i7 or E5

[hsth]

Hi,

 

As I'm looking for an upgrade my new mothernoard will be the Asus® Rampage IV Extreme.

Since DCS World is more CPU load what whould be a better choice, the i7 3960X or the Xeon™ E5-2687W? Since the latter is a dual processor I reckoned it would handle the load better.

I've found different information on what would be best.

Does anyone have experience on how DCS will perform with the Xeon?

[joey45]

Go for the Ivry Bridge i5.

 

Unless you do heavy multithread programs* the i7. But for gaming go for the i5 and overclock it.

 

* Like video editing, 2d and 3d stuff.

[slug88]

Another recommendation for Ivy I5. I7 would be overkill for DCS (until the day DCS is running on more than 4 threads) and the Xeon isn't intended for gaming machines, it's meant for server racks and workstations. Also, Xeon is 8 cores, not 2.

Edited June 14, 2012 by slug88

[Weltensegler]

i7 is wonderful for OC! with a cheap closed water cooler for 80 bucks you can bring it up to 4,8GHz.

I have mine on 4.4 and on hot days with cooling and fans on low/medium it runs on 58C under full stress (28C in idle). Its awesome!

I could go higher but I like to keep it quiet :)

 

no experience with i5 and OC

[Hamblue]

Whenever upgrading you shoud get the best that your budget can afford.

While DCS may not use more than 2 cores, plenty of other programs do. And future programs, including DCS will continue to utilize higher end processors.

[xqz]

I believe the i7 has hyper threading which won't be useful here and I think it had better on board graphics but you will be bypassing that and using your videocard anyways. Get an ivy i5, its cheaper, currently have a 2500K sb and can overclock to 4.3-4.4 ghz without even touching the voltage and in some cases can even under volt it. If you can find the i7 for about the same price, then just get that.

 

my current setup, it's overkill for dcs world even though its not a high end pc. :)

 

Edited June 14, 2012 by xqz

[lubey]

Good idea with the zip tying your SSD to the CD bay! Mine is just duct taped inside a 3.5" bay...not very secure. Interesting air flow design in that case as well.

[cichlidfan]

Good idea with the zip tying your SSD to the CD bay! Mine is just duct taped inside a 3.5" bay...not very secure.

 

They make brackets for putting 2.5" drives into 3.5" bays. My old OCZ came with one. ;)

[Erforce]

No offense everyone but are any of you possessing a Xeon atm ?

I mean, post Pentium 4 / itanium Era ?

 

I have, at home, since august 2006 the E-5150 DP-DC Xeon (2.67Ghz) based on Core2 architecture.

Since 2008, i can overclock it up to 3.3Ghz (bus overclocking, not multiplier)

 

it's still a beast ! of course BS2 is not running @ 60fps when heavily crowded but it's source code threading problem heh :music_whistling:

 

Anyway, whatever it is, i5 i7 E5 X5, you're good to go, but...

 

----

(Not for TL;DR fanboys :)

 

Xeon has always a leap foward from consumer products.

I will not try to sell you a Xeon, for gaming purpose it's maybe a little overpriced :D but.. oh well i always knew i would play 90% of my time @home anyway.

 

Xeon has ECC memory, and up to insane amount. if you're interested in raping all those pesky SSD users, build up a RAM Disk and show them who's the boss ! they won't fail easily and if you're playing with no fans @ 40°C ambient air, well, they will say nicely to you : "Hey buddy, it's hot in here, i'm taking control to prevent any data loss and system damages."

 

Xeon is the top of the line in processors streams.

- Larger cache, Virtualization (it's a mac, under linux, installed on windows, who cares? Virtualize me! (no.. it's not emulating))

- Memory directly connected to processors

- up to 24 cores, 48 threads (on dual cpu)

- Require you to sell your mom (if you're playing DCS, you should already had sold your girlfrend)

- Consume way more power, but with far more stability (my Dimms are 17W each !!!)

 

If you're intending to buy a Xeon, avoid the3xxx family (Mono CPU), look for the 5xxx or 7xxx with preferably X5xxx (X = performance unit). the W means Dual CPU if i'm correct. but you can run with one (oh... not tried it on this unit personnally)

 

In my case, my new GF (got it after i bought my Xeons) promised me to buy me the next Xeon in 2013, i'm happy :):):) (i'm sad since my boss bought me a 3.2 hexa cores Dual Cpu at work)

 

To end this thing up, check Intel's roadmap, then your wallet, what you're really want to do with this (are you planning to buy 6 screens, one for HD encoding, another for watching a bluray, another with DCS manual.pdf, Eagle.ru and 3 screens of combined arms ? or just combined arms ? :cry:)

 

So ?

come on, look at there raw comparisons maybe it will help :

http://ark.intel.com/compare/63696,52214,52210,64582

so ? 200$ or 2000$ ? :P

 

-----

 

If it's just for DCS, just don't go for Xeon right now as you will have to change almost everything and build up a solid case.

 

To sum up : i'm a Xeon fanboy, but i would not advise you to come in this world without strong reasons.

[joey45]

So you have a pimped out server then..?;)

Edited June 15, 2012 by joey45

[Erforce]

Yeah ! absolutely, and it even brings me money at home :D

What's the best in it is i always think how many uranium atoms per hour are needed to feed it.

Sorry 'bout that guys ! :doh: