XEON E-2687W and 3970X

[Vercingetorix]

Hello everybody. I am in the middle of an arguement with somebody who just won't listen. So I need your advice. He seems to think that a XEON E-2687W can out-perform a 3970X in anything other than multitasking and server applications, including gaming, while I disagree. I realise that Xeons are built for servers and workstations with heavy multi-tasking, while a 3970X would win in most other situations. Who is right here? What would you recommend, a 3970X or a 2687W?

 

[I Hunta x]

If the program can use all 8 cores of the xeon then the xeon wins, in single threaded applications the i7 wins just because of the 200mhz extra.

Clock the i7 up to 4-4.5ghz and you then have blow for blow performance with the xeon in multi-threaded applications and it destroys it for single/dual threaded applications (ie games and alot of the programs outside of encoder/render programs)

Also it costs like half a much, drop to a 3930k and the saving is more. so the i7 > xeon tbh as no overclocking on 2011 with xeons unless im mistaken.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Thanks bro. I think the Xeon goes to a max of 3.8GHz on overclock but nothing beyond that.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Hm. He just just brought up an valid point; You can use two Xeons in one mobo. How would that compare to a single 3970x?

 

[iBeInspire]

Hm. He just just brought up an valid point; You can use two Xeons in one mobo. How would that compare to a single 3970x?

It would be MUCH more expensive, and still no faster in single-threaded, dual-threaded and up-to-6-threaded applications

 

[I Hunta x]

well the xeon is 2x the price of the i7 so with 2 of them your up to like 4x the price for 2x the performance in VERY select situations.

 

[antihero]

Hm. He just just brought up an valid point; You can use two Xeons in one mobo. How would that compare to a single 3970x?

Very poorly. Two Xeons and a motherboard are going to cost you around 3500€ ( unless you get very lucky on eBay ). In games, you essentially get the same performance with a 3970X. To be honest I can't even think of any everyday software that makes use of eight cores, let alone 16. The 2011 processors are already overkill for gaming if you're not planning on doing a lot of video editing and rendering.

 

[SeekaX]

you are comparing cars with buses. sure the car can go faster, but the bus is not made for going really fast on a track. it's made for carrying a lot of shit.