00:00So I've been going down a rabbit hole lately building ridiculously powerful workstations
00:04for less than the cost of a nice dinner out.
00:07And I'm not exaggerating.
00:09These old Enterprise Xeon chips are getting dumped on the used market for pocket change,
00:14and if you've got an LGA 2011-3 board sitting around, you're about three clicks away from
00:19a serious upgrade.
00:20I dug through the listings, checked the ratings, checked the sales numbers, and pulled together
00:25the five best budget Xeon deals I could find.
00:28Let's get into it.
00:30First up, the Xeon E5-2650 V3.
00:3410 cores, 20 threads, running at 2.3GHz, and it'll cost you about $43.
00:41Now, I know what you're thinking, why pay more for fewer cores than some of the others on this
00:45list?
00:46Here's the thing, this one's got the highest rating on the list at 4.9 stars with nearly
00:515,000 sold, and the V3 generation is famously easy to get running.
00:55Cheap boards, cheap DDR4, no drama.
00:59If you're building your first Xeon rig and you just want something that works the moment
01:03you press the power button, this is the safe bet.
01:0610 cores is still plenty for a home lab, a Plex server, or a virtualization box.
01:12Next, and this is the one that made me do a double take, the Xeon E5-2690 V4 for $23
01:18.64.
01:2014 cores, 28 threads, 2.6GHz, for less than the price of a video game.
01:30I genuinely had to check the listing twice.
01:33Over 4,000 of these have sold with a 4.8 rating, so it's not some fly-by-night thing.
01:39Look, these are pulled from decommissioned servers, so cosmetically they might not be pretty,
01:43but silicon doesn't really wear out. If you want the absolute best cores per dollar on this
01:48entire list, this is it. It's not close. Now, the E5-2680 V4 at $134.
01:58And yeah, that's the priciest thing here by a wide margin, so let me explain why it's on the list.
02:03This one's 14 cores at 2.4GHz with 35MB of cache and a lower 120W TDP, that 15W difference
02:11actually matters if you're running this thing 24-7 in a small case with limited cooling.
02:16It's got a 4.9 rating and over 4,000 sold. Honestly, if you're paying a premium here,
02:22you're paying for the seller's reputation and the peace of mind. Some people want that.
02:28If you'd rather gamble and save a hundred bucks, keep watching.
02:33Speaking of which, here's the E5-2690 V4 again, this time at $3674.
02:39Same 14 cores, 28 threads, 2.6GHz, 135W.
02:45So why would you pay $13 more than the cheapest one?
02:49Because this listing has a 4.8 rating with over 4,000 sold, and in the used server CPU world,
02:55seller track record is basically everything. Think of that extra $13 as insurance.
03:01For under $40 you're getting a chip that launched at over $2,000, and it will absolutely
03:06chew through video encoding, compiling, or a stack of virtual machines without breaking a sweat.
03:12And finally, the rock-bottom option, the E5-2690 V4, SR2 and 2-stepping, for $19.19.
03:22For 14 cores and 35MB of cash. The rating's a little lower at 4.7 with almost 4,000 sold,
03:30so this is the one where you're rolling the dice a bit more.
03:33But here's my honest take, at this price, buy two.
03:38Seriously.
03:39Grab a pair, run them in a dual socket board, and you've got 28 cores and 56 threads for under
03:45$40 in
03:46and silicon. That's the kind of math that just doesn't exist anywhere else in computing right now.
03:52Alright, that's the list.
03:54I've dropped links to every single one of these down in the description,
03:57so go check current pricing because these things move fast.
04:01If this saved you some money or gave you an idea for your next build,
04:04hit that like button and subscribe I've got more budget hardware deep dives coming.
04:09Thanks for watching, and I'll catch you in the next one.
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