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Ryzen 9 5950X build vs dual E5-2680v4 for VMs

Dedicated Servers by svendeal 17 replies 2.1K views
GuruDeutschlag

Member

#11
pablowild said:
120W with 4x16GB

This is correct, yes, but one must consider the Platform Baseline. The C612 Chipset and Dual FIVR Controllers consume significant Power regardless of Load. My own Measurements with a Supermicro X10DRi show 135W at Idle with minimal Configuration, and this is in Germany where we pay €0.35/kWh currently. The Economic Case for E5 v4 is very poor here unless you have Free Photovoltaic Generation.

The Ryzen 9 5950X with its single I/O Die and efficient Fabric is simply superior for continuous Operation. However I maintain that the PCIe Limitation is a genuine Architectural Constraint that may force premature Replacement if Expansion Needs grow.

Doug

Member

New Jersey

9 #12

This thread is making me feel better about my i3-12100 mini-ITX box that sips 35W and does everything I need. Sometimes less is more, people.

grabs popcorn, checks /r/drama
Ricardo77

Member

White Label

#13
Doug said:
€0.35/kWh

This is precisely why we exited the legacy E5 market for client-facing infrastructure in the Amsterdam corridor. The margin compression from energy costs made the unit economics untenable. We now deploy exclusively Ryzen 5000/7000 series for colo-adjacent workloads, with ARM evaluation ongoing for specific caching layers.

The 24-lane limitation is managed through careful topology planning. NVMe via chipset lanes, x16 for network, accept the constraints as a cost of operational efficiency.

Blaze

Member

#14
svendeal said:
Game servers

BRO THIS IS WHAT MATTERS. GAME SERVERS NEED SINGLE THREAD. THE 5950X WILL MURDER THOSE E5s FOR MINECRAFT, RUST, VALHEM, WHATEVER. MY SAO PAULO BOX RUNS A 5800X3D AND IT'S GLORIOUS. LATENCY IS EVERYTHING. NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR PCIe LANES IF THE TICK RATE IS GARBAGE.

GET A USB 2.5GbE ADAPTER IF YOU NEED MORE NICs. PROBLEM SOLVED. CHEAP.

JO

Member

#15
svendeal said:
ASUS B550-Plus

That board does not support PCIe bifurcation officially. Some people have gotten x4x4x4x4 working on the x16 slot with modified BIOS but it's a gamble. If you really need lanes, look at the ASRock Rack X570D4U or used X470D4U -- BMC, proper IPMI, bifurcation support, around €200 used.

Or just accept the limitation and use the chipset M.2 slots. B550 has enough for most homelabs honestly.

AS

Member

#16

I run similar workload on a 5950X at Contabo's Dubai location. Power here is subsidized so I don't think about draw, but the heat is real. That E5 system would need serious cooling in this climate. The Ryzen is manageable with a Noctua NH-U12S.

For pfsense specifically, the single-thread performance matters for OpenVPN if you use it. WireGuard less so.

marcus_qc

Member

#17

Montreal hydro is $0.07/kWh and even I wouldn't run dual E5s at home anymore. The noise alone. My neighbor in Laval had a Supermicro tower and his wife made him move it to the garage, then the garage got too hot, now it's in a colo in Beauharnois costing him $85/month. Just buy the efficient hardware, people.

42U and still growing
svendeal

Member OP

Deal Sniper

#18

Alright, convinced. Keeping the 5950X, selling the E5 nodes to some poor soul on r/homelabsales. Already ordered a cheap 2.5GbE USB adapter per Blaze's suggestion for the second WAN until I figure out a proper topology.

Thanks for the sanity check everyone. Thread can die now or drift into arguing about NVMe brands, I don't care.

world record: 4min Arch install

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