I currently have a intel quad core 6700 cpu with 4gb ram, and an nvidia 8800gts card.
I want to upgrade, but these are the factors I need to consider:
1. Would I get a much better performance switching to a dual quad core system ?
2. Are xeon proccessors a lot quicker than my current processor, do they come in quad core ?
3. Which motherboard should I get ?
Apart from that, the rest of the system for me is an easier choice.
One other thing I was considering was buying a server module with a high spec inside so I can just render over the network. Any advice as to which specs or system would be worth going for ?
Any ideas or advice about which components or systems to go for would be appreciated.
Clock for clock the the Quad cores and the Xeons are about the same, maybe some slight cache speed increase in the Xeons. The benefit is that you can have 2 quads , 8 cores, in one system giving you an 90% +/- speed increase over your current rig.
ok, so if I bought the standard quad cores instead of the xeons and got a dual motherboard that would be the same as dual xeons. Does the cache amount make much difference. Do you know of a good dual intel motherboard ?
I wonder if it would be worth me posting a kind of benchmarking scene so we can test the time difference. Im just interested how much quicker your system would be over mine.
Does anyone know if the Xworks systems are good, and what kind of cost they are ? I was looking at the 20i 64
Do a search in the forum for “benchmark” and there is a thread with a whole heap of users benchmarks on heaps of different machines.
I am currently ordering a render node and have gone with a dual Xeon E5420 (2.5Ghz, 12MB L3 - the 5400 series is the new 45nm technology and the 2.8ghz+ have a 1600 FSB) on a Tyan Tempest i5400XT motherboard. Also look at the Supermicro X7DWA-N motherboard which supports the 1600 FSB speed.
Cheers
Thats good info. Im based in the UK so not sure if you can get the motherboards or cpus yet. Im thinking 2 2.6ghz xeons would be good…a lot faster than my quad core 6700.
Anyone know of any good places in the UK to get components from…I use scan generally. Plus I couldnt afford to get everything in one payment and they do interest free for 12 months..which is always cool.
would it not be cheaper and less hassle to just get a new mac pro? They are all dual quads now. Brand new harpertown processors running at 2.8ghz (faster than the old 3.0ghz xeons) starting at £1749 and if you can find someone with an NUS you can get 14-15% off.
