So I am planning to switch to Intel for the first time and that is one of the reasons why I need some help.
I won't be doing overclocking since I want my PC to be stable. That is why I am interested getting the Intel Xeon 1230 v3, which has the same performance as the i7 4770/4770K but costs ~70-90 euros less.
As a motherboard I would like to get a decent one. And if you want a decent one you have to look at Z87-series, right? To be more exact, I have laid my eyes on the Sabertooth Z87, but I am not sure yet.
The question is, how good is the Xeon supported by Asus Z87 motherboards? It is on the supported list at http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z87/#support, but on the right-hand side it says: "Intel Xeon Processor Family is designed for servers. Some features may not support when installed on 8 series chipsets". What do they mean by that? No ECC of course, but how about other features, like Turbo?
The Xeons don't overclock well, so you don't need to buy Z87. Those Z87 boards are more suited for K chips and overclocking. You can just get a decent H87 and pair it with the haswell xeon, and if you don't plan to Crossfire or SLI in the future, even a B85 will work just fine.
Maybe Asus haven't updated their BIOS for those boards since the xeon is a fairly new chip. If you don't mind buying from other vendors, Asrock and gigabyte have it in the supported list.
Why the hell would you be using a xeon processor on a consumer grade motherboard? Why not get a proper Workstation motherboard that goes with the processor, that is certified to work with all of the features the CPU has to offer?
There are very few Z87 boards thjat support xeons, The z87-ws. the features that you pay for on such a high end mobo do not work and so your paying way to much for a mobo that you wont see any benefit for. The only thing that the z87-ws has going for it is when you use a xeon, Error correcting ram works. Just get a mid end z87 mobo and a 4770k, The money you save on the CPU is lost in features on the mobo.
Any non K CPU or equivalent dopes not overclock btw, and if it does, by very little. Intel has been locking down overclocking on non K parts. Xeons included.
Well the Xeon 1230 v3 is basicly a i7-4770 non k its a littlebit lower clocked, and by feutures that won´t may work.. i can only think of one thing, because the Xeon 1230 v3 does not seem to have an igpu inside, and thats probably the reason why the cpu is cheaper in general.
non K cpu´s are also overclockable on a Z87 board by the way, if you know what you are doing... it has a locked multiplier, but you can allways raise up voltage and bus speeds. but you realy need to be carefull with that...
i would personaly say go for a i7-4770 or 4770K with a decent mid end Z87 board indeed.
The only benefit i could think of going with a Xeon 1230 v3 is wenn you wanne play alot with Virtual machnies. because this cpu contains intel V-pro technology and intel virtualization technology VT-d, which the intel 4770 (k) does not have..