Need to update Xeon CPU for ESXi server - suggestions?

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thecoffeeguy

Member
Mar 10, 2016
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Pretty easy question hopefully.
I bought the following CPU a year or so ago and need to upgrade it. It has limitations that are affecting my ESXi server.
Here is the CPU:

Used - Like New: Intel Xeon E5-2603 v3 Haswell 1.6 GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 15MB L3 Cache LGA 2011-3 85W BX80644E52603V3 Server Processor - Newegg.com

Here is the mobo I bought with it:

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SRL-F Server Motherboard LGA 2011 R3 - Newegg.com

Mobo seems to be ok, working with 64gigs at the moment.

Any thoughts on where to go with this, CPU wise?
TY

TCG
 

thecoffeeguy

Member
Mar 10, 2016
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What limitations? Low clock? Not enough cores?
If i recall, lack of support for virtualization (have to dig back through my notes).
i remember someone telling me awhile back that this CPU would be my bottleneck on my ESXi host. Now that I have some cash and time, was hoping to upgrade.

Looking for more cores, and running 15-25vms, with some containers mixed in.

Thank you for the help!

TCG
 

Netwerkz101

Active Member
Dec 27, 2015
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E5-2603v3 supports VT-x/VT-d and EPT so virtualization should not be a problem.
Low clock (1.6Ghz) and no hyperthreading might be some performance limiters, but really depends on what you run.

You can run E5-26xx v4 on that board - upgrade to latest bios first.
Going from v3 to v4 Intel seemed to have dropped the clock speed some.

If you can find an E5-2630v3 (8x2.4Ghz + HT) for a decent price, that would be a nice jump, probably.
 
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