Dual Xeon Or Single I7

Discussion in 'New Build / Upgrade Advice' started by Mike Kay, Aug 9, 2016.

  1. Mike Kay

    Mike Kay Geek Trainee

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    Greetings all. Brand new here and I am hoping to get some advice. Building a live video processing computer. I will be using a Blackmagic Quad and a Blackmagic Quad 2 to input up to 12 HD cameras. Software will include v-Mix and Resolume. v-Mix for live video switching and recording, Resolume for projector mapping. What this system needs to do is process tons of graphics data, and record multiple streams of data to various hard drives.

    My plan had been to build a dual processor Xeon system, with at least 128 GB of RAM. My thought process on this had more to do with the limitations of on board PCIE lanes. Was planning on using a GTX 980 TI graphics card, which requires 16 PCIE lanes. Each Quad requires 8 PCIE lanes, that brings me up to 32 lanes, not including hard drives and other processes that take up PCIE lanes.

    Yesterday I had a chat with a friend whom I completely respect his opinion on. He said I'd be better off going with a more powerful i7. Here are issues I am unclear on regarding dual processor systems:

    I have been lead to believe that the application you are using must support dual processors. If not then not much is gained by going dual processor.

    Configuring RAM in a dual processor system is critical to operation.

    On another note - I would WAY prefer to have a system that supports Thunderbolt and NO Xeon does, nor will it ever most likely. So, is an a Thunderbolt add in card as good as getting a system board with Thunderbolt built in?

    I only have one chance at getting this right. There are a bunch of issues making me nervous. No dual processor system boards are on the Blackmagic compatibility list, but a bunch of people have done this successfully. Xeon is aimed more at the server market, but I require high end graphics procession. In time, I hope to have 12 outputs out of this system to be able to output a regular video stream plus projector map to multiple projectors at the same time.

    Any help, feedback, shared knowledge or comments more than appreciated.
     
  2. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    Usually it doesn't matter ho many processors you have. All that matters is amount of CPU cores amount and power. Dual CPU is quite "invisible" to applications.

    Somewhat harder but I don't consider that critical.

    Link to that compatibility list? I expect that it leaves 90% of compatible computers out :)

    Xeon 99,99% same as i7. There's no major difference between i7 and Xeon. Well, Xeon has some features like support for ECC memory and others that are invisible to software.

    Only major question is can your software take advantage of many cores.

    GTX980Ti is old technology and generally AMD cards are much better for multi monitor/multi GPU setups.
     
  3. Mike Kay

    Mike Kay Geek Trainee

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    Thanks for post. Not sure about you comment on CPU, but definitely don't agree on graphics card. The GTX 980 TI was released in 2014
     
  4. Mike Kay

    Mike Kay Geek Trainee

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    I hit a button and posted above by accident. Let me finish....definitely don't agree on graphics card. The GTX 980 TI was released in 2014, thus does not qualify as old technology. It is only one generation away from the latest release which just came out weeks ago. All ratings I have found rate the Nvidia above the AMD by a significant amount. Here is one example.
    http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-FURY-X-vs-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti
    So, if cores are important, then dual CPU means more cores and should mean more processing power. I am going to contact both software companies and ask about dual processor systems.
     
  5. Wicked Mystic

    Wicked Mystic Big Geek

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    GTX 980 Ti was released 2015 but architecture was released 2014 (GTX 750 Ti), as GTX 980 Ti is nothing else than bigger 750 Ti. Manufacturing tech is from 2011. So architecture is 2 years and manufacturing tech 5 years old. There is nothing to discuss, GTX 980 Ti is old technology in both architecture and manufacturing technology wise. Also it has very poor DirectX12 and Vulkan support. If still not convinced, when GTX 980 Ti successor was launched, 980 Ti price dropped about from about $750 to $429 in one day because no-one would buy old technology for high price.

    GPUBoss, oh shit. Better to forget that site even exists. Radeon Fury X gets zero points for Graphics and Computing. Perhaps that tells more than enough.

    For Nvidia scoring higher, well on old games yes. Here's an example with new game Doom

    [​IMG]

    Note "huge" performance boost for GTX 980 Ti when changing from old OpenGL to new Vulcan.
     

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