Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I'm looking to build some new render nodes and I want to use the Intel E5-2670 chip, I'd really like to overclock it but I'm not sure which motherboard would be able to do it. Any advice is appreciated https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E5-2670+v3+%40+2.30GHz&id=2337 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 I don't know if it really worth's it trying to o/c 8C, over going for 10C/12C cpus tbh. But some thoughts: There are two main ways to overclock a CPU these days. 1) Increasing the clock that modulates the rate the CPU communicates with the rest of the Motherboard components, RAM, controllers etc, or BCLK*. BCLK is set to 100MHz for the last Core Pros: It overclocks the whole system. Cons: the above. It is harder to achieve high stable o/c when every bit on the CPU/RAM etc communication busses is stressed. 2) Multiplier of the CPU: The CPU frequency is the BCLK * a multiplier. For most CPUs this is a set value. Including all s2011 & s2011-3 Xeons. The intel "K" & "X" i7 chips have an unlocked multiplier, and this through over-riding this setting in the BIOS we usually make Pros: works very well. Often we can have 1GHz or more of overclock by just increasing the multiplier and pumping Vcore Cons: it has to be unlocked by the factory. s2011/s2011-3 i7s are much easier to BCLK overclock than s1155/1150 CPUs. I won't get to details about BCLK ratios and why 125MHz might be better than 124MHz etc or explain why a 32 multi *125 BCLK = 4GHz overclock might outperform a 40 * 100 = 4GHz overclock. Issue is, multicore Xeons cannot get to that high BCLK and take advantage of 5:4 ratios etc. You could expect a value around 110MHz BCLK or +10% over 100MHz base, and of course this is easier to achieve with a 1P X99 board that has overclocking in its repertoire over a 2P C602 board. I would stick with Asus if I wanted to try for a O/C. 1P with the E5-2670 doesn't even worth it, a 5960X will be faster out of the box, cheaper and overclock with unlocked multiplier to 4.5Ghz almost "easily" given the right mobo + cooling. So it is 2P, and probably a Z10PE-D8 WS. *depending on generation of CPU this was known as FSB but since there was confusion with too many components running on different ratios of the FSB, now it is referred to as BCLK with current Core Intel CPUs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolaos M Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 You cannot overclock Xeons of this generation and onwards, at least not with the use of the multiplier. Theoretically, you could use bckl straps like 1.25 or 1.66 with the highest multipliers supported (x33 I think) but I am not aware of anyone that has achieved this kind of oc with 2011 socket Xeons. I definitely know people that could manage to oc up to 4.4GHz with older Xeons like 5660 etc. with X58 motherboards, but things have changed a lot since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Ok so this chip isn't the way to go and if I want to overclock then I'd need to go with the i7's right? Right now my nodes are made up of this processor: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+X+980+%40+3.33GHz&id=866 There over 4 years old and it's time to upgrade but we've tested the E5 and there only about 35% faster which isn't that great when your looking at building 10 of them. What would you guy's do in this situation, would you buy a slower chip and try and overclock or go super high end....or is there another option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numerobis Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 It seems that Haswell-E Xeons are even worse than Ivy-E Xeons when it comes to BCLK overclocking. I read some reports that no more than BCLK 105-106 is possible. So this makes it almost useless in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolaos M Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Ok so this chip isn't the way to go and if I want to overclock then I'd need to go with the i7's right? Right now my nodes are made up of this processor: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7+X+980+%40+3.33GHz&id=866 There over 4 years old and it's time to upgrade but we've tested the E5 and there only about 35% faster which isn't that great when your looking at building 10 of them. What would you guy's do in this situation, would you buy a slower chip and try and overclock or go super high end....or is there another option? As Dimitris has already said, it would be much better and cheaper to go for i7 5960X's http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80648i75960x combined with a 250$ motherboard for a total combo cost of 1200$ aprox. Overclocking would be relatively easy as high as 4GHz with a good air cooler. With a better cooler, like an AIO liquid cooler, a 4.2-4.3 would be possible I think. In any case, you could see a performance increase of more than 60-70% per chip in relation to the 980Xs you currently use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 What's your budget per node / total that you want to invest? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Around $2,200 but if I can make a good case for a more expensive processor it could go higher. Total would be $20k-$25k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Is that for one node or total? In your OP you were talking about "some new nodes". Question is important as factoring in OS + Vray or w/e licenses, drives, cases etc, it might pencil out to be better to go for 2x 2P 10C systems instead of 5* 8 core nodes etc etc. So the question "what is the best node I can built for $2000" (and having in the back of your mind buying 5x of those at the end) might yield a difference answer vs. "what's the best node configuration for $10000". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 I need to replace 10 nodes so it's $20K-$25K for all of them, that's the budget for hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolaos M Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) ... Edited February 19, 2015 by nikolaosm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Are we talking rendering nodes / slaves or worstations here, cause Nikolaos got me spinning. If it is slave nodes,the GPU in the config above is total overkill. For nodes with a $20-25,000 budget, I would go for ~5* 2P nodes with 10C / 12C. Should set you back roughly the same or less as 10-11* 5960X nodes in hardware be faster without any need for overclocking, quite a bit less power draw than a single high over-clocked 5960X (that can easily pull more than 300W itself, I estimate those system pulling 300-330W total under load) and make up for any price difference simply on soft-costs. Estimating: 2P Node Asus Z10PE-D16 $420.00 64GB Crucial 8GB DDR4 2133 ECC*8 $824.00 CM V650 $90.00 SSI / CEB Tower $140.00 850 EVO 120GB $70.00 Coolers $150.00 Total Hardware minus CPUs $1,694.00 Best value in CPUs is something like the E5-2680 v3 12C if you are going for $5,000 nodes, close to depleting your budget, or the E5-2650 v3 if you are going for $4,000 nodes and sticking closer to the $20,000 mark, talking 5* 2P nodes in each case. If you are after best total compute power, you could consider 6* E5-2650 v3 pairs, that would give you an aggregate of 276GHz vs the 260GHz that roughly the same money would buy you with 5* 2680 pairs, but again I think there is merit to keeping the total number of nodes down (between micromanaging + soft costs over time). Edited February 19, 2015 by dtolios Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 We're talking distributed render nodes that are dedicated to increasing workflow speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 We're talking distributed render nodes that are dedicated to increasing workflow speed. Ok, I figured. So, see 2 posts above what I think is more efficient than multiple 1P nodes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolaos M Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 (edited) Sorry guys, I don't know how, but I had something else in mind. We were talking about oc each built, and I thought the plan was a set of 10 fully equiped WS's that would cooperate in a company's local farm, not slaves of one WS. Probaby, my mind is the one that's spinning... Edited February 19, 2015 by nikolaosm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Too late. Release the dogs on him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nikolaos M Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 too late. Release the dogs on him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Johnston Posted February 19, 2015 Author Share Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks for setting me on the right path, I'll let you know what we end up with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dimitris Tolios Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 Thanks for setting me on the right path, I'll let you know what we end up with. Disclaimer: That is just a way of thinking about it! There is no "right path" per se! Everything can be done in multiple ways, with pros and cons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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