Intel Xeon E3-1225 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.2GHz (3.6GHz Turbo) 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 77W BX80637E31225V2 Server Processor

Pros: Installed this in a Asrock Z77 Extreme 4. Stock heatsink was just ok. I installed a Coolermaster 212 EVO, and the idles were about 29-31c on each core, load aprox 40.. P4000 on the cpu and VirtuMVP w/6950 2gig is awesome. I opted for a Xeon, just because…Thanks Egg for the delivery and all that you’ve done… Cons: NONE Overall Review: Friend of mine, said it wouldn’t make much of a gaming proc, but Skyrim and all are outstanding!!

Pros: Solid, reliable, full-featured 4-core Intel. 8mb cache, all the virtual knobs, top-of-the-line ivy bridge graphics. Runs reasonably cool with stock cooler, testing with a 4-core prime95 load, temps hold under 68 degrees centigrade. Okay, so I’m not a gamer, but this chip makes for a very sweet “mini-xeon” workstation in my itx build. Used for heavy programming/compiling, testing/qa, virtual machines, photo-editing, and the usual desktop/multimedia usage as well. All systems go! Cons: Lack of hyper-threading is the only feature missing from this entry-level xeon. Often this chip is not in stock, I had to wait at least a week for it to show up again. Almost gave up! Overall Review: If you are not overclocking, this is a better-featured chip for the same money when compared to the i5-3570k. Used in this build: Case: Cooler Master Elite 120 Mobo: Asrock H77M-ITX RAM: Kingston 8gb HyperX grey series PSU: PC P&C 400w Silencer Mk III etc… Of course one would need to find a motherboard with C216 chipset to get ECC memory support, but those are thin on the ground. Otherwise, the Asrock H77 supports the features of this chip perfectly and is explicitly noted in their cpu compatibility chart. I am intentionally using the onboard HD4000 graphics, saves buying a separate graphics card. 3d and streaming video are covered, runs stuff like XBMC perfectly. Just beware: ivy bridge stuff is still a little bleeding-edge on the un!x/linux front. Stick with recent linux kernels (3.5+) and intel video drivers (2.20+) and you will be fine. For example, Sabayon 10 is perfect out of the box, *buntu 12.10 will be okay as well. Now I’m just hoping FreeBSD gets their ivy bridge stuff sorted out soon (9.1RC1 currently runs fine in a virtualbox, but fails after installing to hardware…)