Hey guys, i'm looking up to upgrade my rig from http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rbGjK8 to http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Lpb7gs
i'm just upgrading the CPU for now, I already know what I want to upgrade next.
is the Xeon compatible with my motherboard? I remember hearing something about Xeon's needing special boards or something. Pcpartpicker says they are i'd just hate to spend the money and have to wait for a new motherboard.
The CPU support list for that motherboard can be found here
The Xeon E3-1220 V3 is on the supported CPU list, so it will work in your motherboard.
A couple of things.
Yes, technically that CPU would work, but it is a horrible idea. It has a pretty low clock speed, no on board gpu, and no hyperthreading.
If you are dead set on having a xeon chip, I would save up a bit more and spring for the 1230-v3. It is a little bit faster, and it has hyper threading.
Also, a xeon chip alone is a waste. A xeon chip supports ECC ram and some other cool features. In order to exploit these features, you not only need a special motherboard, but you also need special ram.
Let me ask, what exactly are you trying to do with your computer?
Actually no a Xeon is a great idea. That particular one isn't though.
The 1231v3 is essentially an i7-4770 without an iGPU. You essentially get i7 performance for much much less money and of course if you have a GPU you don't need the onboard graphics anyway.
That being said, looking at your current rig upgrading your GPU would be a much better choice. You should also grab a 1TB HDD for storage.
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+1. A GPU upgrade would be much more beneficial for most people. This really does depend on your workload, though.
Nooooo, it's not that simple. I used to think so too, but after taking a closer look at things I realized that xeon chips are actually pretty expensive.
The trick is that the 4770 is over priced...by a lot. The proof is that the 4790 is faster and costs less. If the 4770 was priced correctly, it would be about the same price as the xeon chip.
If you compared the more adequately prices 4790 and it's xeon counterpart (1271), then you would see that the xeon is actually a bit more.
Remember, you either get what you pay for, or you get shafted. There is no such thing as cheap performance.
In any case, I still want to hear what this computer will actually be doing.
No it pretty much is that simple.
The 4770 is that price because it is now outdated. Effectively being replaced by the 4790. So of course it will be more as supplies dry up. That being said Newegg has the 4790 and 4770 listed for the same price. $310. Yes the 1271 is more at $335 but the 1231 is less at $250.
Now, yes the 1231V3 isn't exactly the same as the 4790. It has the same cache and HT but the clock speeds are different. The Xeon bases at 3.4 and boosts to 3.8. The 4790 starts at 3.6 and goes to 4. 200Mhz won't make or break you. Especially when both will probably be running at about 3.7-3.8 anyway. (Also BCLK OCing could change things)
So in that respect they are pretty much the same and the Xeon is cheaper. Yes, I suppose you do lose some performance (200Mhz) but that really doesn't mean too much. Especially with the price savings.
I'd argue there is cheap performance (290X and 8350 cough cough) but whatever.
As would I. But for a mix of gaming and productivity the 1231v3 is hard to beat.
-- 1231v3 if you really need the computational horsepower for productivity or just an i5 if you want the road in between.
-- A new GPU if you're just using the pc primarily for gaming.