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Workstation CPU recommendation

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seven10

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I'm looking for advice on what to get to build a workstation that will bench higher than a 14 on Cinebench 11.5, but give me the best $ vs. performance ratio. I've been trying to gather data on systems that currently achieving those scores and higher and it looks like I should either build an i7 rig and overclock or buy 1 or 2 Xeon E5's.

If I were to go the i7 route is it going to take a lot of work and cooling setup to push 4.5gHz and above? If so, would it maybe be better to stick with the Xeon(s) for ease of build and reliability?

The programs I'm most concerned about getting good performance with are Cinema 4D, Vue, and RealFlow.
 
seven10 said:
I'm looking for advice on what to get to build a workstation that will bench higher than a 14 on Cinebench 11.5, but give me the best $ vs. performance ratio. I've been trying to gather data on systems that currently achieving those scores and higher and it looks like I should either build an i7 rig and overclock or buy 1 or 2 Xeon E5's.

If I were to go the i7 route is it going to take a lot of work and cooling setup to push 4.5gHz and above? If so, would it maybe be better to stick with the Xeon(s) for ease of build and reliability?

The programs I'm most concerned about getting good performance with are Cinema 4D, Vue, and RealFlow.
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An Intel I7 2600K or 2700K will not take much to run 100*45 = 4500Ghz * 4(8).

Before I bought my H100 cooler I used this: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatp...

Very silent and cheap. It was actually sufficient for the system, but I wanted to have H100 more for the looks than for the needs.
 
I actually changed up my plans quite a bit. I'm in the process of building a quad Opteron system with 4 6180's since I can OC them as well. I should have the rest of my parts in a week or so and put down some ridiculous speeds with it.
 
seven10 said:
I actually changed up my plans quite a bit. I'm in the process of building a quad Opteron system with 4 6180's since I can OC them as well. I should have the rest of my parts in a week or so and put down some ridiculous speeds with it.
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Good choice on the Opterons, what motherboard will you be using?
 
SuperMicro H8QGL-iF+ since it's one of only two or three boards that can OC the Opterons.
 
seven10 said:
SuperMicro H8QGL-iF+ since it's one of only two or three boards that can OC the Opterons.
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Nice, just curious here, is there a reason why you didn't go with 4xOpteron 6282SE (or 6276)?
 
The 6200's don't OC and take slightly more power to begin with. I got the 6180's for $450 a piece, so it was hard to pass up.
 
I do not understand why you buy the cpu?

You say it is for a "Workstation"? - Isnt stability and indurance and less power requirments important for a "Workstation"?

My own experience is, that the Opt series just isn´t as good as the I7 series.

However, you should buy excactly what you like and not what others or me thinks you should buy :)
 
seven10 said:
The 6200's don't OC and take slightly more power to begin with. I got the 6180's for $450 a piece, so it was hard to pass up.
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As yes, for that price it's better (if you bought new, then it's a bit different ;)). How much RAM will you put in there?

Wrathier said:
I do not understand why you buy the cpu?

You say it is for a "Workstation"? - Isnt stability and indurance important for a "Workstation"?

My own experience is, that the Opt series just isn´t as good as the I7 series.

However, you should buy excactly what you like and not what others or me thinks you should buy :)
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Opteron is a server CPU and is built for stability unlike desktop chips.

You can't use i7 CPU's in dual or quad CPU boards, you need Xeons for that which cost a lot more than Opterons (socket 1366 doesn't even support quad CPU configuration, so you either need a LGA 1567 board and CPU's or go LGA 2011 with it's high priced Xeons).
 
Not really for me, by "workstation" I just meant something I am primarily using to create content with rather than game or surf the web with. I wanted to get as much brute force rendering power in one machine without spending tens of thousands.
 
repman244 said:
As yes, for that price it's better (if you bought new, then it's a bit different ). How much RAM will you put in there?
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Right now 32GB since Cinema 4D doesn't care too much about ram as it does with CPU power. Actually I should be good for a little bit since I was only just starting to get to the point of maxing out 16GB in some apps.
 
seven10 said:
Not really for me, by "workstation" I just meant something I am primarily using to create content with rather than game or surf the web with. I wanted to get as much brute force rendering power in one machine without spending tens of thousands.
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Well, I have an i7 3820 that is running at 4.5Ghz @ 1.375v and it doesn't go above 61*C loaded with my zalman cooler. If server platforms are too expensive, and SB-E isn't out of your reach, you could start with a 3820 (or a 3930k if you want a 6-core beast,) and later down the road if it isn't enough (I don't see you running out of power with the 3930k,) you can upgrade when IVB-E comes which may have an 8-core option (hopefully not on just the extreme edition.)

What exactly are you planning on using? You said "content creation" but that is kind of vague. Are we talking about rendering scenes, video editing, benching? Take us through what you want to use this computer for, details can help because there are a lot of things where getting a Xeon or Opteron will not help you with and will only cost you more money.

Cheers! :toast:
 
Aquinus said:
Well, I have an i7 3820 that is running at 4.5Ghz @ 1.375v and it doesn't go above 61*C loaded with my zalman cooler. If server platforms are too expensive, and SB-E isn't out of your reach, you could start with a 3820 (or a 3930k if you want a 6-core beast,) and later down the road if it isn't enough (I don't see you running out of power with the 3930k,) you can upgrade when IVB-E comes which may have an 8-core option (hopefully not on just the extreme edition.)

What exactly are you planning on using? You said "content creation" but that is kind of vague. Are we talking about rendering scenes, video editing, benching? Take us through what you want to use this computer for, details can help because there are a lot of things where getting a Xeon or Opteron will not help you with and will only cost you more money.

Cheers! :toast:
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I would guess he needs it for rendering. SB-E is nice but very expensive (even if you do find used parts, but right now it's even a problem of finding them for a good price unlike the 12 core opterons) especially if you need multi CPU.
3930k @ 4.6GHz scores around 13,5 in cinebench
Dual Opteron 6174 @2.2GHz score 14,6

A thing to remember here is that the OC on the 3930k might not be stable for long term rendering (I experienced this myself, you can run prime95 stable all you want but the rendering can still crash it).

OP has 4 x 6180 Opterons that are clocked at 2,5GHz, and you can flash a BIOS that can add some OC to that.
Depending on how much stability is of a concern that ECC RAM may help you, which cannot be used with desktop chips with Intel.

A bit off topic, Aquinus, how would you rate your motherboard? I've been thinking of going to a X79 platform and been looking at that board (probably with a 3930k or maybe wait for some info on IVB-E)
 
Exactly, this is going to be mostly used for rendering. I'm not exactly sure what my system will bench at yet, but 4 6174's at 2.2GHz score 25.74 in Cinebench. The thing to note is that number is not even completely accurate of how powerful the system will be since Cinebench 11.5 only supports 64 threads, but 4 12core Opterons give you 48 physical cores and a total of 96 threads. Maxon raised the thread limit in Cinema 4D in R13 from 64 to 256 I believe, so the performance of my system should be even better than what the benchmark reports.
 
repman244 said:
A bit off topic, Aquinus, how would you rate your motherboard? I've been thinking of going to a X79 platform and been looking at that board (probably with a 3930k or maybe wait for some info on IVB-E)
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I love it. There aren't a whole lot of benefits over getting the Pro vs Deluxe. It's worth noting that the Deluxe has a 16 + 2 + 2 phase VRM (twice as big as the pro,) and it has never starved the CPU for power. The Deluxe also has some extra little features, but if you're going to be getting a SB-E chip and you're not planning on using LN2 (only air or water,) this board is very capable and very solid.

The one thing I will note about it is that if you want to use the PCI-E 1x slots, you need to disable features on the motherboard, such as eSATA or the built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth because they use those lanes. Other than that, I haven't had a single problem with it. It has been the best motherboard I've ever used.
 
seven10 said:
This is the motherboard and CPUs at least [url]http://i.imgur.com/ZPUNxl.jpg[/URL]

I'm still waiting on an 8pin splitter for power and one of the open air tech trays from Spotswood.
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Looking good :cool: What cooler will you be using on those chips? Also, if you choose use the OC BIOS, it can be quite a strain on the VRM's so make sure you have good cooling for it.

Aquinus said:
I love it. There aren't a whole lot of benefits over getting the Pro vs Deluxe. It's worth noting that the Deluxe has a 16 + 2 + 2 phase VRM (twice as big as the pro,) and it has never starved the CPU for power. The Deluxe also has some extra little features, but if you're going to be getting a SB-E chip and you're not planning on using LN2 (only air or water,) this board is very capable and very solid.

The one thing I will note about it is that if you want to use the PCI-E 1x slots, you need to disable features on the motherboard, such as eSATA or the built-in Wi-Fi/Bluetooth because they use those lanes. Other than that, I haven't had a single problem with it. It has been the best motherboard I've ever used.
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Thanks for the info, yeah I'm only planning on using air. I was also looking at the P9X79 WS but now I'm not so sure.
Maybe I'll wait (it is a long wait but still) for IVB-E and then decide what to do.
 
repman244 said:
Looking good What cooler will you be using on those chips? Also, if you choose use the OC BIOS, it can be quite a strain on the VRM's so make sure you have good cooling for it.
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I'm going to try the Dynatron A6 to start. Other 4p builders have used those and had decent temps even on a mild OC as long as there were also decent fans moving air across the board. I got some of the Cougar CF-V12H fans to handle that task. If the chips don't stay cool enough with that I might move to a water cooling setup next month.
 
you would love a pair of E5520 xeons :) they work great :D
 
What are you going to render on that beast?
 
Architectural visualizations mostly, but with all that power I might start trying my hand more at animation to use for compositing.
 
When that is done I MUST upgrade my gaming pc again :(

Ha ha it is awesome man way to go. - It starts to make much more sense to me now. In the beginning I was like - A workstation like "my own" is on 24 hours everyday without issues running at excactly 4500Mhz no reason to go higher unless I need to brag in a 3D mark or something. So that is why I suggested an I7 2600K or 2700K.

I would reallly like to have dual cpus again. I had a BP6 from Abit back in 2000 and it was awesome. I kind of miss it actually.
 
Yeah, it's a crazy way to go, but should be amazing once it's up and running. I'm actually going to upgrade my gaming rig after this, but nothing crazy.
 
repman244 said:
Thanks for the info, yeah I'm only planning on using air. I was also looking at the P9X79 WS but now I'm not so sure.
Maybe I'll wait (it is a long wait but still) for IVB-E and then decide what to do.
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The WS is just a large SSB-CEB motherboard with everything the deluxe has. It can do 4-way SLI and crossfire. Unless you're planning on running 4, 2-slot video cards the deluxe does all the same stuff.
 
seven10 said:
I'm going to try the Dynatron A6 to start. Other 4p builders have used those and had decent temps even on a mild OC as long as there were also decent fans moving air across the board. I got some of the Cougar CF-V12H fans to handle that task. If the chips don't stay cool enough with that I might move to a water cooling setup next month.
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Yeah I heard good things about Dynatron as well, but IMO a crucial thing (as you pointed out) is to provide a good airflow for the whole board (and VRM).
Is noise an issue? If it's not you could perhaps use some heavy duty Delta fans which provide huge amounts of airflow even if you run them at 5V.
 
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