Workstation processor i7 vs Xeon

[Ericbowen]

The Dual Xeon will only outperform the X79 platform with media greater than 2K ie Red and in AE. The difference in performance though will not normally justify the price considering what configuration you can get for the budget listed between the 2 configurations. You would get a Single I7 6 Core with 64GB of ram and a 780GTX card with a good drive configuration with that budget. A dual Xeon though would be very stripped down. I would suggest you look at a single CPU configuration regardless of who you get it from.

Eric-ADK
Tech Manager

[Darren Breckles]

That’s kind of what I’ve been hearing. Thanks

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Darren Breckles] “Would the Xeon provide good performance?”

While you could get a well configured single Xeon system for under $5K – I am with Eric, the short is answer is “no” – a Core i7 is nearly always faster for the price, and with Premiere Pro especially so. Most Xeon systems are used in these scenarios:
– with memory- and CPU-hungry apps like Maya, 3DS Max and AE
– by people who prefer not to use what essentially are gaming components in their editing systems;
– heavy duty use of more than 8 hours a day
– on-site support and warranty are important
– larger teams where standardized equipment and a single point of support become important
– future upgradeability, especially memory: 64GB is the current max on Core i7, with the majority limited to 32GB. In three years this may become a pain point, and you’d have to change the system to overcome it. Current dual Xeon systems can take up to 512GB RAM, and that memory is also considered more reliable (registered ECC).

Alex Gerulaitis
Systems Engineer
DV411 – Los Angeles, CA

[Jim Mcadory]

I recently replaced my older dual xeon (4 core) computer with an i7-3930 cpu and 64gb ram which ended my long coffee breaks for rendering. At this level the bottleneck in processing speed seems to be the HDD rather than CPU/memory. With AE rendering somewhat complex stuff I never see the CPU’s maxed out and the memory usage typically is well below what I thought it would be. The i7 processor family will show up as 12 cpu’s and the most I have seen really busy is 4 or 5.

The 3970 you are considering is faster than my 3930 but I built my pc with an ASUS Sabertooth motherboard that allows me to easily overclock if I need more performance-which I don’t! I do miss my extended coffee breaks but otherwise I am quite happy with the change.

[Darren Breckles]

I definitely think the i7-3930 cpu would be fastest, I’m just not sure if I would get close or satisfactory performance from Xeon if other benefits like EEC memory, low power consumption, reliability would make up for it. People have made me scared of “clones” but ADK for instance seem like they have alot of expertise.
I might be able to do six or eight Xeon cores but then it starts to depend on the the type of Xeon model.

My choices from Dell were:

Pretty much out of budget unless spectacular: 2 x E52687 : 3.1GHz with 20MB Cache, 8 core.

Cheapest, closest to my budget: 1 x E52687 : 3.1GHz with 20MB Cache, 8 core.
—————————
Getting out of budget: Dual 6-core: $6500. 2 x E52667: 2.9Ghz, 15MB.

Haven’t looked into i7’s as much except on ADK’s website, can put some of that money into other areas but stability and reliability is important as well.

[Jeff Pulera]

Hi Darren,

You mentioned “service” as being an important factor, and with a video editing rig, that is all the more reason to NOT go with Dell or other big box solutions. A company that specializes in NLE systems will not only be able to properly configure and optimize everything for Premiere, but they can offer superior support. Try asking the “overseas tech support” folks about editing issues once. Not in their decision tree, sorry.

And I agree with the others, for your needs an i7 rig will work nicely. For heavy AE work, 3D animation, etc., then the dual XEONs will benefit, otherwise overkill for Premiere HD work.

Thanks

Jeff Pulera
Safe Harbor Computers

[Paul King]

Sorry but all the answers here are wrong or lacking a lot of information.

We build systems for post production, it’s our business.

We build Symphonies, Davincis, Maya systems and editors.
We either build Dual E5-2687ws or i7s clocked at 4.5Ghz.

What’s important here is support for what you’ll use the system for. Find a system integrator that specializes in systems for Post.

Dell are not great. We use Intel MBs for single socket and Supermicro MBs for dual socket. No MB failures in three years.

[Paul King]

Sorry Jeff, your post was not there when I replied.

Dual Xeon would be ideal for Premiere if Premiere CODECs were fully multithreaded. However it’s all very hit and miss.

We use Matrox cards and their CODEC is very multithreaded. However when exporting to QT or MP4 Premiere is woeful at using CPU. Conversely MPEG2 export is full multithreaded and you get 80% CPU utilisation on dual Xeons.
The single i7 will beat them on QT export, especially when overclocked.

Considering we all get decent rates for editing a dual xeon makes more sense. Sadly Premiere and even AE are not great at using multiple CPUs.

[Alex Gerulaitis]

[Jeff Pulera] “with a video editing rig, that is all the more reason to NOT go with Dell or other big box solutions.”

Jeff,

Wouldn’t that apply to any integrator not specializing in video?

In other words, it could easily be a Dell (or a Raspberry PI), the main question is, who supports it?

Tier 1 (HP, Dell) can make a lot of sense support-wise, even for single-person shops. It’s dramatically easier to troubleshoot a five- or ten-year-old HP than it is a custom box, parts are easier to source.

Paul: what cases are you using with Intel motherboards? Intel seems to be so moody where it comes to workstations: one year they make them (workstation-class motherboards), another one they don’t. Then they put a server-class UEFI on it that is married to an Intel server chassis as far as sensors and fan controls, and if you try to make it work for a Supermicro chassis, you have to modify undocumented hex strings so that fans don’t spin at 100%. Once spent a week doing that (on a $100 profit) – won’t ever try again. Servers – fine. Workstations – Supermicro boards for customs, HP for Tier 1. Never Intel unless it’s an Intel chassis.

[Jeff Pulera]

It’s dramatically easier to troubleshoot a five- or ten-year-old HP than it is a custom box, parts are easier to source.

5-10 years, seriously? That would be like still driving a Model T Ford.

Jeff