Key findings
- Old Xeon CPUs offer great multi-core performance for virtualization tasks at a fraction of the cost of newer processors.
- While Xeon CPUs are great for workstation tasks, their single-core performance makes them unsuitable for CPU-intensive gaming.
- Be aware of the high power consumption of older Xeon chips, as their continuous operation can lead to high electricity bills over time.
The cost of PC components, especially more expensive parts like CPUs, has risen a bit too high in recent years. While higher clock speeds, larger caches, and better memory support make for amazing gaming performance, not everyone wants to spend a fortune on the processor. As if that wasn’t enough, the problem is exacerbated by the high prices of DDR5 memory kits and motherboards with the latest chipsets.
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If you’re someone who watches CPU deals on eBay like a hawk, you might have come across old Xeon processors that barely cost a few hundred dollars. As you might expect, there’s a lot more to these cheap CPUs than meets the eye. So here are all the caveats about these multi-core behemoths you should know before you spend your hard-earned money on them.
Xeon CPUs and home lab systems are a match made in heaven
Its multi-core performance is quite outstanding when running multiple containers
Let’s start with the advantages: Even ten-year-old Xeon processors have no trouble with almost any home lab task that involves virtualization. Aside from a few processors that favor clock speeds over core count, most Xeon processors have significantly more cores and threads than their consumer counterparts.
When you factor in the large cache and support for ECC memory, it’s easy to see why an old $50 Xeon CPU can run a handful of virtual machines and containers with ease. Aside from a few outliers that I’ll cover in the next section, my dual Xeon E5-2650 v4 system exceeded my expectations in almost all of the tests I ran on Proxmox, TrueNAS, and Unraid.
And that’s a processor from 2016! If you buy one of the newer Gold chips, performance is even better. While exact performance may vary by model, most Xeon CPUs also make great video editing workstations, especially for tasks that rely more on processors than GPUs.
Their single-core performance is downright terrible
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While the multiple processor cores speed up workstation tasks decently, these CPUs are nowhere near as powerful as their mainstream counterparts when it comes to gaming. Of course, there are certain factors like budget and your game selection that skew things a bit. For example, if you can snag a reasonably powerful Xeon processor and motherboard combo for under $150, it could even work as a makeshift gaming rig, as long as you pair it with a decent graphics card and non-CPU-bound titles.
However, for FPS, RTS, and other fast-paced games that rely more on single-core performance, most Xeon chips struggle to reach playable frame rates. Even if you equip your enterprise system with enough RAM to run thousands of browser tabs, your cheap server processor will deliver lackluster performance on CPU-intensive games.
Remember how I said almost all virtualization tasks benefit from the Xeon processes in the previous section? That’s because there are some notable cases where you want the superior single-core performance of a consumer CPU. When I used my server PC to run some macOS apps on Promox, the performance was so atrocious that switching to my Ryzen 5 1600 produced better results than using 32 virtual CPUs on the dual E5-2650 machine!
Older Xeon chips are power-hungry monsters
Be prepared to pay absurdly high electricity bills if you run Xeon systems 24/7
Although Intel has reduced the wattage of modern Xeon processors, most of the inexpensive CPUs on eBay and other retailers are from the pre-Skywell generation. Unfortunately, most of these processors consume power like there’s no tomorrow, and that’s just single-CPU systems! Once you factor in dual-processor setups, power consumption gets into the danger zone.
Of course, TDP is not the be-all and end-all of measuring the amount of power your system needs during normal operation. But Xeon systems tend to draw an unreasonably high amount of wattage even when idle. If you plan on running the Xeon systems constantly, their low cost is offset by extremely high power consumption over a long period of time. And that’s before you consider the cooling devices required to dissipate the excess heat. In short, I would recommend using cheap NUCs and mini PCs if you plan on using the system for non-demanding tasks like movie streaming, self-hosted VPN servers, and network-wide ad blocking.
Cheap Xeon CPUs: To buy or not to buy?
Provided you’ve done your research beforehand, older Xeon chips offer a number of benefits that make them a worthwhile investment. High-end server projects, including powerful web servers, home automation setups, and NAS systems, can benefit from the extra core count. Likewise, AI training setups and Kubernetes clusters work incredibly well with Xeon CPUs.
If you’re adept at the art of shopping on eBay, you can easily snag a top-of-the-line Xeon CPU along with a motherboard and plenty of ECC memory for well under $500! Technically, they can work in budget gaming systems, but you’ll need to keep your expectations low when running CPU-heavy games. Finally, remember to turn off the Xeon system when you’re finished using it, or you’ll risk an outrageously high electricity bill.
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