Xeon 45nm quad X3350 (same as Q9450) in stock

The X3350 is a Xeon processor, everyone like me who is a professional systemadministrator knows that they are "pre-configured" for server environments. Don't buy them unless you run a server, on a workstation you'll see reduced performance. Anyway, that article pretty much confirms what I'm saying.

Stick to the Q9xxx series, I'm serious guys.

Being a sys admin has nothing to do with cpu architecture. I'm running a xeon on my desktop at home and i have absolutely no reduced performance. Matter of fact, i had an increase since it overclocks better than my e6850.

Sorry Scar but comparing a E3110 to a lower clocked Conroe doesn't add anything to this discussion due to different architectural improvements. I am sure that subject experience is pretty good since the measurable difference is only measurable in benches for the most part. Compare it against an E8400 @4.0ghz performance or post your benches and let the an E8400 owner post theirs. We would like to know if and what the difference really is.

sure, if you can find someone with the exact same setup as me but using an e8400 instead. I'll be more than happy to run the benchmark for ya.
Oh and while we're on the subject, could you please tell me exactly what "pre-configured" for a server environment means? How is the chip any different. Just like the s939 opteron "server" processors that everyone was using a while back, there was no difference other than a name.

Here's my 3dmark06 Score
http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=5905980&compareResultType=14

cpu is 445x9 memory at 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15
gpu is at 745/1850/1000.
WinXP SP2

I would also like to point you to this thread over at XS http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=178255

First, nice score and I wasn't being overly critical of you. Only that any comparision needs to be between a Xeon and a desktop cpu of the same architecture to accurately assess any performance difference otherwise we have apples and oranges comparisions.

JohnD said:

The X3350 is a Xeon processor, everyone like me who is a professional systemadministrator knows that they are "pre-configured" for server environments. Don't buy them unless you run a server, on a workstation you'll see reduced performance. Anyway, that article pretty much confirms what I'm saying.

Stick to the Q9xxx series, I'm serious guys.

Click to expand...

Um..I dont think so......Thats some pretty bad info there.

Having worked on various amounts of IT infrastructure hardware over the last ten years, there's NOWHERE that a "systems admin" learns about architectural differences in a proprietary Intel processor unless Intel themselves produces documentation to that effect.

So, unless you're one of the engineers who helped design the Intel Xeon 32xx / Q9xxx series or you magically have uncovered the missing documentation of these features, you don't have a leg to stand on. Intel has (so far as google can find) made no such statements, pro or con, as to what (if any) the differences are between the Xeon 32xx and the Q9xxx chips other than voltage and TDP ranges.

Check out this ORB comparison Craxbax. The two scores are very close. Granted we have no idea what gpu clocks, memory clocks/timings and dividers were being used. So i would put the difference of the two scores into that margin of error.

http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=4709961&compareResultType=14

*EDIT* Bah, seems the link isn't working

Same video cards & amount of system ram
It was an e8400 with 14686 3DMarks
vs. my e3110 with 14579 3DMarks

the 8400 was 2Mhz faster plus the other unknowns i mentioned.

I would agree that that difference is within configuration/drivers/margin of error differences. The cpu score was close to yours so either 3dMark isn't a good benchmark choice for any differences in rendering or there really isn't much of a difference between the E3110 and E8400 as originally proposed.

I wish I saved all of my screenies over the years...but I have run Xeons for the last 2 years right along with their desktop counterparts. I used to have screenies from 2 CPUs, 1-Xeon 3060 and 1-desktop E6600 with the same L629B batch code. Both CPUs would OC to 3.71GHz with 1.4vcore. There was absolutely NO difference in benching performance. There was NO difference in UT2004 gaming performance. There was NO difference in video editing performace. I can not speak for other apps but for those 3 I can. I do not believe there is any difference between these CPUs other than perhaps some micro code that identifies them as xeon vs a desktop.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=5871347

my e6420 @ 4ghz 5-5-5-15 . I see you got a nice 200point jump with your 45nm chip

kyussinchains said:

Why would intel release two identical chips, but brand them differently? to my mind, it makes little sense.

Click to expand...

It makes perfect sense to me...it's cheaper to make one product w/ 2 different names than it is to make 2 different products w/ 2 different names. Intel can satisfy their server and desktop market w/o re-tooling.

It used to be that the Xeon chips had certain features unlocked that otherwise were contained in both the "consumer" and "professional" versions of the same chip. Common examples were the Execute Bit Disable and EMT64 extensions. Further down the line, we'll see SMT take the same route.

jason4207 said:

It makes perfect sense to me...it's cheaper to make one product w/ 2 different names than it is to make 2 different products w/ 2 different names. Intel can satisfy their server and desktop market w/o re-tooling.

Click to expand...

Yep, the reasoning behind the Xeon branding on their Xeon socket 775 offerings is due to the chips being put through a much more demanding qualification and testing regime, ensuring that they are in fact as stable and defect-free a product as possible. These are features that a server environment has to have. I don't have positive proof that this is what Intel is doing but that is exactly what AMD did with their socket 939 X2-4400 and X2-4800 and Opteron 165-185 lines.

More info X3350 VS Q9450

I orderd a X3350 today for my Asus 790i board...9450's will not be ready until the middle of may. I'm hoping there is no gaming perf difference...here's the detailed specs of each.

Q9450 - http://processorfinder.intel.com/Details.aspx?sSpec=SLAWR
-------
Processor Specifications:sSpec Number: SLAWR
CPU Speed: 2.66 GHz
PCG: 05A
Bus Speed: 1333 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 8
L2 Cache Size: 12 MB
L2 Cache Speed: 2.66 GHz

Package Type: LGA775
Manufacturing Technology: 45 nm
Core Stepping: C1
CPUID String: 10677h
Thermal Design Power: 95W
Thermal Specification: 71.4°C
VID Voltage Range: 0.85V – 1.3625V

Supported Features: Quad Core
Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology
Intel® EM64T 1
Intel® Virtualization Technology
Enhanced Halt State (C1E)
Execute Disable Bit 2
Intel® Thermal Monitor 2

Notes: These parts have PROCHOT enabled.
These parts have THERMTRIP enabled.
These parts have PECI enabled.
These parts have Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT) enabled

X3350 - http://processorfinder.intel.com/Details.aspx?sSpec=SLAX2
-------
Processor Specifications:sSpec Number: SLAX2
CPU Speed: 2.66 GHz
PCG: --
Bus Speed: 1333 MHz
Bus/Core Ratio: 8
L2 Cache Size: 12 MB
L2 Cache Speed: 2.66 GHz

Package Type: LGA775
Manufacturing Technology: 45 nm
Core Stepping: C1
CPUID String: 10676h
Thermal Design Power: 95W
Thermal Specification: 71°C
VID Voltage Range: 1.212V

Supported Features: Quad Core
Enhanced Intel Speedstep® Technology
Intel® EM64T 1
Intel® I/OAT
Intel® Virtualization Technology
Demand Based Switching
Enhanced Halt State (C1E)
Execute Disable Bit 2
Intel® Thermal Monitor 2

Trigger5521 said:

I orderd a X3350 today for my Asus 790i board...9450's will not be ready until the middle of may. I'm hoping there is no gaming perf difference...

Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by "9450's will not be ready until the middle of may", as they're available even right now -- I've had one for a week on my GA-X38-DS4.

Anyway, I wouldn't be concerned about the performance. Even in the remote chance that they are different, I can't imagine the change being more than a few percent at worst. And who is to say that the Xeon will be the lesser of the two?

Albuquerque said:

Not sure what you mean by "9450's will not be ready until the middle of may", as they're available even right now -- I've had one for a week on my GA-X38-DS4.

Anyway, I wouldn't be concerned about the performance. Even in the remote chance that they are different, I can't imagine the change being more than a few percent at worst. And who is to say that the Xeon will be the lesser of the two?

Click to expand...

What i meant was I can't get a 9450 boxed version with warrenty until May from my trusted dealer here in Canada...the only one's I have seen available are OEM no cooler no warrenty like the ones from NCIX(plus they want $400 vs $350 for XEON which is boxed and available).

Ahhh, that makes sense now

You'll have to let us know how you like it once you start tinkering. It's always good having a new face around the formums

Albuquerque said:

Ahhh, that makes sense now

You'll have to let us know how you like it once you start tinkering. It's always good having a new face around the formums

Click to expand...

Will do, I'll have to brush up on the overclocking scene as this is the first system I've built in 5 years. She is going to rock tho

Asus 790I motherboard
XEON X3350 CPU
4GB OCZ PC1600Mhz 2x2GB 7-6-6-24
BFG 8800GT OC2 X2 SLI
Vista X64 Ultimate
OS RAID 5 Seagate 250GB X3 enterprise drives
Games Drive RAID 0 500GB X2 enterprise drives
Samsung SH-S203B/BEBN DVD SATA
Silverstone TJ10 ESA case
OCZ 850Watt gamextreme PS
Dell 3008WFP monitor
Liquid cooling to Follow
DangerDen D5 pump
2x120mm copper Rad
Swifttech CPU block
Tie it into the fusion block on the NB
1/2 inch hose I'm thinking.

Trigger5521 said:

Will do, I'll have to brush up on the overclocking scene as this is the first system I've built in 5 years. She is going to rock tho

Asus 790I motherboard
XEON X3350 CPU
4GB OCZ PC1600Mhz 2x2GB 7-6-6-24
BFG 8800GT OC2 X2 SLI
Vista X64 Ultimate
OS RAID 5 Seagate 250GB X3 enterprise drives
Games Drive RAID 0 500GB X2 enterprise drives
Samsung SH-S203B/BEBN DVD SATA
Silverstone TJ10 ESA case
OCZ 850Watt gamextreme PS
Dell 3008WFP monitor
Liquid cooling to Follow
DangerDen D5 pump
2x120mm copper Rad
Swifttech CPU block
Tie it into the fusion block on the NB
1/2 inch hose I'm thinking.

Click to expand...

Nice!