Upgrade CPU on Older Motherboard - Make Sense?

[mas956]

I am currently running Unraid 6.3.5 on a six year old box with a Supermicro X8SIL-F motherboard with core i3-530 processor (2585 Passmark score) and 16 gigs of ECC ram. I currently only transcode 1 Plex Media Server stream at a time but would like to be able to do two.  Typical NAS duties otherwise.  System has been rock solid from day one.

 

For about $100 I can swap in a Xeon X3480 processor (5732 Passmark score) which I believe to be the upper limit of the LGA socket 1156 MB.  I'm not too hung up on the power usage (95 TDP  Xeon vs. 73 TDP Core i3), but does it make sense to invest in 6 year old architecture for such a modest improvement in Passmark score?

 

Thanks!

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, mas956 said:

does it make sense to invest in 6 year old architecture for such a modest improvement in Passmark score?

Only you can make that call. How long do you think that $100 is going to keep you satisfied? Keep in mind, the longer you put off an upgrade, the better you are dollar / performance wise. I think the rekindled AMD / Intel performance war is going to be a good driver for pushing prices down.

[SSD]

A >2x improvement in performance is more than significant. It would likely get you to at least 2 streams (typically you need 2000 passmark for each simultaneous transcode).

 

I agree with @jonathanm that the "core wars" between Intel and AMD are going to be good for the consumer. An incremental investment in technology now is probably prudent to bridge the gap to the next generation, where 8+ cores are going to be far more economical.

 

I'd suggest that if $100 will allow you to defer a major upgrade for 12-18 months, it is probably a good investment.

 

 

[ashman70]

I concur with bjp999, spend he $100 now and upgrade in 12-18 months.

[Lev]

Totally agree with all the great minds who already commented.

 

Not exactly apples to apples comparison..... I once upgraded one of my prior UnRaid servers that was 1366 cpu on a x58 motherboard from a i7-920 to a x5660 and the performance improvement was beyond my expectations.  

 

My vote is go for it. Reason why.... its been a rock solid performer and its got IPMI on that motherboard. This is a platform you'll keep as a backup system even when you do replace it as your primary server someday in the future.

[tjb_altf4]

+1
I bought x58 i7 920 in 2009.. still happy with performance after upgrading to an x5670 2 years ago for ~$100.

 

Nothing wrong with older tech and usually years of experience on the internet to help.

[mas956]

Wow - thanks for all the great feedback!  I really appreciate it and while I'd like to upgrade the WHOLE system, the prudent course of action is the incremental one at this point.  As to core wars, I agree competition only benefits the consumer.  In the spirit of full disclosure, though, I must admit I worked at Intel for 10 years and am not unbiased as a result.

 

Thanks again!

[Lev]

27 minutes ago, mas956 said:

In the spirit of full disclosure

 

no one cares where you worked  What did you decide, you upgrading that UnRaid Server or not?!?! =D 

[SSD]

4 hours ago, mas956 said:

... I must admit I worked at Intel for 10 years and am not unbiased as a result ...

 

Worked (past tense?). Who's side are you on??

 

Why are you scrounging for hardware? You should have i9s and quad processor boards coming out of your ears!

[mas956]

Past tense.  And I haven't said whose side I'm on .  After a (very) little digging, it looks like the sweet spot is the X3470 at less than half the cost of the X3480.  So I pulled the trigger and it'll be here in a few days.

 

Thanks for all the advice!

 

p.s.  Scrounging makes it even more fun!!!  I think a complete used box may be my next upgrade path - much bang, little buck....

Edited August 12, 2017 by mas956