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CPU doesn't matter on the desktop unless you're doing something wrong or interesting. Hint: if you're paying for your own CPU intensive thing, try "engineering
by xyzzy123 13y ago
CPU doesn't matter on the desktop unless you're doing something wrong or interesting. Hint: if you're paying for your own CPU intensive thing, try "engineering sample intel xeon" on ebay.
If you can stand the sunk cost it's a LOT cheaper than AWS. Horses for courses YMMV etc.
I buy not-for-resale chips on a dodgy basis for fuzzing (MOAR VMS!) but on the whole, bucks per MIP, or MIPs per watt - who cares?
- mwcampbell 13y agoI think watts per unit of performance is most important, as long as the more energy-efficient CPU isn't exhorbitantly more expensive, since we only pay for the hardware itself once but pay for energy continually.
- xyzzy123 13y agoNewer xeons are viciously more expensive :/ If you can get away with an older Xeon and higher power usage, you can get more stuff per dollar per hour. Mainly, whether MIPs per watt matters depends on where you can get your stuff racked ;)
- adventured 13y agoI guess it depends on how much oomph you really need, but the e3-1230 v2 xeon is a tremendous processor (9k passmark) and can be had for the low $200s.
- xyzzy123 13y agoIntel Xeon X5650 ES 2.66 GHz 12MB 6.4GT/s 95W Hex Core (x as many as I could afford). That does look like a good chip, but dodgy engineering sample trays in 2013 you can prolly get twice as many cores. That means NO WARRANTY and like, not for work.
- yuhong 13y agoPersonally what I consider more interesting than the actual engineering sample chips is the "NDA" Preliminary Specification Updates that describes errata in these chips including steppings dating back to A0. Wonder if they are NDA after the product launched?
- xyzzy123 13y agoStepping is a big deal if you're in the NFR (not for resale) market because it often hugely changes the power envelope. However, I don't generally pay attention to the exact instruction level changes because I'm not recompiling for it. I'm not given a manual, and often the seller is e.g. a "textile manufacturer" in China. Lol.
- rz2k 13y agoI see a few of these: "•RARE• Intel Pentium III Xeon Engineering Sample" That should be a way to do something wrong and interesting.
- xyzzy123 13y agoPerhaps you could find the microcode key ;) I've had hex-cores for nearly 2 years for 500 bucks each. It varies. You have to know who has a tray of stuff they want to get rid of. That's what makes you the kind of weirdo who risks a couple grand on random ebay xeons.