You know things are changing when cooling units that could once stave off overheating on top-tier graphics cards are starting to show up
on motherboards. EVGA's Classified SR-2 is a
supersized, dual-socket desktop building block that tries to do it all, and -- unusually for dual-CPU logic boards -- it's targeted at enthusiasts rather than buttoned-down business types. Four PCI-Express x16 slots, room for a dozen memory sticks (up to 48GB of RAM), and two USB 3.0 ports add some spec sheet glamor, but you'll likely be wanting to know how much performance you can wring out of two 3.33GHz Intel Xeon 5680 chips working in tandem. The short answer is a lot. The long answer is, of course, that you'll need to apply those 24 threads of power to applications that can really utilize them, such as the predictable video processing and 3D rendering. That's where the multithreaded, multicore, multiprocessor rig really shone in this review, and the EVGA board underpinning it also acquitted itself with distinction. Hit the source for the benchmark results and more photography of exposed circuitry.
posted August 5th 2010 10:06AM
AMD please?
AMD never gets love with these crazy wild boards(unless they're going straight to AMD for their overclocking demos). I know that Intel obviously is the bigger fish in the small niche market to begin with, but I can't imagine that they couldn't at least sell a few of these in AMD hexacore flavor(for those who truly want to go over the top).
@The Arsonist
Lolwut? EVGA don't do AMD/ATI.
@tobsmonster2
Good point, but a guy can wish can't he? Maybe Gigabyte will come through one day...
Actually, are there any high-end companies that are equivalent to EVGA but for AMD? I don't think Gigabyte make any dual-CPU boards actually, so that was a joke. DFI maybe? Actually, does anyone make a Dual-AMD board(non-Operton)?
@The Arsonist
Like they say, search and you shall find... I haven't built a custom AMD since a Sempron(Socket A. Still have the thing around too), I've gone consumer for my last two AMD computers. I had one of those old Thunder K7 boards, remember those? So apparently, the socket AM2+ and AM3s aren't multi-CPU compatible, only Opertons and up. Well that's a bit of bummer...
@The Arsonist
I heard from someone at AMD that AM3 will superseded by a new socket in 2011 so there's hope. However outside of Opertron's (and gpu's of course) AMD's the budget option and dual CPU boards aren't really budget, but I'm sure there's others like you who want to see some real 'enthusiast' kit in an AMD flavour.
Does something like this only support certain processors? i.e., No dual i7 fun?
@Timerider
Intel's Xeon chips are the only CPU's that would work on this board. (unless of course, EVGA makes a variant that uses AMD cpu's) Intel deliberately gimps the i7 so that they will not work in multi processor motherboards.
@rduran
specifically, it has to do with the Xeon server processors having two QPIs. One to communicate with the other Xeon processor and the other for the IO hub.
that's why a consumer core i7 9xx wouldn't work.
@Timerider
Current Xeons are faster anyways, however i7 is a hell of a lot cheaper...
This is also used in Maximum PC's Dream Machine 2010.
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/home/dream_machine_2010
@TheBennettBrigade
You took the words right out my mouth.
Yes you can have i7's there are a few unknowns about this mobo, as well as Xeons. There are a few variants of this board.
@Inchigh
Apparently i7's don't have multiple QPI's like the Xeon's so even though you might get the board to run with one i7 it'll never work with two.
@Inchigh
there are no variants of this boards.... it's the EVGA SR-2... end of story.
you Xeon processor must have 2x QPIs in order to work... no core i7 9xx will do.
facts of life.
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=270-WS-W555-A1&family=Motherboard%20Family&series=Intel%205520%20Series%20Family&sw=5
What a ginormous waste of money.
Even today most applications do not support multithreading to the level that this hardware would offer and for those that do, you would be much better off buying TWO systems based on the i7 instead of this overpriced one using Xeons. ONE Xeon CPU alone could cost you about as much as buying TWO i7s CPUs. When it comes to a 3D rendering, buying a 2 system render-farm would be much more cost-effective than this one-system solution. It's not EVGA's fault... it's the fact that Intel way overcharges for it's Xeon line of processors.
@The Arsonist, And your AMD 8 core chips done stand up two intel core i7s running at 6.33ghz max output LOL
@Inchigh i7s don't support multiprocessor. Only the Xeons do. That way intel can charge you more for that functionality. And if you really want it you'll pay
@Inchigh
I only said Hexacore(which means Phenom II X6, the desktop kind), not even the Opteron(the Server platform). You really can't even make that comparison because I don't believe(hopefully I get proven wrong) that anyone makes a board that supports dual-Phenom II X6. And to make SOME attempt to combat that, this benchmark shows that the run toe-to-toe or beat the i7 models at many things. Plus, the pricing is way over the top for dual i7s, the AMDs are much more reasonable.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=508&Itemid=63
@Hazdaz fair point if you have the cash why not? ;-)
This is pretty old Engadget...Youtube reviews of it have been up for a while now.
I just built a Core i7-970 hex in replacement of an old dualQuad xeon. As the tests show, for most everything a single proc wins. I do lots of MentaRay rendering and After Effects work, and I clearly see more useable performance from the i7. Rendering be damned, I'll take price/performance of the single proc for now on. (still, that's sexy as hell!)
@AniMill
With the Mercury engine in 64bit Adobe CS5, the faster single processor with a decent GPU again makes more sense IMO.
@AniMill Mercury was built with the i seres in mind. Just get a nice i7 processor and RAM RAM RAM....best money spent.
This is the stuff dreams are made of.
That is overkill defined in the purest sense and visualized as a behemoth of a rig.
(I'll get one if I win the Lottery...)
Would Photoshop CS5 be able to take advantage of such a system? I'm guessing it would still be overkill for working on
Nerdgasm !
@tobsmonster2
Do you even know how CPU architecture works?
For example core i7's they will clock down other cores and turn into basically a single CPU. Yes this is not exactly how it's done yes i know!
But to save going into all the details it's easier!
And there is tweaks out there that can adjust that and make them run simultaneously as two different CPU's.
P.S. don't forget over-clocking.
It's something you prob don't need but it's something you def gotta have lol...total insane board..
This would rip 40 sessions of crysis at once in half.
you know youre a nerd when you first see this and the first word that comes to mind is "beautiful."
fml
but can it run Crysis