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Xeon Compatibility on MSI X58 Platinum?

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Thanacae

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Jan 23, 2017
Hello there, I recently purchased a Xeon L5640 to replace the i7-920 I've had for a few months. However, now Im second guessing whether or not it will be compatible. Originally a forum I skimmed stated a bios update supposedly added support for Xeons, but the specific Xeons were not noted. Any information on this would be useful to put my purchase-anxiety at rest XD Thanks!!

My current system specs if curious:
i7-920 Oc'd 4.0Ghz
GTX 660 Factory Oc'd
MSI Platinum X58
12gb of ddr3
 
It does not look like it is officially supported. They did update the 'M' series board to support the Xeon line.

I did find reference to custom BIOS's, but I am not posting them here because I cannot vouch for them. Easy enough to find if you look though.

On a side note. That 5640 will gain nothing for you. It is a complete side grade. If you were putting in a 5670 it might be worth the trouble but the 5640 is pointless IMO.
 
Unless you are actually using those additional cores, that is absolutely a sidegrade. I don't see official support either bud. Personally, I'd overclock what you have or start saving for an upgrade.
 
Thats a shame. Define side-grade? And those cores were for some rendering and multitasking. Thanks for the reply guys!
 
As Earthdog said, if you can use the extra cores there is a small advantage. Will the programs you run take advantage of extra cores?

By 'sidegrade' I mean a change that results in no appreciable benefit.
 
Now I understand, thank you. And I would like to assume Premiere and live-streaming would take advantage of more physical cores?
 
my old l5640 would clock like crazy on air even. But if it does work in your board it would have to be a board that allowed crazy blck, but my old asus p6t would do 250bclk.
if you have the chip- I would at least try it as see.
worst case do some benching for the team with it
 
Thanacae said:
Now I understand, thank you. And I would like to assume Premiere and live-streaming would take advantage of more physical cores?
Click to expand...

Not enough to make it worth the trouble IMO and the lower clock speeds could be detrimental in live streaming.
 
Soulcatcher668 said:
Not enough to make it worth the trouble IMO and the lower clock speeds could be detrimental in live streaming.
Click to expand...

Would a hefty overclock on the Xeon not alleviate that? I planned on taking it up to about 3.6Ghz.
*If it works.
 
Average overclock seems to be 3.8 ghz on air according to HWbot.

Still slower than your 920.

If you have the chip, try it. If you don't, there are much better options for you to consider is my only point here.
 
Alright, thanks again for the input! Itll be arriving today so Ill be able to check out if it even works in the first place. With $30 spent on it, its not the biggest loss if it doesn't work out.
 
it would also depend on how well his 920 oc's. they are both the same basic architecture so similars clocks should return similar ability per core- except where the l5640 has more cores to throw
 
After overclocking my Xeon (which thankfully runs) to 3.4ghz, the single core performance is roughly the same as my original i7 running at 4Ghz. Due to the extra two cores of course, my multicore is 50% better than the i7. For $30, it was worth the price. My only other issue now is that I cant seem to hit 4ghz on the xeon...Hmm.
 
if the board struggles with bclk- you can try to raise the pcie bus speed to 103-105 and see if it allows y ou to make a little more. you just have to be careful as it can risk your hdd's with corruption. shouldnt be too much of a worry at those levels
 
i7-920 @4GHZ (2.66 Stock): Cinebench of 585
Xeon L5640 @ 3.6Ghz (2.66 Stock): Cinebench of 748
 
Nice. Cinebench is definitely one that will benefit from the extra cores.
What games do you stream? Run some comparative bench marks on those.

For SCIENCE! :clap:
 
Most certainly, still kickin'. Now, it is time for a bump up to a 3930K. :)
 
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