How to choose the best dedicated server CPU?

Igor Liferenko · Mar 7, 2017

I want to choose a dedicated server but I don't know which version of CPU is the best. I should choose Intel, AMD or others? Which is the bests for the budget $40 to $80? and from which provider?

VirtuBox · Mar 7, 2017

Hello Igor, Intel CPU are better than AMD, and for this budget you can find fully unmanaged servers with XEON E3 or E5 CPU.
But for what purpose do you need a dedicated server ?

serverbundle · Mar 7, 2017

At that price range, you would easily get an E3-1230v1 or Xeon 3440. They both are extremely outdated CPUs but are still decent enough to run less resource intensive services.

StartVM · Mar 7, 2017

Check out Hudson Valley Host bargain bin Servers. They are within your price range and the hardware, while outdated, is still far more current than many deals you will find at the same price.

afreen · May 5, 2017

High performance Intel Xeon latest CUPs are best for dedicated servers with SSD Storage and Premium bandwidth

optimalgeek · May 5, 2017

I recommend for a Xeon processor server which better in performance at datacenters.

hostinfuse · May 7, 2017

intel is better as all said, and you can try ovh , they have servers in your price range
also you can see in the advertising area , there are many offers.

TMS - JoseQ · May 7, 2017

You can see CPU performance scores here:

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

That said, depending on what you're doing with the server, you may find that the CPU is only part of the server performance formula. If you pair a super-fast CPU with little RAM, or a slow Drive I/O, you will have that CPU idling most of the time waiting for the memory or data to become available and you could have exactly the same perceived server performance using a much slower (cheaper) CPU.

It all has to be balanced properly and it will depend on what you actually plan on doing with the server.

As far as Intel, AMD, Xeon, i7, etc. The name doesn't matter. The CPU score is all that matters (as long as everything else is the same). You can have a Xeon server from a provider that cuts corners everywhere else, and the server will be less reliable than a Celeron from a quality provider. So the CPU name doesn't matter, but the quality of the provider (due to the parts they put around said CPU) does.

JoseQ

RackService · May 11, 2017

Intel CPU's perform way better in server environments than AMD does. What is your purpose for those servers? Have you looked into a few possibilities you want to choose from?

LarsJ · May 11, 2017

Intel Xeons were designed for the dedicated server environment. Also, the network is vital. If the CPU specs are great but the network is just ok, then that's going to be your bottleneck for sure. You can't really look at one single component of a complex chain of hardware and services.

Mahfuz · May 12, 2017

You can get a Xeon CPU from E3/E5 Series. You can check out http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html & Single Core Performance is always attractive in most of the E3 CPU's. So, better check them out !

racksandcloud · May 18, 2017

Hello,

Intel Xeon processors are designed for servers. You can choose dedicated server with Intel Xeon.

DRACK-4B - Quad Core
Intel Xeon E3 1240 V6
16 GB DDR4 Memory
64 GB SSD or 250GB HDD
Bandwidth 10TB@1Gbps

TMS - JoseQ · May 18, 2017

I believe you guys are confusing the word 'designed' with 'labeled'. The design & architecture of the Xeon CPU is identical to their desktop counterparts. The only difference being that they have an ECC Memory controller enabled, and all i7s have the GPU enabled (as in the Xeon E3-12x5 CPUs). Outside of that, they are identical.

All of those are produced the same way, off of the same line; they are just tweaked afterwards based on the performance. Performance varies since there are imperfections in the silicon.

The same applies to the 'K' variants on the i7s. They turn off the throttle on those chips that tested OK at higher speeds. The ones that don't test OK at higher speeds, then those lose the K capability and get throttled.

They are the same. I simply can't understand why this myth that Xeon is for servers and i7s are >only< for desktops keeps getting perpetuated. They're the same. They perform the same. They will be just as reliable.

The only reason I can see that the myth keeps on living, is that there are cheap providers that will slap that CPU on a poorly made motherboard, or a cheap box with a poorly built power supply, and then the server fails. This is the cheap providers fault, not the CPU itself. The CPU had nothing to do with this.

Choose the CPU performance you want with a quality provider and forget about the label Intel or AMD slapped on it to charge more money.

LarsJ · May 18, 2017

I agree in that the i7's etc are just fine for a lot of tasks and comparable to Xeons. We used to sell AMD's and Intel equally but which ones did we sell the most of? Intel. Because its a branding thing and many think Intels are "better".

But there are indeed several differences between consumer CPU's and Intel Xeons and goes beyond just reliability although Intel Xeon CPUs are designed to be working 24/7, whereas i7's are several hours per day then switched off, hence the consumer version.

Intel Xeons also have larger L3 caches. This is a major performance upgrade from the i7's.

ECC RAM which works with Intel Xeons. You can't buy regular desktop RAM for an Intel Xeon server since it is different RAM that has data corruption detection preventing --> crashes. Very important in a server environment running 24/7. So Intel i7's are running RAM that is quite different. You also run into issues such as max RAM where i7 top out much sooner thant Xeons.

I believe Intel Xeons also have more cores and a dual CPU capability. You cannot setup a dual Intel i7 CPU. You have to go Intel Xeon.

This goes on but with all due respect these are not myths. A lot of providers will ad a i7 here and there for a great low price as consumers are familiar with these but the performance is very different. Don't think I've ever seen an Intel Xeon at Best Buy for example... Even our own site runs on a single Intel Xeon 3Ghz DC and runs great. Also the inability to overclock also leans towards durability issue, whereas i7 again, you can overclock the heck out of it and hope for as long a life as possible and stability. From a providers point of view, Intel Xeon are the way to go. From a consumers point of view, int's the i7. Not really fair

TMS - JoseQ · May 18, 2017

For the longest time, for every Xeon CPU, there was a corresponding and equal i7 CPU. Equal in all respects. For the i7 920, there was the Xeon X3450. For the i7 2600, there was a Xeon E3-1270, for the i7 3770, there was the E3-1270v2, and so on.

They did start moving away from each other with the advent of the 10, 12, 14 core CPUs that were only available on the Xeon line. However, you probably have heard there's a new i9 line coming out which will include those higher-core numbers.

ECC RAM, yes. Servers only. Does it make a server last longer or perform better? No. At least not in a noticeable way.

The CPU being designed for working 24/7 or several hours per day makes no sense. They come out of the exact same silicon dyes. Architecturally and physically, the CPU cores are the exact same thing. I have also plenty of example cases as I have original i7 920s still running, non-stop since they came in almost ten years ago. I also have Pentium 4 servers for that matter.

The fact that these myths exist is why customers will prefer Intel over AMD, Xeons over i7s, etc. It's just the perception that they are "better" when in fact they are the same. Two CPUs from the same generation, an i7 and a Xeon, running at the same speed, will give you indistinguishable performance. The label doesn't make either one better or more reliable.

The quality of the motherboard could. The speed of the RAM could. The quality of the power supply could make one crap out sooner than the other. All of those are independent of the CPU and fall on the provider to choose good quality parts.

I am talking apples to apples here, such as the CPU examples I gave above. If you're comparing an i7 7700 with a Dual E5 2650v4 then that's not a fair comparison. But when the only variable is the label on the CPU, then that shouldn't be one of the factors to consider when making a decision.

LarsJ · May 18, 2017

You're right but again it's what you *can* do with an Intel Xeon that you just can't with an i7. So from a providers perspective the Intel Xeon is the way to go. From a consumers perspective they probably could care less as you mention.

If consumers still prefer Intel over AMD that's Intel winning a branding war.

Our enterprise clients are not going to be using i7's etc. and I don't blame them one bit. Because they are NOT the same and we are not talking about just performance here. It's reliability, upgrade potential and ECC. You can't take all the other hardware out of the equation and just compare CPU's.

TMS - JoseQ · May 19, 2017

My point is that all of the other hardware is waaaay more important than the name on the CPU.

So I agree, you can't compare just CPUs, or worse, the label on it.

casualhost · May 19, 2017

For your budget, you could check out hetzner server auctions. They provide CPUMark benchmarks beside every server listed there so it makes it easier to choose

How to choose the best dedicated server CPU?

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