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Budget Xeon setup

D

Destro

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 3, 2002
Messages
448
I'm currently using this setup:

- Iwill MPX2
- 2x m-AMD 2500+ @ 2.4GHz
- 2x 512 MEG Corsair ECC REG PC-2100

My original was plan was to keep it until late this year, early next year.

I am aware the MPX platform is pretty much dead. So I tough about
breaking it up and go with the infamous budget Xeon setup:

- Asus PC-DL
- 2x Low voltage 1.6GHz Xeon @ 3.2GHz (Hopefully, 16 x 200)
- 2x 512 MEG of good RAM (OCZ, GeIL...)

Is it worth all the trouble to make the jump?
 
Its for a 3D workstation.

I figure I can sell my dual AMD parts and go with that Xeon setup. Should cost about
the same.

Cheap way to get some of the newer features. I don't know if there will be, overall, a
significant performance increase.
 
ive been toying around with the exact same idea for months, done some research.
dualies rule, period, but the opterons are just too expensive.

the xeons perform better than the mp's, but less than the opties, but are cheaper.

those LV xeons are hard to find though, although people sell em here in the forums from time to time. The LV xeons are also 512 cache, and lack many features of the newer cores.

if it were me, id get the ncch-dl, and two nancona cores. with good ram, your looking at close to a $900-$1000 upgrade (new), but it will perform better then the LV's, and be cheaper than an equivilant opteron system.
 
Someone on eBay is selling those LV Xeons. I can post the link if its
not against forum rules.

I'm not really looking to spend anything :)

I mean, I'm pretty sure I can sell my current dual Athlon and make
enough to buy the Xeon parts without adding extras from my pockets.

The Noconas + NCCH-DL is indeed a sweet combo. But there's no real
point for me to go for it righ now. None of the software I mainly use will
move to 64-bit any time so soon and that combo isn't cheap.

Noconas 2.8GHz + NCCH-DL versus LV 1.6GHz + PC-DL, unless I'm
mistaken the only advantage would the bigger cache from the Noconas
while the LV 1.6GHz will definetly hit 3.2GHz @ 200 FSB.

That's the way I'm seeing things, if I missed something let me know!
 
true dat, but with emt64, more headroom on the bus 533 vs 800, you got more futureability.

i may just get a dual opty board with PCI-E, slap in one opty and one gfx and wait until later to add cpu + gpu
 
So you're expecting a 100% overclock? I'm not familiar with these chips, but it doesn't sound reasonable to me to expect such a high overclock.
 
go over to the 2cpu forums and do a search on the mobo youre interested in. lots of good info. not everyone got auto 3.2 overclocks.
 
If you get the d1 stepping Xeons (sl6xk), there's a pretty good chance you can get 3ghz+ if you do the voltage mod. The best pair I have could do 3.225ghz (215x15) with 1.6v vcore doing 4 instances of mprime on linux or 2 instances of prime95 on win2k (no ht). But I have since gone back to default voltage and running cool at 13x200. I've also had the older c1 cores as well (sl6gv) and that wouldn't do 200mhz on default voltage. I had it cool and stable at 2.4ghz (16x150). Never did the vcore mod on those. As always with overclocking, ymmv.

For about $120 a pair (!), it's hard to argue the value of these LV Xeons against any Noconas. However, the NCCH-DL is the better MB choice for about $50+ more than the PC-DL. When I bought my PC-DL, the price difference was ~$100. I'd say get the LV xeons and NCCH-DL (with decent RAM you can squeeze in at ~$500) , you can always upgrade the CPUs.
 
Hey darkamage, that's a great idea!

Never tough about it that way. The LV Xeons you mentioned appear to be the
exact same ones up for auction.

Is there any specific brand/model of memory you can recommand?

If I can swing this for $600 tops, I'd be very happy.
 
I have had good luck with Mushkin RAM in general and in this case the PC3200 Valueram variety. I am not really into faster timings and my PC-DL can't supply more than 2.5V for the RAM anyway (again there is a mod for getting around that but I am not too keen on doing it either).
The forum at 2cpu is very informative. There is a long (too long!) thread for each the PC-DL and NCCH-DL. Another great resource that is a bit more focused on the PC-DL than the NCCH-DL is datamine.tk.
As potential addition to your cost, you must also consider a pair of HSFs and likely a decent EPS power supply.
Good luck!
 
Seems like that Asus PC-DL is missing some good stuff like PCI-X. Would be nice to at least have one PC-X slot.
 
While PCI-X is definitely nice (NCCH-DL has 2 PCI-X 64bit/66mhz slots), the southbridge and northbridge of these i875p boards (ie. PC-DL and NCCH-DL) is only connected by a 266MBps. Much of the PCI-X bandwidth is wasted on these boards especially since it needs to share with the non-PCI devices like the ICH5 SATA drives. This is the reason why Intel put the gigabit ethernet on the northbridge. Otherwise it could use almost half of the available bandwidth by itself.
But again, the NCCH-DL is certainly a better choice. I've read that the VRM design is also better than the PC-DL to better support the Nocona cores.
 
I just did almost the exact same thing, except I was on a K7D and MP2600s, and now am running a NCCH-DL w/ LVs. Cost me about $500 total, the board being $220 ish, CPUs I got for a steal of $85, RAM was $230 (Mushkin PC3200 LVL2 TCCD), and heatsinks were $30

Can't say much for the OC yet as I just got the RAM today, and wasn't able to OC before on the crappy 2100 I had, but I definitly am hoping for 3ghz each. I got D1 steppings
I definitly went with the NCCH-DL over the PC-DL, voltage adjustment, 6 sata ports, and 2x PCI-X slots are all pluses in my book.

Also, to the person who said these are outdated chips... they are the same core as Northwoods....
 
Thanks alot guys.

Vertigo Acid, please let me know how things turn out (like your oc results
and any if mods on the mobo were required).

I'm going to get my pair of LV Xeons very soon and shop around for an
NCCH-DL.
 
I saw a dood on Anandtech selling a xeon combo...they were both at 3.3 I think...

search for that, might be just right for you. :)
 
Cool! Went there, saw it and PM'ed the seller.

BTW, would the NCCH-DL require less mods then the PC-DL
to run those LV chips @ 3.2ghz?

I might be wrong but theoretically it seems so.
 
It is designed to run 200fsb, whereas the PC-DL just does, not really supported. Secondly, it's got vDimm and Chipset voltage adjustment, so that will help with OCs, but you've still got to do the pin mod for higher vCore.
 
I'm assuming the pin mod is like the 'U-wire' trick mod used adjust
the multi and vcore on the Athlon XP/MP boards?

Does 255$ + shipping sound fair for an NCCH-DL? That board is
nearly impossible to get an acceptable price here (Canada) but I
got someone in the States wgo's willing to ship me one.
 
I too, was wanting this kind of set up badly, but no one wants my K7D and atlhonxps turned MP2800+.

As for the Noncano versus LVxeon debate; personally I would just get the cheapest of cheap PCDL (used even) and the cheapest of of cheap LV SL6XK Xeons... UNLESS you are made of money. I eventually plan to get Dual Noncano with SLI or Dual Opties with SLI, so I know I won't have this system for too long. I figure you could pick up just the board and chips (PCDL and SL6XKs) for <$300 and thats about all I need for the Dual LV Xeon system.

Personally I dont think you'll hit 3.2GHz or even over 3GHz, but the success rate of 200FSB with the SL6XKs is pretty high, and I think that (running at 200FSB) is almost more important that clockspeed when you're running Dual Xeons that have HT (ESPECIALLY if the apps you are using are multithreaded).

That said, if I end up getting this set up, I will watercool/voltmod/etc. to get the chips as high as they'll possible go (shooting for 3.2GHz of coarse).

So my only question now is:
Do any of you guys want to buy Dual AthlonXPs turned AthlonMP 2800+ with two Thermalright SLK900s (with 80mm fans) and a MSI K7D Master (non-L)?

peace,
OriginalOCer
 
Hey!

I'm eyeing a PC-DL on eBay right now. Hopefully it will work out if not then
new will be just has good.

Big issue I just realised with the NCCH-DL is that it needs different coolers
which from pass experience are hard to egt and 3rd party are pricey.

If you want to get rid of your setup, PM me your specs. A few people were
fighting to get mine. You can also go to 2cpu.com in the FS/FT. Older dual
Athlons are still flying there.
 
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