eVGA Classified SR-2 Motherboard

[MiRai]

Vecter turned me onto this motherboard weeks ago. With all the crazy people we have around here I'm surprised I haven't seen this posted already. :)

http://www.evga.com/articles/00537/
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=270-WS-W555-A1

[Sajuuk]

Yep, because most of us are really in the market for dual-processor solutions.

Although it'd be fun to play with.

[Kimchee]

I was leaning towards this MB, when i was considering the upcoming 8 core xeons, but when i found out about the cost of the cpu, i decided to pass.

instead i went with
http://hothardware.com/News/Asus-Debuts-P6T7-WS-SuperComputer-Motherboard/
with i7 980x.

[Boylston]

My sketchy eVGA 680i motherboard turned me off from buying another evga board ever again. So temperamental...

[ciscokid454]

when i found out about the cost of the cpu, i decided to pass.

This.
The WR2 is/will be a performance king, however the cost of the cpu's is extremely restrictive.
If you're into A/V or anything that will fully utilize high core/threads,

[Sam DeathWalker]

The cheapest CPU for this system seems to be the 5503:

http://ark.intel.com/chipset.aspx?familyID=32423


Intel® Xeon® Processor E5503 (4M Cache, 2.00 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI) (http://www.dual-boxing.com/Product.aspx?id=37094)Intel® 5520 Chipset with 82801JB I/O Controller Hub (ICH10) (http://www.dual-boxing.com/system.aspx?groupID=37094&configID=27617&chipsetID=36778) No No 2191.6 Watts$432

At $225 each ...

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=e5503+intel&_sacat=0&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_odkw=5503+intel&_osacat=0&bkBtn=


So for about $1000 bucks you got everything but the ram.

2G ram chips are

$170 / 6G or $620 for 24G (you have to run at 800 though not 1333). The cheap processors won't let you use over 800 speed (Well the e5502 wouldnt I not sure about the e5503 but no matter) but so what there is no need for disk access while playing so lol .... Plus by underclocking the ram you can use most any 1066 rated ram.


So $1700 bucks for the core and yur whole wow folder is in ram and you have NO LAG!!!!!!!!!


Only downside is you will probably need a new case also .... bleh.

[Sajuuk]

Only downside is you will probably need a new case also .... bleh.

If you're using that board you're not going to go cheap.

Also, cool kids run cubes/naked.


...not that the majority of people here aren't cool, I just use a cube and could fit that motherboard by switching my backplane/motherboard tray.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Fry's is selling 24G of ram in 6X4G for like 1050 or so (the 1066 ram speed also), so probably the monies you save (about $400) by using 2G chips might not be worth the extra cost of this board and the extra processor and case cost.

[ciscokid454]

http://www.evga.com/support/motherboard/
Those cpu's aren't on the list for compatibility.
The memory you've seen probably won't be compatible either.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37094, shows the e5503's as having dual QPI though?!

[Noids]

Has anyone actually gamed on server class CPUs before? I realise they are made from the same cores as the consumer chips, but I thought they had a different instruction set which limited their useability for tasks such as gaming?

[Sajuuk]

Has anyone actually gamed on server class CPUs before? I realise they are made from the same cores as the consumer chips, but I thought they had a different instruction set which limited their useability for tasks such as gaming?
No, no, no, no and NO!

[Khemikal]

My daily/gaming rig is a server class processor (Intel E3110 overclocked to 4.2GHz). It runs everything perfectly fine. The general changes the server chips have are lower power consumption, requiring ECC memory, and of course price/GHz. Are there other changes yes, but if you are looking at those chips, you probably know what they have that the others dont, and why you would or wouldn't need those features (talking Itanium class chips).

[MiRai]

Has anyone actually gamed on server class CPUs before? I realise they are made from the same cores as the consumer chips, but I thought they had a different instruction set which limited their useability for tasks such as gaming?
Lax runs an older [by today's standards] dual processor Xeon system with 8 physical cores and his performance is pretty damn good.

[Oswyn]

Just installed a gaming partition on my dual Istanbul Opteron system with 12 total physical cores. Only have 8GB of RDDR2 at the moment.. The board does have dual x16 PCIe - I've got one 4870X2 in it for now..

[Noids]

Lax runs an older [by today's standards] dual processor Xeon system with 8 physical cores and his performance is pretty damn good.

Good to know ;)


No, no, no, no and NO!



ummm... so I take it that's a no then :rolleyes:

[Khemikal]

Good to know ;)



ummm... so I take it that's a no then :rolleyes:


There is NOTHING wrong with gaming on a server processor. I have been doing it for a little over a year. Just do research and make sure you are getting the proper chip. Some of them run at lower cpu speeds and don't have the multipliers to overclock them as high as normal desktop chips. They do this to lower the power the chip requires to run, thus helping them label the chips as 'low power/eco friendly/green'.

http://hwbot.org/community/submission/819317_rdrash_cpu_z_core_i7_940_5104.33_mhz 940 i7 normal desktop
http://hwbot.org/community/submission/959450_ic3_drag0n_cpu_z_xeon_w3540_5667.02_mhz W3540 (server equivalent to the 940)

And, as I have just shown one instance, sometimes the server chips ARE better for overclocking. Just as my E3110 is the exact same thing as an E8400, there are i7 counterparts too (W3520 vs 920, W3540 vs 940, X3460 vs 860, etc) . You can use these just like you could use any normal desktop version. You are going to pay more to get a server chip, but that really is the only difference.

As noted though, make sure you do the research and get the proper chip. Some will run the same clock speed but are designed for multiple cpu configurations and those generally require ECC ram which is once again more expensive and not all normal desktop motherboards support ECC.

With that said. Unless you are doing serious overclocking (dry ice, liquid nitrogen, liquid helium) I would stick with the normal desktop chips to save you money. You will not see any difference between the server and the desktop versions of these chips at daily speeds.