Haswell Workstation

Jonathan

Hi,

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading my 3 year old workstation with a new CPU/MoBo/RAM combo. Ideally, I'd like just add more RAM, but with the current DDR2 costs, this is a stupid idea.

HWVS have just got Ivy Bridge stuff in stock, and it seems quite reasonably priced. It looks to me like it isn't worth holding off for it to drop.

I spent all of time in Linux and so I've got zero interest in overclocking. The graphics card only exists for the one or two times a month I boot into Windows for playing games.

Can anyone see any problem with the upgrades below?

Current specs:
Type|Item
CPU|Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
MoBo|Gigabyte P43-DS3
RAM|4096MB Corsair XMS2 PC8500
GPU|XFX HD6770 1024MB
SSD|Crucial C300 64GB
HDD|Hitachi Deskstar 1TB
DVD|Samsung SH-223Q
Case|Coolermaster Elite 360
Sound|Creative X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty
PSU|Corsair CX400W


Proposed upgrades:
Item|Price
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€212.85
Gigabyte H77-D3H, Intel H77, ATX|€80.16
2 x 8GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9|€82.92
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€394.92

luyolo

You can't overclock on the h77 board. might aswell go for http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=57137&agid=1601

Jonathan

luyolo wrote: »

You can't overclock on the h77 board. might aswell go for http://www2.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=57137&agid=1601

I've got zero interest in overclocking. That said, it is only €9 more for a Z77 Gigabyte board...

Either that, or wait for the non-K version of the i5-3570.


EDIT: That Z77 board is actually a downgrade in many ways. The real Z77 version of the H77 board I originally chose is this one, for €22 more.

U_Fig

If you have no plan to overclock then the k model processor is pointless the locked models will be cheaper.. In saying the benifit of an odd overclock when gaming might be useful

Brian

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/2973484/valve-is-developing-steam-for-linux-says-michael-larabel-of-phoronix

Serephucus

It's not like the 3570K is not going to perform at its full potential on a H77 board, you can just go for it. Having said that, you'd be insane to completely exclude overclocking (especially if you've never tried it, or have had one bad experience or something). You owe it to yourself to look into it first without relying purely on preconceptions.

Brian wrote: »

http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/25/2973484/valve-is-developing-steam-for-linux-says-michael-larabel-of-phoronix

Fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu...

Hell yes.

Unregistered.

Why aren't you going for a 16GB kit?

deconduo

Ivy benchmarks don't show much of an improvement over Sandy Bridge, given the current prices I'd recommend SB over it. Also you do know that overclocking isn't a windows thing, it works for Linux too. If whatever tasks you're doing are being bottlenecked by the CPU, going from 3.3 GHz to 4.6GHz will help a huge amount. It takes about 30 seconds to do it as well, just bump up the multiplier and you're done.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-2500K Box, LGA1155|€189.79
Thermalright True Spirit 120|€23.84
ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€81.59
2 x 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€34.67

Shipping|€18.99
Total|€383.55

Unregistered.

deconduo wrote: »

Ivy benchmarks don't show much of an improvement over Sandy Bridge, given the current prices I'd recommend SB over it. Also you do know that overclocking isn't a windows thing, it works for Linux too. If whatever tasks you're doing are being bottlenecked by the CPU, going from 3.3 GHz to 4.6GHz will help a huge amount. It takes about 30 seconds to do it as well, just bump up the multiplier and you're done.

Well, it's a given that A) Ivy Bridge is an improvement over Sandy and The prices will normalize to Sandy Bridge levels in the future, so I'd be inclined to cough up the 4 pints and go for Ivy now.

Jonathan

Unregistered. wrote: »

Why aren't you going for a 16GB kit?

Good catch. The 16GB kit is €2 cheaper. I just went with 2*8GB kits because in general they tend to work out cheaper.

deconduo wrote: »

Ivy benchmarks don't show much of an improvement over Sandy Bridge, given the current prices I'd recommend SB over it.

Thanks for the spec, but for the sake of a tenner, it doesn't seem worthwhile to go with Sandy when I can get Ivy.

deconduo wrote: »

Also you do know that overclocking isn't a windows thing, it works for Linux too.

Yes, I'm fully aware of that, but this is a workstation, and I'm more concerned about system stability.

deconduo wrote: »

If whatever tasks you're doing are being bottlenecked by the CPU, going from 3.3 GHz to 4.6GHz will help a huge amount. It takes about 30 seconds to do it as well, just bump up the multiplier and you're done.

I'm not CPU bound, I'm RAM bound. The Q9550 is a fine workhorse.

As I said, if DDR2 prices were any way reasonable, I'd just buy more RAM and be done with it.

deconduo

Jonathan wrote: »

Good catch. The 16GB kit is €2 cheaper. I just went with 2*8GB kits because in general they tend to work out cheaper.


Thanks for the spec, but for the sake of a tenner, it doesn't seem worthwhile to go with Sandy when I can get Ivy.


Yes, I'm fully aware of that, but this is a workstation, and I'm more concerned about system stability.


I'm not CPU bound, I'm RAM bound. The Q9550 is a fine workhorse.

As I said, if DDR2 prices were any way reasonable, I'd just buy more RAM and be done with it.

Yeah if you definitely aren't overclocking then drop the 3750k and go for this instead:
http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=56297&agid=1617

Brian

More cores! More virtual cores!

Jonathan

Baza210 made the good point that the 3570k and Z77 combo might be easier to sell on when the time comes.

Bad news is that HWVS is now out of stock.

Item|Price
Gigabyte Z77-D3H, Intel Z77, ATX|€102.80
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€212.85
16GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9|€78.02
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€412.66

Brian

http://www1.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=51673&agid=1242

8 cores ;D

I might get 'un over the summer if I get a job. I think my mobo is compatible with Bulldozer.

imitation

I didn't realize the bulldozer performs so well, its pretty tempting, I guess the extra cores don't do too much for games though ?. I'm considering building a new ivy bridge rig in a few months, is there any direct equivalent to the i5 2500k for bang for buck ?

Jonathan

I waited for the motherboards to come back into stock before placing the order and now the build has gone up by €10, making an i7 build more attractive...

Item|Price
16GB-Kit Corsair XMS3 PC3-12800U CL9|€83.49
Gigabyte H77-D3H, Intel H77, ATX|€80.78
Intel Core i7-3770 Box, LGA1155|€269.98
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€453.24

Jonathan

So in the end I never actually got around to ordering this Ivy Bridge upgrade; Now looking to upgrade the machine (spec in first post), so I may as well look to Haswell.

I grabbed 16GB of Corsair RAM from the BA thread last week for €88, so I'm already sorted on that front.

I've decided to get a new case too. The current one is too pokey, and has no cable management.

How do the parts below look before I submit the order?

Item|Price
Gigabyte H87-D3H, ATX|€92.61
Intel Core i7-4770 Box, LGA1150|€260.47
Antec One, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€45.69
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€417.76

Serephucus

I'd throw in a better cooler too. Haswell gets pretty hot, and the stock cooler is a bit of a hairdryer.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/Intel+AMD/59387/Cooler+Master+Hyper+212+EVO++-+Intel+AMD.article

Jonathan

Serephucus wrote: »

I'd throw in a better cooler too. Haswell gets pretty hot, and the stock cooler is a bit of a hairdryer.

Even at stock speeds?

Serephucus

Yup, up to 85°C under sustained load, and that's with the fan roaring its head off.

http://www.legitreviews.com/intel-core-i7-4770k-haswell-3-5ghz-quad-core-cpu-review_2203/13

BloodBath

Just to give you a cheaper alternative with a nicer silent case with plenty of room for expansion. You could go with your initial case if you want to save more. The xeon is basically the same as an i7 3770, just 100mhz slower and without the igp. It would only be about 10% slower than the 4770.

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1230v2, boxed, LGA1155|€202.63
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.85
ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP, Sockel 1155, ATX|€74.54
Nanoxia Deep Silence Two Anthracite, ohne Netzteil|€78.33
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€392.34

Jonathan

Serephucus wrote: »

Yup, up to 85°C under sustained load, and that's with the fan roaring its head off.

Ugh. I've never had any issues with the stock HSF on my Q9550, so I thought this would be the same. I ordered the Corsair Vengeance RAM on the assumption that I wouldn't need an aftermarket HSF, and therefore I'd be okay with the large DIMM heatsinks.

Might have to put that fan on I/O backplate side of 212 EVO heatsink in pull mode rather than standard config of push mode on RAM side?

BloodBath wrote: »

Just to give you a cheaper alternative with a nicer silent case with plenty of room for expansion. You could go with your initial case if you want to save more. The xeon is basically the same as an i7 3770, just 100mhz slower and without the igp. It would only be about 10% slower than the 4770.

Yeah, I had also been looking at the Xeons too, albeit the Haswell v3 variety. I thought that Xeons don't come with a stock HSF though, so any savings made by going Xeon would be spent on an aftermarket HSF instead? I thought I'd be better off sticking with a 4770, using the stock HSF and getting IGP for free.

The equivalent Xeon build works out almost identical price-wise.

Item|Price
Intel Xeon E3-1240v3 Box, LGA1150|€233.04
Gigabyte H87-D3H, ATX|€92.44
Antec One, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€45.63
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - Intel/AMD|€28.66
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€418.76
Now I don't know what to do... Everything is out of stock now anyway, so I guess I've a few days to decide.

BloodBath

The stock fan is pretty useless. High temps and noise compared to even cheap after market solutions. Neither the 212 evo or the other cheaper cooler overlap the ram slots on most boards even with the fan on push.

The xeons do come with a stock fan which is just as poor though. The noise levels would be far lower on the other build with the better cooler and silenced case but if noise levels aren't important then it doesn't matter.

The price isn't identical as you are buying a cheaper case. The ivy would be €60 cheaper with the same case. You can get xeons with igp's. They are the models ending with 5, e.g. the 1240v3 has no igp, 1245v3 has an igp.

Since you already had a graphics card I didn't see the need for one but if you want to save power you might as well grab one with an igp.

Anyway I was just throwing it in there as an option.