Help me pick out a xeon setup

multiple instances of rendering video effects

Ok I have received my parts and put it together and ran some benchmarks.

The dual xeon setup even with the freebee e5540's is about 46-47% faster at rendering then the single i7 930.

The dual xeon is getting a 9900 in cpu mark while the i7 930 is getting a 4050

if this board had two x5690's in it , it would be about on par with an i7 4960x for about half the price. I can always dream eh?

Yeah but you are going to need at least 600w good quality PSU because those dual xeons drain a lot of power with a single GPU.

PS. Better to have a little overhead

It's using dual power supplies at the moment , one for cpus and one for gpu. they should be able to handle it

If my memory serves me right 850w or higher units have dual CPU power connectors but a single CPU power connector will still handle fine I think.