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Which is the difference between a server and a desktop CPU ? Why should I buy a Xeon processor for a server why don't use instead a simple intel quad 4-core CPU for a desktop PC ?

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This is a question for superuser.com. SO is only meant for programming questions. – Simon Chadwick May 23 '10 at 18:26
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migrated from stackoverflow.com May 23 '10 at 18:26

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3 Answers

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What if you want/need a second processor? Xeon (or Opteron obviously) is the only way forward.

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Agree. The only difference is the possibility to use multiple processors in one motherboard. You could see this especially in AMD processor, desktop and server are the same thing, only HT links are different. – Pier May 23 '10 at 21:34
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up vote 2 down vote

This page has some answers: http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-xeon-and-i7/

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I don|t know if this is true anymore. I dont know the details but the new xeons might have superceded the article. They have been touted i7 xeons. That might be wrong though. – deploymonkey May 23 '10 at 21:19
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up vote 0 down vote

The difference nowadays is maximum cpu density. If you need lots of number crunching in a small space, You need server cpus as only they can be coupled on multi cpo mobos. This means dual socket, 4 socket or more cpus per rack space. Cant do that with consumer cpus. aside from that, if you look at current benchmarks, desktop cpus have catched up so far with server cpus that there is no real processing power advantage justifing the price difference between server hardware and consumer hardware.

Have a look at benchmarks.

With the advent of ever more rugged pc hardware, gigabyte has such a series of components, i dont even know if server hardware will outlive prosumer gear. Also you can get a lot of redundancy for the price difference.

Only if you need very special capabilities, you will have to pick server platforms. For example if you need data integrity, only intel xeon cpus support ecc ram, the core series doesnt, because thats the way intel segments markets in that case. I dont know about amd in that case though.

Tell what You need and we will advise.

Sorry for bad punctuation, i have to work on the wrong codepage at the moment.

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