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Author Topic: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?  (Read 2980 times)

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comda

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Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« on: August 02, 2017, 02:15:15 PM »
Greetings Computerhope!

I have 2 machines that are very close in generation and spec. But im not too familiar with Xeon machines and was wondering if i could get help with distinguishing between the two. What i have is a Z600 and Z620 work station.

Im just wondering about the CPU/Board differences etc. Since they have been altered i will list specs. but i essentially need to know which one is better to go with. Im guaranteed the 600, but i know up front the 620 has USB 3.

what i do know.

Z600
DUal CPU X5647 at 2.93Ghz (2 quad core CPus)
8gb ram
Nvbidia quadro 4000


Z620
Single CPU E5-2640 @ 2.5Ghz (single Quad core?)
8gb ram
@ Nvidia Quatro 600s

My plan is to add some RAM and SSD and a nice GPU to make this a nice modern machine. What are your thoughts on these? Like i said i dont know much about Xeon machines and I'm hoping to learn about these boards etc. Are there any major differences between the two machines?

« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 02:35:13 PM by comda »

BC_Programmer


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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2017, 02:48:21 PM »
If you have them both why not run synthetic benchmarks to compare the two? Both of them should be fine, and it is going to depend a lot on what you want to do with them.


The Z600 is better as configured. Individually a X5647 is likely not as good as a E5-2640, but at both a higher clock speed AND with two X5647's, I'd expect it to outperform both in single and multi-core scenarios.

The Z620 also only has one CPU socket, from what I can find.
I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

comda

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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2017, 03:19:21 PM »
Greetings Bc programmer.

Sadly I don't have access to the 620.. Hence why im leaning more to the 600 as I've been using it at work and added the second CPU to it. I'm currently running an outdated AMD fx cup and being that this 600 benched 13K on geek bench I figured if I stuck in a nice Gpu it would be half decent for some gaming. It would get a Msi 6870 Gpu for now till I can get something better for it.

I was told the same thing that they are pretty equal but being the 600 has dual CPUs is better at this current setup. The 620 is a single CPU machine yes. I was looking more mobo bottle necks. As I mentioned first one I've found is the missing USB 3 on the 600 but I have a PCi card available for it. So that doesn't bother me too much.

michaewlewis



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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2017, 03:56:35 PM »
I would go with the dual-proc. But keep in mind that dual cpu machines need the same amount of ram installed for each cpu to perform best.
Also check out this comparison of cpu's: http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Xeon-X5647-vs-Intel-Xeon-E5-2640
Even though the Z600 is less on most of the specs, just the fact that there are two of them adds enough to make it slightly better.

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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2017, 06:38:44 PM »
Ultimately it comes down to what you are doing, the Z620 is a good couple of generations newer than the Z600 so while it has less cores and probably less total CPU power, it'll be significantly more power efficient and therefore quieter.  It'll also support newer standards such as USB3.0, SATA III and potentially newer PCI-E standards.  The Z600 technically has more cores although with a pair of 130w TDP CPUs it's going to use pretty crazy amount of power compared to the Z620 with its single 95w TDP chip.

Another consideration would be the power supplies, both machines use proprietary units so upgrading it isn't really going to be an option for adding a GPU.  You'll need to check your particular machines although from what I can see, the Z620 has a 800w PSU which would be plenty headroom for a decent GPU.  The Z600 looks to only have a 650W unit which while it isn't terrible, you may risk pushing it a bit given the power required by the CPUs in that system.

The CPU in the Z620 is actually 6 core although if you check eBay you can easily pick up compatible 8 core Xeon E5 chips for well under $100 - There's currently a massive number of them available on the market due to regular refresh cycles in large enterprises and therefore the prices are ridiculously low!

The way I see it, unless you need the absolute most CPU power you can get, the Z620 would be the machine I would go for.

comda

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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #5 on: August 03, 2017, 10:11:58 AM »
Ultimately it comes down to what you are doing, the Z620 is a good couple of generations newer than the Z600 so while it has less cores and probably less total CPU power, it'll be significantly more power efficient and therefore quieter.  It'll also support newer standards such as USB3.0, SATA III and potentially newer PCI-E standards.  The Z600 technically has more cores although with a pair of 130w TDP CPUs it's going to use pretty crazy amount of power compared to the Z620 with its single 95w TDP chip.

Another consideration would be the power supplies, both machines use proprietary units so upgrading it isn't really going to be an option for adding a GPU.  You'll need to check your particular machines although from what I can see, the Z620 has a 800w PSU which would be plenty headroom for a decent GPU.  The Z600 looks to only have a 650W unit which while it isn't terrible, you may risk pushing it a bit given the power required by the CPUs in that system.

The CPU in the Z620 is actually 6 core although if you check eBay you can easily pick up compatible 8 core Xeon E5 chips for well under $100 - There's currently a massive number of them available on the market due to regular refresh cycles in large enterprises and therefore the prices are ridiculously low!

The way I see it, unless you need the absolute most CPU power you can get, the Z620 would be the machine I would go for.

WOW. i thought it was just a Quad Core. As for Power supplies i completely over looked that. The Z600 has only 1x 6pin for GPU and i'd have to rig something up. While the Z620 has the proper 2.. The plan is for one of these machines to replace my current machine which is honestly a decent tower, but i need a little more power. My main annoyance will be the non replaceable PSU/Mobo as its proprietary. My current build is:

AMD FX 8120
Asus M5A97 (rev 1.0)
8gb Ram
MSI R6870 1gb Vram

Its been a great machine but im being offered one of these for a good price. They seem like power houses. My plan is to get Maybe a Nvidia 1060 or something comparable and use it as my daily PC/Gaming unit. Just want to ensure its worth me wasting my time on this unit. Im not leaning more on the Z620. Just hope it can do everything i need it to. I want to be able to put my current spindle drives into it, plus my tiny SSD. Just unlike my AMD, this thing has a lack of expandable stuff.


comda

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Re: Learning Xeon machines and choosing..... Little Help please?
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2017, 07:20:27 AM »
*I am now leaning to the Z620...*