Dell Dimension XPS T700R > Pentium III @ 750MHz > 768MB RAM> SCSI controller Ultra66 > 30 GB / 80GB IDE > Windows XP 32-bit