Dual Intel Xeon L5520 v. Dual Intel Xeon L5530 How much faster?

[Patrick]

This is defying all logic. Benchmarks are almost the same between the two. Absolutely shocked at what I have been seeing. I double-checked all of the C6100 BIOS settings and all are the exact same. Totally bizarre. Taking some video of this. Same architecture. The Xeon L5530 adds turbo and a 133MHz higher base clock. These are also in the C6100 sitting next to one another in identical test configs. Anyone happen to have ideas?

Intel ARK Comparison

 

[PigLover]

Memory speeds the same? Maybe the 5520 has faster DIMMs making up for the slower clock? 2.26Ghz vs 2.4 isn't really that big of a difference to start with.

 

[dba]

It could always be BIOS or OS power settings. If you double-check everything and still get the same result, try swapping the CPUs between the two boards to see if there is any change.

 

[Patrick]

BIOS Settings

Here's a quick video just doing manual runs (4x speed):
[video=youtube_share;wdPUa4ZO3CU]http://youtu.be/_MeETpIM5WQ[/video]


Same DIMMs. Replicated on three different nodes. 133MHz + turbo boost for the L5530. Would expect something noticeable for single threaded benchmarks.

 

[mrkrad]

Try the L5630 instead, and then run AES-NI junk. The x5600 was far less buggy than x5500 series

 

[Patrick]

Try the L5630 instead, and then run AES-NI junk. The x5600 was far less buggy than x5500 series

Have those numbers too. The L5630 is looking like it is much faster.

 

[dba]

re your BIOS screenshots: I notice that while the BIOS version says that it's the same, the QPI frequency setting does not appear in the left side image.

 

[Patrick]

Saw that too. Unsure why that is. Still both should default to that speed.

The really strange thing is that I'm running benchmarks and getting the exact same results side-by-side.

 

[Lost-Benji]

Whats the stepping and batching on the CPU's Pat? Like are these full CPU's or ES's?

P.S love the up-beat porno music on the vid... lol

 

[Patrick]

Yea... didn't have time to record my own so top 10 Youtube selection

All CPUs are full retail not ES.

 

[Biren78]

watched the vid - that's crazy man. hey - looks like you're usin' a different set of commands than on the main site. what are they?

 

[Patrick]

OK - so I have a bit more clarity on the issue: The C6100 is running these CPUs at stock speeds. I put these chips in the HP DL180 G6 and they are now running faster than the L5630's which is what I would expect.

About to say the L5520 should be the main choice for the C6100.