Is a CPU Upgrade from Core 2 Duo E6420 worth it?

[umirza85]

I have an Asus Commando ROG motherboard I am moving my unraid server over to, it is running a Core 2 Duo E6420 along with 4gb of ram.

 

I will be upgrading the RAM as I have a couple sticks just laying around to 6gb, I know it might not make a difference but the sticks are just sitting around - Hopefully I can find a way to make use of them???

 

I was also wondering if I should bother upgrading my CPU while the server is torn down? It is currently a Core 2 Duo E6420 the following link lists all the cpu's my motherboard supports:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Commando/HelpDesk_CPU/

 

Im wondering if its worth upgrading? I am running unraid 6.0 beta 6 and looking at the features planned it seems to leverage a heftier CPU, does anyone have any thoughts on this? I was thinking one of the quad core ones like the  Core 2 Quads, or Core 2 Extreme's??

 

[c3]

What are you running that will need the extra cores?

[umirza85]

I would like to be able to use Plex and transcode a couple 1080p streams. I would also like to be able to install sabnzbd. Im seeing some Core 2 Quad Q9550 for around $90, and I dont think I will find a q9650 for close to that (I'd love to find a decently priced q9550s as it has an even lower thermal profile)

[c3]

Yup, transcoding workload will like those additional cores.

[garycase]

An E6420 scores 1371 on Passmark's CPUMark; and supports vt-x, but not vt-d.

 

A Q9650 Core 2 Quad (the best CPU on the supported CPU list) scores 4240 on Passmark; and supports both vt-x and vt-d.    So yes, it would be a significant improvement in your system - nearly tripling the "horsepower" and providing passthrough support for virtual machines.

 

Finding a Q9650 is a different story.  They are occasionally available on e-bay ... at the moment there are a couple available:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191247887638?lpid=82

 

 

[umirza85]

An E6420 scores 1371 on Passmark's CPUMark; and supports vt-x, but not vt-d.

 

A Q9650 Core 2 Quad (the best CPU on the supported CPU list) scores 4240 on Passmark; and supports both vt-x and vt-d.    So yes, it would be a significant improvement in your system - nearly tripling the "horsepower" and providing passthrough support for virtual machines.

 

Finding a Q9650 is a different story.  They are occasionally available on e-bay ... at the moment there are a couple available:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/191247887638?lpid=82

 

The virtualization was another feature that really interested me. Thank-you for explaining the benefits of upgrading to the core 2 quad.

 

Like you have stated the Q9650 is tough to find, and seems to be priced a little high. Would there be noticeable difference to me if I went with a Q9550 instead? If so I don't mind paying a little more, but as with some recent processors getting the top of the line isnt really the best choice.

[garycase]

The Q9550 would be fine.  It scores nearly as well as the 9650 on PassMark (4069 vs. 4240) and has both vt-x and vt-d support.

 

[umirza85]

Thank you for all the help, I guess it will all come down to price. If I can pick up a 9650 for $120 all in I will buy it locally else Im sure I can find a 9550 for around $90.

 

In regards to a slight overclock can the 9550 be made to match the performance of a 9650 easily?

[garycase]

In regards to a slight overclock can the 9550 be made to match the performance of a 9650 easily?

 

I'm not a fan of overclocking ... running a CPU above its designed parameters is simply begging for trouble.    But clearly it can work ... and as long as it's adequately cooled and not overclocked by a major amount, you can indeed do what you'd like here.  A 6% overclock of a Q9550 will give virtually identical performance to a Q9650 ... that would bump the clock from 2.83GHz to 299.98GHz ... virtually identical to the Q9650's 3.0GHz clock speed.

 

 

 

 

[tdallen]

Both the Q9550s and Q9650 are harder to find and more expensive.  I recently got a Q9550 for ~$80 shipped - it's definitely the bargin of that group unless you want to try the Xeon adaptor ( http://www.delidded.com/lga-771-to-775-adapter/ ).

 

Regarding overclocking, I'd try the Q9550 at stock 2.83GHz and overclock if you aren't getting the performance you want - you don't need amazing performance, you just need enough performance for your needs.

 

You may want to look more closely at your motherboard re: virtualization.  I believe it supports VT-x (Vanderpool), but does not support VT-d.  I'm not running unRAID 6 yet so you'll have to ask others how much that matters.

[garycase]

The P965 chipset does not have native support for vt-d, so unless Asus designed that into the board, it won't work.  However, as long as you have vt-x support, VMs will run fine.  The two biggest negatives of not having passthrough support (vt-d) is that you can't run a high-performance graphics card natively in a VM; and you can't pass-through a disk controller to have native control of disks dedicated to a VM.  The latter is important if you're running UnRAID in a VM, but if you're running v6 and virtualizing your OTHER systems, that's not a big deal.

 

In any event, a Q9550 or 9650 would be a great improvement in what you have now and will make an excellent system for v6.

 

[umirza85]

Thats an amazing explanation, thank-you. That should definitely be put somewhere in regards to building an unraid system in 6.0 and the outcome of having different cpu's.

 

Cant wait to get my new chip now!!