upgrading an 5820k to xeon v3/ 780 ti sli --->1080 SC acx3 sli, will current psu+case do the job

[er557]

was looking for a small boost for the box(gaming, media server, office, multi tasking, vmware) , currently:
i7 5820k+ msi x99s gaming 7 + 32gb ddr4 quad @2.4ghz (gskill)+ 2x gtx 780 ti SLI + 4k phillips 40" monitor
+ zalman 1000gvm psu+ zalman z12 plus box + 6x hdd multi tera
(not overclocked)

upgrade:
xeon e5-2686 v3 haswell-EP 2.3ghz--->turbo 3.5ghz @18 cores/36 threads (399$)
evga gtx 1080 SC acx 3.0 (870$ x 2)(not online)
evga HB sli pro bridge (40$)

so I will be getting 40 pcie lanes instead of 28, possible cpu overclock if turns out to be unlocked(QS stepping<=retail), I suppose my case and psu are up for it?

 

[Kanan]

Yes but don't buy the HB bridge, it's useless unless you do extreme resolutions like 5K or even more.

Is this PC for gaming? A 18 core with 3.5 GHz isn't really good for gaming, especially not for 1080 in SLI. You're creating a nice and unneccessary bottleneck there by buying a server CPU instead a gaming/workstation CPU, for example 6700K or 5820K. If you want many cores but a great gaming CPU go for the 5820K or 5960X/6900K. Those are the best suited for that kind of gaming machine.

 

[slozomby]

Yes but don't buy the HB bridge, it's useless unless you do extreme resolutions like 5K or even more.

Is this PC for gaming? A 18 core with 3.5 GHz isn't really good for gaming, especially not for 1080 in SLI. You're creating a nice and unneccessary bottleneck there by buying a server CPU instead a gaming/workstation CPU, for example 6700K or 5820K. If you want many cores but a great gaming CPU go for the 5820K or 5960X/6900K. Those are the best suited for that kind of gaming machine.

when spending $1700 on video cards does it make sense to try and save $40 for the sli bridge?

 

[Kanan]

when spending $1700 on video cards does it make sense to try and save $40 for the sli bridge?

If it's completely useless yes. If you want to waste money, please send it to me instead, it's way more useful.

TPU review of it:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_SLI/22.html

 

[slozomby]

If it's completely useless yes. If you want to waste money, please send it to me instead, it's way more useful.

TPU review of it:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_SLI/22.html

a lot of those benchmarks show sli is useless in general. the bridge is 2% of the cost of those cards.

 

[Kanan]

a lot of those benchmarks show sli is useless in general. the bridge is 2% of the cost of those cards.

So it's good to waste 40$? Cool...

 

[er557]

well, it a'int a waste whatsoever, i do 4k gaming @ultra, am i supposed to use old ribbon bridges/single or paired? people wrote those worked for them but artifacted after some days due to data bandwidth, the HB bridge is more robust and certified for large throughput and data rate, especially at 4k, plus some reports of increased frame rates also exist. why not go that extra mile???

 

[Recon-UK]

XEON will be worse than the 5820K for gaming.

 

[er557]

worse for 1080p cpu bottlenecks, but i do 4k @ultra+ msaa anyway, it will be just as good clock per clock, all while doing circles around the block smoking a cigar, it will be like 5% cpu usage.... the gpu bound environments @4k will still be smooth just fine, why do people keep thinking a xeon @turbo 3.5ghz is slower at gaming than 5820k @3.5ghz, ; games are getting more multi core optimized anyway

 

[P4-630]

why do people keep thinking a xeon @turbo 3.5ghz is slower at gaming than 5820k @3.5ghz, ; games are getting more multi core optimized anyway

It does not do max turbo on all cores at the same time.

 

[Vayra86]

worse for 1080p cpu bottlenecks, but i do 4k @ultra+ msaa anyway, it will be just as good clock per clock, all while doing circles around the block smoking a cigar, it will be like 5% cpu usage.... the gpu bound environments @4k will still be smooth just fine, why do people keep thinking a xeon @turbo 3.5ghz is slower at gaming than 5820k @3.5ghz, ; games are getting more multi core optimized anyway

Until you come upon a game that still eats only two threads and you find a use for running at over 4 Ghz, or even 4.5 which is much easier to achieve with a hexa or quad Skylake K. I'm running 4.2 Ghz on an 'ancient' 3570k and I see 90-100% util at times. Go figure.

Your proposal will be a great rig for Star Citizen though, which is reportedly able to push 64 threads across 32 cores - its the only conceivable release that would actually use all that CPU because of its multiplayer / MMO environment.

Bottom line:unless you are building specifically with that (kind of) game in mind, don't take a Xeon. Get a hexa or quad that can clock and OC well, lean and fast trumps 'wide and slower' for gaming any day of the week. You will have a more versatile system that way.

 

[slozomby]

have you considered upgrading the video cards in your current system and then building a VMware server for your multiple os/longtasks needs? far easier/more enjoyable to kick of a long render/encode/whatever on another machine and play <insert game here> while you wait.

 

[cdawall]

It does not do max turbo on all cores at the same time.

Yes it does.

 

[P4-630]

Yes it does.

Then it's probably an older chip?
I don't have a xeon but my CPU doesn't do it.

 

[Solaris17]

Then it's probably an older chip?
I don't have a xeon but my CPU doesn't do it.

Your CPU is 100% not comparable at all too the feature set of this CPU.

 

[P4-630]

Your CPU is 100% not comparable at all too the feature set of this CPU.

I thought it just won't work anymore on any newer non-k chips.

 

[cdawall]

You are stuck thinking this is like a consumer level chip. It is not we are talking about xeons.

 

[P4-630]

You are stuck thinking this is like a consumer level chip. It is not we are talking about xeons.

I know that!!
That doesn't mean that the highest turbo speed work on all all cores at the same time on this chip.

Or does it just always work on all xeons?

 

[cdawall]

I know that!!
That doesn't mean that the highest turbo speed work on all all cores at the same time on this chip.

Or does it just always work on all xeons?

Yes all bins are available to all cores at anytime.

 

[P4-630]

Yes all bins are available to all cores at anytime.

Nope!

Did some digging and it seems I was right afterall:

 

[Solaris17]

Nope!

Did some digging and it seems I was right afterall:

View attachment 79910

Sorry that was my misunderstanding, I thought you were saying that some of the cores did not boost.

EDIT:: I had to go back and re-read your posts because I thought you did a complete 180. No not all of the cores can boost to 100% on the bigger chips, generally Intel will not allow full boost on many of there CPUs though IIRC there are some that do, there are also boards that can force it or rather there were in the recent past. By design this cant happen because that number of cores boosted would put the chip over its rated wattage and heat output. Atleast thats how I understand it.

 

[cdawall]

Nope!

Did some digging and it seems I was right afterall:

View attachment 79910

Maybe I should have been more specific the boards can force all cores to use all bins. Unless of course you have an ES chip and then its all bins by default.

 

[brandonwh64]

Honestly I would not do the xeon if gaming is your main use of the PC. Most games still run 1-2 cores and single threaded benchmarks show the 5820k faster than the xeon you posted. That xeon would be used better in server based conditions.

 

[er557]

Maybe I should have been more specific the boards can force all cores to use all bins. Unless of course you have an ES chip and then its all bins by default.

so if my chip is an es sample (being QS per same as oem basically) than it will turbo all/all and be unlocked multiplier? what kind of tdp would it put it at(120w base)

Honestly I would not do the xeon if gaming is your main use of the PC. Most games still run 1-2 cores and single threaded benchmarks show the 5820k faster than the xeon you posted. That xeon would be used better in server based conditions.

sure, solitaire and crysis will run 500fps in 1080p instead of 600 fps, but i intend to do gpu bound workloads and settings, @4k msaa the cpu is less of a factor, ; what about future proofing next games which will be threaded?, dont worry, the xeon will rip to shreds any game processing you throw at it @10% cpu usage, my 5820k can only cry to mama

 

[Solaris17]

Honestly I would not do the xeon if gaming is your main use of the PC. Most games still run 1-2 cores and single threaded benchmarks show the 5820k faster than the xeon you posted. That xeon would be used better in server based conditions.

This, though I do believe their are other games especially current that can use more cores they certainly cannot keep up with this caliber of chip. Not to mention that your performance will degrade more than you think with the low clock speed. This type of chip is meant for large data sets and really shines under heavy workloads where it would undoubtedly destroy any consumer grade CPU. Not to mention for none ultra parallel workloads like video game engines they benefit more from the single threaded performance (even if it is infact 8 threads) that a clock rate increase provides.

Also I hope you understand that 4K gaming is still GPU bound and while CPU helps you are not going to get the gains you think you will.