The Ultimate Workstation

[Per Hansson]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

You've still got some Paxville's in operation, you're tops in my book!!

Thanks
Just like you I am considering doing something about it, because it gets really hot here in the summer...
It's great for winter though

Found the thread btw, the word I was looking for was "junk" and not "useless" as I remembered, that's why I didn't find it first.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...light=junk+c2d

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Thanks
Just like you I am considering doing something about it, because it gets really hot here in the summer...
It's great for winter though

Found the thread btw, the word I was looking for was "junk" and not "useless" as I remembered, that's why I didn't find it first.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...light=junk+c2d

Ohh jeez....I totally forgot about that thread, or was it selective amnesia.... Long love the C2 platform!!

[ratdude747]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Ohh jeez....I totally forgot about that thread, or was it selective amnesia.... Long love the C2 platform!!

Me too. Many I was salty about hating classmates. Fun times...

[mockingbird]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

I know, I kept my Socket 775 system forever, so I'm it's biggest supporter
Only recently switched to Socket 2011, mainly because I wanted access to the M.2 socket for SSD's supporting the NVMe protocol.
But I read some post here where people where saying Core 2 duo's where junk, I don't find it again.
Thought you remembered it too, that's what I was referring to anyway

Clock-per-clock, core-per-core, is there anything really that much faster in order of magnitude than Wolfdale/Yorkfield/Harpertown? More efficient, yes. Faster? Not by much.

Aint nothing getting any faster until billions are poured into re-writing stuff to be more optimized for multithreading. And that aint happening anytime soon. Best bet is an SSD upgrade.

[Per Hansson]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Clock-per-clock, core-per-core, is there anything really that much faster in order of magnitude than Wolfdale/Yorkfield/Harpertown? More efficient, yes. Faster? Not by much.

Well, I had a Yorkfield Xeon X3370 before, for sure the new Haswell-E is clock for clock much much faster!
But just as Topcat mentioned it's not like it's necessary.
I just had this itch to upgrade finally after all these years on Socket 775

Aint nothing getting any faster until billions are poured into re-writing stuff to be more optimized for multithreading. And that aint happening anytime soon. Best bet is an SSD upgrade.

Absolutely true!

[mockingbird]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Well, I had a Yorkfield Xeon X3370 before, for sure the new Haswell-E is clock for clock much much faster!

Now you've got me really curious on how an X5492 would have stacked up in that setup. 1600Mhz FSB chip with an advertised 150W TDP (though Harpertowns are usually only half to three-quarters of their advertised TDP spec).

[ratdude747]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

I know the 3632QM (ivy bridge i7) in my Latitude E6430 kicks ass. In benchmarks, it's barely beaten by twin Clovertown quad core xeon's, and that's with 32GB of RAM and a separate GPU. Before that the i7 was faster than my nicest workstation...

[dmill89]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

I know the 3632QM (ivy bridge i7) in my Latitude E6430 kicks ass. In benchmarks, it's barely beaten by twin Clovertown quad core xeon's, and that's with 32GB of RAM and a separate GPU. Before that the i7 was faster than my nicest workstation...

Sandy/Ivy Bridge are still very competitive performance wise. Things have been pretty stagnant (especially on the mobile side) performance wise since (there may have been gains in efficiency, but only slight improvement in performance). From Sandy/Ivy bridge to Sky Lake you only get a 10-20% bump in performance from 4 generations, pretty pathetic. That is what happens when there is little to no completion (seriously AMD needs to step up its game if only to give Intel a reason to do better), not that I'm complaining about being able to go 6+ years between CPU upgrades (having just replaced my old circa 2008 Core2Quad Q9450 desktop this spring, and running a 4 year old Dell Precision M4600 with an I7-2860qm that is nearly as fast as a new one for a fraction of the price).

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Now you've got me really curious on how an X5492 would have stacked up in that setup. 1600Mhz FSB chip with an advertised 150W TDP (though Harpertowns are usually only half to three-quarters of their advertised TDP spec).

I'm running a pair of those in my office machine. I guess I could novabench it....but not sure how you could definitively tell in real time the wattage drawn by a processor.

[lorins_core]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Nice Server. Boss Topcat.... Cheers...

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Now you've got me really curious on how an X5492 would have stacked up in that setup. 1600Mhz FSB chip with an advertised 150W TDP (though Harpertowns are usually only half to three-quarters of their advertised TDP spec).

Heres what novabench has to say about them:

[mockingbird]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Pardon me for saying this, but Novabench doesn't really give a clear picture of raw performance here... Looking at their comparison chart, it's difficult to ascertain their correlation between the overall score and the system configuration:

[ratdude747]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

IIRC my i7 scored 987 (it's in a thread around here).

[dmill89]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

Pardon me for saying this, but Novabench doesn't really give a clear picture of raw performance here... Looking at their comparison chart, it's difficult to ascertain their correlation between the overall score and the system configuration:

Those looks like those only list overall scores which take into account both CPU and GPU so a system with a powerful CPU and integrated graphics will score lower than a system with a mid-range CPU and mid-range GPU, for example my I7-4790 system with a Radeon R9-380 scores 1905 on that tool (below) while the one listed their scores scored 1111, but has integrated graphics, while both systems will have roughly equal performance on non-GPU intensive tasks. The tool might not be the most accurate indicator of performance either, but listing the composite scores on their comparison with no break-down in this list makes it even worse (you can click the scores for details, but it isn't obvious and doesn't allow for quick comparisons). Though you can click the "top CPUs and top GPUs to get CPU/GPU specific scores.

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

This is the RoG Maximus Formula (system shown in the first post of this thread) with a Q9650, 8GB, GTX460, and an OCZ SSD on a slow ICH9 controller. All settings are stock, nothing is overclocked:



When I get the Zotac box together, I'll check it as well....along with another little test....using my Sencore PR570, which can measure wattage draw from device mains, we'll see who wins the efficiency contest too!

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

CrystalDiskMark for the RoG Maximus Formula, OCZ Trion150 SSD on an old ICH9 controller. It's about what I was expecting.



When I remember (Ratdude), I'll run this test on the X7DWA-N with the new controller & SAS drives.

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

These results are from a Zotac Nano CI320. These are great for general purpose systems, such as web browsing, email, MS office applications, and HTPC's....but that's about it. Pretty nutless otherwise. I've built a lot of HTPC's and hide-away basic PC's built on these....but for any kind of gaming, forget it!! The GPU is weaker than the security of hilly clinton's email server....but I guess on the upside, it uses virtually no electricity. Wattage tests are coming soon.... In the mean time, novabench results are good for a chuckle. Crystalmark score wasn't too shabby though, OCZ Trion150 240GB SSD.





If this gives you any idea how small these are:





They're great for shop & bench systems. Completely fanless, no noise, no dust bunnies, run extremely well in hot environments, and are practically invisible. This is also what makes them wonderful HTPC's (especially with the built-in IR receiver for a remote). It can vesa mount to a monitor or wall mount....just dont plan on any intensive gaming! They play old 2D stuff fine. The Diablo2 test was mediocre at best. D3D performance was great as long as the automap was left off (I always play with it on and faded). When its on, game is miserably choppy. I also tried the Glide wrapper on it (which hates Aero), and in compatibility mode, really didn't perform much better than D3D....but its well known that Glide and Intel GPU's do not get along. Old stuff like starcraft and AoE played fine.

As for the Ultimate Workstation, I have found a pair of processors for it, a pair of 3.46GHz Hexacore, fastest the board allows. Memory is next. 192GB is pricey, might wait it out a little. I remember when it was over $2000, it can be had for about 900 now....but cheapskate me will hold out a little longer since this system has no immediate need/purpose.

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

...and the little Zotac CI320 deployed. This is in my workroom/parts room. I had the Asus ET2203T all-in-one in here, but I reappropriated that for something else, which left a hole here....I didn't realize how much I used the PC in here, so yea...and for web browsing and referencing tasks, its perfect!

The monitor is a Samsung Syncmaster 2493hm, 16:10 A/R, 1920x1200.







This concludes this portion of this project....yes, this is turning into several projects all rolled into one.

[stretch0069]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

ohh thats been the burning question for decades.... If for no other reason, I like horsepower!!

turbos are for panzies. no replacement for displacement.

[Topcat]

Re: The Ultimate Workstation

turbos are for panzies. no replacement for displacement.

silly little man with a dodge....