f.sardis:   Just get a Samsung 950 M.2 on ebay and a cheap adapter card.  Look at the bench numbers of my M.2 in ACHI on PCIe... This m.2 runs circles around my SATA SSDs.
 
https://www.ebay.com/sch/...+m.2+512gb&_sop=15
 
Oh and just for fun i spent last week moving my old parts into a new case and swapped out to rigid tubing :D this old station has a few years of life left in her for sure!
 

 

 

Damn, HTPC duties... That's harsh. I just use Amazon fire TVs for HTPCs with Kodi streaming from NAS these days.

I was thinking of upping my RAM to 48GB (xeon max for x58) for fun but for what I use the station for my 16GB at 1866mhz is fine for now. The 980x might have a Max RAM cap of 24GB

48GB could be tricky on those, some CPUs were fine, others had to run at 1066 or 1333 to boot reliably with 48gb.
 
In my last few months as an internal employee, my forum time was cut short due to work load, which is unfortunate, I mam glad I saw this post now, I would have been all over it when it first was up if I had seen it.
I am glad to see people breathing new life into older boards, X58s were and still are beastly boards, and frankly I cannot remember any other MB/Proc that can be relevant THIS long after debut, these did launch in fall 2008.
 
Keep it up, love threads like this!
 

Thanks for the great thread!   I was thinking of upgrading my core i7-920 to xeon X5675 on SLI3... but maybe not.

I have a LGA 2011 mobo and I am currently running a i7 3820, what Xeon could be faster/better with a good OC (on water)?

seth89
I have a LGA 2011 mobo and I am currently running a i7 3820, what Xeon could be faster/better with a good OC (on water)?

e5-1650V2

I was able to get a PCISSD going as my boot drive on my Asus X79 Sabertooth
I ordered another set to put on my x58 Classified3
Not as fast as NVMe, but it was just a plug and play, then clone the HD to the new drive.
 
Kingston 240GB HyperX Predator PCIe Gen2 x4 (M.2 2280) SHPM2280P2/240G
With a M2 x PCIE 4 adapor
 
 
Here are the results spinner disk.
 
CrystalDiskMark 5.2.2 x64 (C) 2007-2017 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :    88.867 MB/s
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :    84.660 MB/s
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.574 MB/s [   384.3 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :     1.788 MB/s [   436.5 IOPS]
         Sequential Read (T= 1) :    88.932 MB/s
        Sequential Write (T= 1) :    84.519 MB/s
   Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     0.928 MB/s [   226.6 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :     1.756 MB/s [   428.7 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MiB [E: 14.1% (131.2/931.5 GiB)] (x1)  [Interval=5 sec]
  Date : 2017/09/09 0:09:15
    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 15063] (x64)
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
SATA SSD
CrystalDiskMark 5.2.2 x64 (C) 2007-2017 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/

* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :   456.683 MB/s
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :   295.047 MB/s
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   286.757 MB/s [ 70009.0 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   197.243 MB/s [ 48155.0 IOPS]
         Sequential Read (T= 1) :   451.103 MB/s
        Sequential Write (T= 1) :   401.662 MB/s
   Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    26.012 MB/s [  6350.6 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    43.624 MB/s [ 10650.4 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MiB [C: 44.0% (104.4/237.4 GiB)] (x1)  [Interval=5 sec]
  Date : 2017/09/09 0:06:25
    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 15063] (x64)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
PCIE SSD
 
CrystalDiskMark 5.2.2 x64 (C) 2007-2017 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
* MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes/s [SATA/600 = 600,000,000 bytes/s]
* KB = 1000 bytes, KiB = 1024 bytes

   Sequential Read (Q= 32,T= 1) :  1415.340 MB/s
  Sequential Write (Q= 32,T= 1) :   673.079 MB/s
  Random Read 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   419.373 MB/s [102386.0 IOPS]
 Random Write 4KiB (Q= 32,T= 1) :   308.279 MB/s [ 75263.4 IOPS]
         Sequential Read (T= 1) :  1271.740 MB/s
        Sequential Write (T= 1) :   679.410 MB/s
   Random Read 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    32.399 MB/s [  7909.9 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KiB (Q= 1,T= 1) :    65.382 MB/s [ 15962.4 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MiB [F: 0.1% (0.1/223.6 GiB)] (x1)  [Interval=5 sec]
  Date : 2017/09/09 0:03:54
    OS : Windows 10 Professional [10.0 Build 15063] (x64)

Update... Allot of you already know this but I figured I would add the information to this thread. Look in the bottom left of your x58 MB if you have a rev. 1.0 with an x series xeon you will get a code FF and the system will not start. 1.1 and beyond all you need is the latest bios. I ran into this first hand on a friends system. After I bridged the two locations with solder in the pics (from another thread) it detected the x5680 fine.

So it took me TWO full evenings to take everything apart, shift over my reservoir 1 cm to the right to make room for the 1080 TI, install new CPU block, and replumb and bend all the tubing again (ugh).. But I'm done and benchmarking now.
As far as I can tell there is negligible difference to GPU only benchmarks. My Xeon at 4.2 GHz paired with the 1080 TI on the X 58 motherboard seems to be performing graphically on par with similar, modern chipsets. I understand the CPU is definitely a factor but the first thing I wanted to do was try and single out GPU intensive benchmarks and compare it to modern motherboard and processor combinations. Below please find some screenshots of some of the initial benchmarks.
 
Some side notes:
I removed the water block from my 1080 TI and applied liquid metal replacing the crap TIM that came with the card (micro-resistors coated with nail polish for protection). I also applied liquid metal to my processor (which is lapped perfectly flat to bare copper and polished. My full load temperatures have dropped 20°C on the CPU!!!! It is an absolutely incredible difference. I don't have a baseline on the 1080 TI since I never plummeted in with the stock thermal interface material but I can tell you that my max low temperature on the graphics card I have seen is 35 Celsius. It is currently idling at 24 Celsius!
 
The 1080 TI core is running at 2.1 GHz happily. My processor is at 4.2 but with my new max load temperatures around 55C I am tempted to try and push it up to 4.4 for daily use.
 
I am floored that this decade-old motherboard and processor can STILL keep up!  It looks like i'm holding on to this mofo for at least another year or 2!
 
GPU Only:


GPU and CPU included in score:

RANK #10 in the whole DB with this cpu and a 1080ti and i did not even try for rank:

 
New Layout single loop to rule them all (CPU, GPU, Chipset):

 
If anyone has some goot ideas/ setting to push for 4.4-4.5 on the CPU now that temps are way down I'm all ears!
 
 

1.dont thing raid can work ,even some new motherboards dont have this option for nvme.
2.you dont need any tutorial ,is the same way you do it with normal hard drive,to avoid mistake plug in the pc just the nvme drive ,when installation finish install your rest drives.
3.if you motherboard support the cpu dont matter about booting with the nvme
4.usually best place for vga is slot#1 ,my motherboard mention in the manual for single vga better performance use slot#1
  if you are worried about space take by pcie adaptor for the nvme this is very tiny and would not block a lot your vga air flow.

nofearek9
1.dont thing raid can work ,even some new motherboards dont have this option for nvme.
2.you dont need any tutorial ,is the same way you do it with normal hard drive,to avoid mistake plug in the pc just the nvme drive ,when installation finish install your rest drives.
3.if you motherboard support the cpu dont matter about booting with the nvme
4.usually best place for vga is slot#1 ,my motherboard mention in the manual for single vga better performance use slot#1
  if you are worried about space take by pcie adaptor for the nvme this is very tiny and would not block a lot your vga air flow.

 
I meant to say m.2, not nvme, as in the samsung 950 pro m.2, i understand that you cant do any ol' nvme drive, im referring to the 2-3 m.2 drives that work in a pci-e card in the later revision x58 boards like my e767, specifically the samsung 950 pro m.2.
 
1. So, Are you saying that if you use the m.2 (a samsung 950 pro) drive in a pcie card, that you CANNOT use the raid function on the OTHER sata drives in the system? (like on the sata 2 channel????) I wanted to run the OS (windows 10) off of the m.2. and STILL be able to have my raid array that is running off of the sata 2 ports. Or did it sound like i was asking if i could raid the m.2 cards? (which is not what i was trying to ask, sorry if it sounded like that)
4. I know that slot #1 is "best" for the graphics card, i was wondering if you actually loose any performance in slot #3. The whole point of doing the m.2 would be to get the gains of like 1500mbs out of the OS drive, as opposed to the 450mbs on my classic sata3 ssd drive. But i dont wan to nuder my graphics card in trade of slightly faster OS drive. 
 
Another question.
Anyone with the Xeon W3670/80/90, how much ram (gb?) and what speed ram are you able to run? 1333? 1600? 1866? higher? How hard is the cpu overclocking with the ram faster than 1600? 
Im reading that the W3670/80/90 doesnt support more than 24gb?
I was hoping to keep it just 3 sticks (3x8gb 24gb 1600mhz), cuz its pretty much 4gb or 8gb sticks out there. And i also want to keep it to just 3 sticks, as i've had better luck with less sticks, which is easier on the memory controller and overclocking. 

nofearek9
1. oh sorry i didnt understand ,i thought you wanted to run nvme ssd raid,yes on normal sata SSD raid will work
 
4.you will get more than 1500mbs,why not add the nvme ssd to the pcie#3 (for sure you will not loose performance for it since its only 4x not 16x like vgas)

I read on a thread here (which i cannot find anymore) that someone got noticeably more performance out of the samsung 950 pro m.2 on pcie lane 1, vs lane 3. And if that is true, than i would think you would be loosing performance on lane 3 with the video card then, wouldn't you?
 
I would have to purchase this m.2 to figure this out myself, and i'm just trying to do my research first. There is just enough info out there to get me so close and i just have a few questions more im trying to answer, i'm just trying to make sure of everything before i spend $300-400 on a 10 year old machine, lol.
 
Oh, and why the HECK can i NOT figure out how to search threads in this forum past the first page?!?!?!?!?!?!? ****? am i stupid or something? (not aiming that towards anyone)

nofearek9
on my second pcie slot i got 1770 mbs with samsung 950 pro,its not its max speed but its more than the 1500 you wish,if that help you.

That's great to know. thanks for the info. 

just test my setup and change from ahci to raid and still boots,dont have extra storage to test if raid can work 100% (i only have nvme ssd)

I NEED HELP!     The Samsung 950 Pro m.2 has been the PAIN IN THE A** of this upgrade...
It recognized the drive, hell, it sees it in the bios at pretty much on what ever settings, but in order to get a windows 10 usb or dvd to start up was a nightmare. it took me hours. (I did NOT have any other drives connected when i did the install to the 950 pro m.2. (512gb))
 
I finally get windows 10 installed to the 950 pro, and went to put plug back in my sata ii raid setup, and i cannot get it to boot to the 950 Pro m.2. I need my raid stoage!
Can someone that is running a raid off of their sata ii (storage not boot), that has one of these 950 pro m.2 installed (boot not storage), please tell me what their bios settings are???
 
I want to be able to run the 950 pro m.2 AND my 5 drive sata II raid. I don't want, or nee,d to boot to the raid, it is just storage. If i cant run both, ill have to go back to my sata III ssd and sell the 950 pro 
 
Is this possible???? I cannot find anything that specifically states that you CANNOT run this 950 m.2 AND a sata ii raid at the same time. 
 
I tried doing DUET, but i could not get it running it would just set at the memory test for every (30+ minutes) and Duet would never come up. And the whole reason i bought the 950 m.2, is do i did NOT have to run DUET. But if that is the ONLY way that i will be able to run the 950 M.2 AND my Raid, then i guess ill have to. But i thought i would as around before i gave up on it.  
 
(i posted this on another thread that discusses this as well, sorry if that is not ok, i just need help!)