New System XW6600 with 2 quad cores

[Aevra]

Dear fellow boxers,

Hey im a long time lurker finding most info from other peoples posts. But to get to the point. i was thinking of getting a XW6600 with:


2x Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor E5430/ 2.66 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 80 watt.
8x 2GB 667 ram. i know this is not the optimal speed we can get these days. (atm i use ddr3) the mainboard doesnt support much higher FSB speed + this 16gb is what i get with the system.
i would like to buy a SSD with it not exacly sure wich one. (yet) (if it would support ssd even)
2x GTX 460 1gb
Now the questions are:

Can windows 7 + isboxer handle 2x quadcore and does win7+isboxer see 8 cores?
Can this mainboard (unknown brand) support 2x GTX460?
Could this system be used to multibox in total? since it is a server mainboard and so are the processors.

Im upgrading from:



System is about 2 years old dont know the exact brands or exact type names.

MSI X48 Platinum mainboard
1x Quadcore 2.66Ghz (not exacly sure what E nr) socked 775
4gb ram ddr3 1333 ghz OCZ
1x EAH3870x2 (this is basicly 1 videocard with 2 gpu's)
2x 1T HDD's 75.000 RPM
with cata i would like to have a new system to box since my system atm is having a hard time.

does anyone know if this is posible? would this be a smart choise since i can buy this system for like 30 bucks. 20 euro. all i would have to add is GPU's and SSD. wich would net me around 400-500 euro. and buying a whole new system would cost me 1500-1600 euro. but it would have I7, multiple SSD and DDR3.

just wondering if this would work and if it does it would save me alot of money.

thanks in advance and sorry for my grammar.

Greetings,
Xevra team.

[päws]

Windows 7 supports up to 256 cores, it's the number of processors that are the limiter (2 is fine though)
They cant have SSD
They do support 2 video cards, but unsure on that particular card.

Edit: heres the datasheet for it: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/pscmisc/vac/us/product_pdfs/xw6600_datasheet_jun09_061609.pdf

If you're wanting to put new technology in a box, you should get a newer box. You can't teach an old box new tricks (zing)

[Aevra]

"They cant have SSD"

Could you explain why? since this is one of the must have things.

im thinking that the videocards would work just not in SLI. but i dont realy care bout SLI.

Greetings,

Xevra

[päws]

Did you read the data sheet? It has SATA 2 connectors, SSD prefers SATA3 - prob still run but not get full performance out of them.

It does have 2 x PCIx16 so may allow the cards. No idea on SLI.

Remind me why you're trying for force an old piece of crap to operate instead of getting a proper computer?

[Aevra]

Did you read the data sheet?

Yes i did. im not sure what to look for.

(Integrated SATA 3.0 Gb/s Controller, RAID 0, 1, 5 capability)

[EaTCarbS]

You would be much better off getting a newer i5/i7 system imo.

[Noids]

I agree in getting a core i7 system ideally, but I can understand that this is a much cheaper alternative and I think you are getting a pretty good deal on the system at that price.

For SSDs, SATA2 is fine, some of the newer ones will hit the max transfer speed fairly quickly but this is for large sequential reads. The value of SSDs for us is in small file random reads which normally run at a slower transfer rate and high IOPs which are not so limited by the SATA2 bus.

For the price of the system I don't see any harm in trying it. Get the system, add your GPUs and an SSD. I use 2 x intel X25M 80gb drive in raid 0 which work well. If I was buying now however I would get an OCZ vertex 2 drive which uses a sandforce controller. If you are looking to buy in the new year then there will be a new generation of SSDs available but keep in mind these will be more likely to hit your SATA2 bus limits.

Windows 7 should be fine with the dual CPU setup. Isboxer will see 8 cores for current i7 chips with hyperthreading enabled so I can't see it having a problem with a dual CPU setup although Lax should be able to confirm this.

If you get the system and it doesn't perform to expectation then all you have lost is 30 bucks. You can buy yourself a chiny new i7 system and put the dual 460s and SSD into the new build without a problem. On the surface however I can not see that system having any problems 5 boxing. Saying that however, you could always just upgrade your current system with dual GPUs , another 4GB ram and an SSD and I think you would probably get similar performance. Your current system is probably limited by the ram mainly so if you wanted to see if this would be worthwhile, start with the ram upgrade and work from there.

Cheers

[Sam DeathWalker]

I'ma gonna get the ocz revo (200 bucks for 50G), being a SSD on the PCIe buss it don't matter if your MB dosn't have SATA3, and its the fastest SSD at 560 or so read.

[daviddoran]

Did you read the data sheet? It has SATA 2 connectors, SSD prefers SATA3 - prob still run but not get full performance out of them.

It does have 2 x PCIx16 so may allow the cards. No idea on SLI.

Remind me why you're trying for force an old piece of crap to operate instead of getting a proper computer?

Not true about SATA 3Gb/s vs SATA 6Gb/s. Only a handful of SSD drives saturate the bandwidth of SATA2, and even then, it's a very small performance difference. Note the difference in naming for SATA. They discontinued the use of "sata3" so as not to confuse people with the speed, vs the generation. SATA Revision 1 is 1.5Gb/s 150 MB/s, SATA revision 2 is 3 Gb/s 300MB/s and SATA Revision 3 is 6 Gb/s 600 MB/s. Most good SSDs are under 300MB/s, so SATA 2 is more than sufficient.

For SLI, if the mobo doesn't support it, it wont work. But usually, Crossfire will work.

That said, to the OP, Don't bother with dual quad core chips of last gen tech. Save yourself a ton of money and headache, and just get a core i7 6 core. Should be faster than 8 cores of the old architecture, much simpler too.

I just re read and noticed the incredible price for the upgrade. For that price, I'd say it's worth it. Windows will see all 8 cores, ISBoxer will work fine too, you can assign all 8 cores however you wish. You can get nvidia cards and utilize both x16 slots, but wouldn't be able to enable SLI, but if all you want is more monitors, then the point is moot. Keep in mind, that your current video card will probably be just fine in the new system, so you don't have to upgrade that right away, and should you wish to go to a core i7 later, the video cards and SSDs will work perfectly there too.

[Aevra]

Morning fellow boxers,

Thanks all for the information. as some of you said im going to try it out today and see if it runs fair in dalaran. i posted it in the first place because i repair computers for medical proposes. these systems like xw6600 and xw8600 also the Z400 and the Z600 are sent to us for repair. most of the times these systems come with no CPU. those server CPU's are wanted items so most of the time these things are "stolen". and a system without CPU is declared beyond economic repair, so i tought i could buy one system without CPU and then wait for a system wich has a CPU but where the chassis is bend/broken (wich indicates its not trushtworthy hardware for medical proposes anymore). that has happend and i can take it home today. this is a way cheaper than buying an I7, if it plays good then im happy with it. if the 30 bucks mean i can box for another 6-12 months then i think im going for this instead of an I7 system wich would cost me 1500 euro more :P. thanks again for all the info and different thoughts about this.

just one question. could anyone recomend me a nice SSD even if it hits the max speed. if this system doesnt work as i want to im going for a new system wich does support SSD so everything i buy can be used in that new system.

EDIT:

ooh yes i forgot to say im not realy going for SLI/Crossfire, since i want to connect 3 monitors 2 widescreens turned vertical so each screen has 2 wows and then a 19" non-widescreen for my main.

PS. a RL friend of mine recomended on the GPU GTX465 and try and unlock it. anyone know something more about this? is this card easy clockable?

sorry for the bad english i think most understand what is writen.

Greetings,

Xevra

[Sajuuk]

If you don't know the model of the motherboard could you post a picture?

Oh --next to free hardware: Nice grab!

Pick a size and go for it. You can get some used/RMA'd 128GB SSDs for 175/new for 225. It depends on what you want to do, if you wanted to have your OS and wow on the ssd I'd say go for a bigger drive.

As far as the drives themselves, it would be best to do your own research for what you want. A 100 dollar value 32Gb ssd could be just what you need or you may want to go a 60 or 90/120.

I love my Vertex 120Gb.

Regarding the clockability of the GTX465, I don't know. If you want three monitors you can do two or more nvidia cards or just use one of the newer (5XXX/6XXX) cards from AMD.

[Aevra]

If you don't know the model of the motherboard could you post a picture?

Oh --next to free hardware: Nice grab!

Pick a size and go for it. You can get some used/RMA'd 128GB SSDs for 175/new for 225. It depends on what you want to do, if you wanted to have your OS and wow on the ssd I'd say go for a bigger drive.

As far as the drives themselves, it would be best to do your own research for what you want. A 100 dollar value 32Gb ssd could be just what you need or you may want to go a 60 or 90/120.

I love my Vertex 120Gb.

Regarding the clockability of the GTX465, I don't know. If you want three monitors you can do two or more nvidia cards or just use one of the newer (5XXX/6XXX) cards from AMD.

Hello fellow boxers,

Thanks for the well explained info Sajuuk, il do some research on the SSD's. I was thinking about taking 2, one bigger one like 64Gb for OS and perhaps 32Gb for wow. il post back when i know more. cant wait to get the second quadcore .

Thanks all for the quick replys :)

Greetings,

Xevra

[TeamGrizzly]

This board (http://www.evga.com/articles/00537/) should the ultimate for multi-boxing.

[burningforce]

Hello fellow boxers,

Thanks for the well explained info Sajuuk, il do some research on the SSD's. I was thinking about taking 2, one bigger one like 64Gb for OS and perhaps 32Gb for wow. il post back when i know more. cant wait to get the second quadcore .

Thanks all for the quick replys :)

Greetings,

Xevra


hello, if you are planning on getting a SSD for WoW, make sure it is 64GB or more of disk space. I have the intel 40GB value drive, while great for playing wow, i had to transfer my WoW folder on to my mechanical hard drive due to the size of the latest patch just so I can have room to expand the patch files. And even without the patch files on the ssd, I am down to 14GB of space left, not sure about the newer SSD controllers, but when a SSD gets somewhat full its performance takes a hit.

So just something else to look out for :)

[Noids]

For your purposes at the moment I wouldn't worry about a 2 small budget SSDs, I would get a decent 120GB one to do WoW and OS.

The original problem with running your OS of an SSD has been largely resolved with new controllers and TRIM support so go for a 120/128GB SSD using the Sandforce 1200 controller.

Your options with these specs are the OCZ Vertex 2, Corsair Force, GSkill Phoenix Pro, Crucial RealSSD and many more. They are all very similar products, but the important part is that they use the Sandforce controller which is the current leader in performance. They may quote slightly different speeds etc. but in reality the main difference will be in support of the product. They will be between $2-300US for a 120GB drive.

OCZ was one of the companies that worked fairly hard with SSD development initially and does have a good support history so if I was personally in the market I would probably pick up a Vertex 2 at the moment.

Cheers

[Aevra]

For your purposes at the moment I wouldn't worry about a 2 small budget SSDs, I would get a decent 120GB one to do WoW and OS.

The original problem with running your OS of an SSD has been largely resolved with new controllers and TRIM support so go for a 120/128GB SSD using the Sandforce 1200 controller.

Your options with these specs are the OCZ Vertex 2, Corsair Force, GSkill Phoenix Pro, Crucial RealSSD and many more. They are all very similar products, but the important part is that they use the Sandforce controller which is the current leader in performance. They may quote slightly different speeds etc. but in reality the main difference will be in support of the product. They will be between $2-300US for a 120GB drive.

OCZ was one of the companies that worked fairly hard with SSD development initially and does have a good support history so if I was personally in the market I would probably pick up a Vertex 2 at the moment.

Cheers

As soon as i saw this post i was happy i did buy the right SSD. Last friday i went to the store and was planning to buy a 120GB OCZ Vertex 2 so i bought it and builded it in. been playing some time this weekend and have to admit its really worth the buck. dalaran runs smooth/ much better as before. Instand loading times. With this SSD my system runs 5x wow better than the system of my roommate wich runs 1x wow in dalaran. Before on my old system it was visa versa. At first i dident believe it would boost my preformance this much since i tought my cpu/ram would be the bottleneck. but this ssd does wonders. You cant really mesure in FPS or things like that. But it just feels different.

This last weekend it was AV weekend on Grim Batol EU, A RL friend of mine is a good geared warrior tank so me and some other friends went AV with me 5x resto shaman. We did the rush tactic i could keep up prety much everyone with 5x chain heal. Its 95% an instand win.

Anyway to keep things short. these few first days have changed my boxing experiance. i had great fun and would recommend any boxer an SSD.

Srry for the bad english.

Thanks for all the replys and help,

Greetings,

Xevra