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Comment by 13of40 | Hacker News Reader

If you've got an old computer that's "getting slow" you can go a long way by just maxing out the RAM and putting an SSD in it.

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You can also look up the fastest CPU that your motherboard supports and buy a used one on eBay. A top-of-the-line CPU that cost $1000 years ago will be trading for far less today. This is particularly true of Xeon CPUs pulled from retired servers.

Retired servers with Xeon can readily be bought used. Be aware the RAM will be ECC, which can also be bought used. Some motherboards are set up for two CPU sockets.

I have three older server-class machines like this. With SSD they are workhorses.

To add, registered ecc ram sells for rather cheap used. But servers in general tend to use much more power and generate much more noise than their home/office equivalents.

>This is particularly true of Xeon CPUs pulled from retired servers.

Too bad xeon CPUs have different sockets/chipset requirements compared to desktop CPUs, so chances are the best you can do is upgrade from a 2/4 core to a slightly faster 4 core.

The Intel Xeon comes in desktop compatible versions. Up to Coffee Lake(8000 in desktop numbers) they were sold under the Xeon E3 brand, E5 is the aforementioned the incompatible server chip. Comet Lake had them rebranded to the Xeon W and it does become slightly more confusing, but you can definitely still buy Xeon chips that run on the last desktop socket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lake#Workstation_proces...

Check your motherboard's CPU support and run the model number through Intel Ark to make sure it's only has 2 "Max # of Memory Channels".

>but you can definitely still buy Xeon chips that run on the last desktop socket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lake#Workstation_proces...

The linked article also says "These CPUs support ECC memory and require Intel W480 or W580 chipset". That seems to suggest that unless you already have a workstation motherboard, those CPUs aren't upgrade options.

If that's the direction you want to go, retired Xeon-based workstations (HP Z, Dell Precision, etc.) also sell for less than new high-end desktop CPUs, have well-engineered, if proprietary, case designs, and still allow you to bring your own storage and PCIe cards. Power consumption may or may not tip the scales against their favor, though, depending on your location and applications.

I'm guessing that's just typical Intel behavior requiring constant motherboard updates with almost every tik/tok CPU release?

And... when was the last time Xeon had a 2/4 core?

> I'm guessing that's just typical Intel behavior requiring constant motherboard updates with almost every tik/tok CPU release?

Yep, but even within the same tik/tok cycle there are different sockets/chipset combinations.

>And... when was the last time Xeon had a 2/4 core?

My point is that most people probably have a desktop motherboard, presumably with a 2/4 core CPU. Upgrading to a used 8 core xeon on ebay is not an option because xeon chips use a different chipset/socket. Therefore the highest available option for most people are 4 core desktop CPUs.

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