High-performance SLI or dual-GPU graphics - beware Intel's dual-core CPU power consumption

[McGrandpa]

SITES....

BOTH Anandtech and Tom's Hardware............

John Lewis


Intel nForce4.... the brand new one.....


really.... ??? SATA2 support , Gigabit Ethernet...........


You obviously are not well informed.........and very prejudiced.

I have been a totally faithful Intel adherent

It's hardware John. I've been totally faithful to myself and family
Throughout the 286 thru 486 days and even early 586 days, I wouldn't
have thought about buying an Intel chip. That changed when AMD started
making their own designs that didn't interchange with Intels chips in
the same socket. Intel was the best to use then. AMD had a hard row to
hoe for a long time there. From that time to now, I saw no personal
reason to go with an AMD Athlon over a P4. With the A64 I see a great
enough difference in performance to feel its worth getting one. I
believe that Intel is fairly crapping in their collective pants these
days, trying to get back ahead.

up to now.
However, I am contemplating building a dual-core desktop system
in about 6 months time and all of the technical analysis so far
point to AMD being by far the best choice. I may have to pay
a little more for the CPU, but the system flexibility and
heat-management are winners for me.

( BTW, I build PC systems and make all of my buying decisions
on sound technical information, not emotion. Comes from my
training as a professional electronics engineer. )

I'm just a lowly Journeman Electrician John, doing the Maintenance
Electrician/Mechanic thing at a steel rollforming shop. I'm the guy
that puts your stuff to work been at it a quarter century now. I
like it where I'm at, I get to do any and everything! Ha! Variety is
the spice of life, right?
I have PC's on desktops, two 'communications' rooms (the networking), I
have PC's inside rollformer control consoles, also networked (all fiber
inside the plant). I get to participate in the installation decisions.
I haven't got everything I want for this plant yet, but we're getting
there. My goal is to have ALL the components working together, from
parts counters and marking, raw inventory to finished material out the
door. So there's a LOT more to it all than the CPU/Mobo. From my
personal end, the PC thing is a hobby. For what I do, the Celeron 300A
@ 450 mHz through the current P4 3.0E (prescott) have been the better
choices. For most of the family I've built systems for, AMD has been
great and reliable. And cheaper. For some that do really heavy
graphics, I chose P4 and rambus at a time when there wasn't any PC3200
dual channel. So just a couple years later now, different things make
better sense.
The world of PC's is always in a state of flux. It's interesting and
fun.
McG.

 

[McGrandpa]

Sorry, I just quoted Tom's as one of the many that I looked at...


Yes !

and Anandtech...which also frequently includes detailed and
excellently-written tutorials on new technology.......... ?


Indeed.

John Lewis

DAMN! ALL those processors are fast enough to leave a 6800 Ultra the
bottleneck!!!!!!!!! Wow!
http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=6

McG.

 

[John Lewis]

It's hardware John. I've been totally faithful to myself and family

LOL... me too........computers are a lot more predictable than extra
girl-friends..........and the expenses can be budgeted.....

Throughout the 286 thru 486 days and even early 586 days, I wouldn't
have thought about buying an Intel chip. That changed when AMD started
making their own designs that didn't interchange with Intels chips in
the same socket. Intel was the best to use then. AMD had a hard row to
hoe for a long time there. From that time to now, I saw no personal
reason to go with an AMD Athlon over a P4. With the A64 I see a great
enough difference in performance to feel its worth getting one. I
believe that Intel is fairly crapping in their collective pants these
days, trying to get back ahead.


I'm just a lowly Journeman Electrician John, doing the Maintenance
Electrician/Mechanic thing at a steel rollforming shop. I'm the guy
that puts your stuff to work been at it a quarter century now. I
like it where I'm at, I get to do any and everything! Ha! Variety is
the spice of life, right?
I have PC's on desktops, two 'communications' rooms (the networking), I
have PC's inside rollformer control consoles, also networked (all fiber
inside the plant). I get to participate in the installation decisions.
I haven't got everything I want for this plant yet, but we're getting
there. My goal is to have ALL the components working together, from
parts counters and marking, raw inventory to finished material out the
door. So there's a LOT more to it all than the CPU/Mobo. From my
personal end, the PC thing is a hobby. For what I do, the Celeron 300A
@ 450 mHz through the current P4 3.0E (prescott) have been the better
choices.

Yes, choosing Intel over AMD is more "management-acceptable" --- like
choosing IBM-PCs over Compaq in the early days of desktop business
PCs. However AMD is making in-roads in "performance" small-servers
and server power-houses like Sun and HP have climbed on the
Opteron bandwagon.

For most of the family I've built systems for, AMD has been
great and reliable. And cheaper. For some that do really heavy
graphics, I chose P4 and rambus at a time when there wasn't any PC3200
dual channel. So just a couple years later now, different things make
better sense.
The world of PC's is always in a state of flux. It's interesting and
fun.

It seems that you have made very wise decisions in your choices.

John Lewis

 

[McGrandpa]

LOL... me too........computers are a lot more predictable than extra
girl-friends..........and the expenses can be budgeted.....


Yes, choosing Intel over AMD is more "management-acceptable" --- like
choosing IBM-PCs over Compaq in the early days of desktop business
PCs. However AMD is making in-roads in "performance" small-servers
and server power-houses like Sun and HP have climbed on the
Opteron bandwagon.


It seems that you have made very wise decisions in your choices.

John Lewis

Well, it *IS* my own money I'm spending on all this stuff! I've made a
few mistakes about a few little things. About the only thing that's
slipped up on me was the A64 performance across the board with onboard
memory controller. "Mike NC" pointed that out to me. Since that time,
we see some great stuff with even the low end 4200 X2. That one is
even more desirable a part than the best A64. I'll be looking at that
one for a New Toy later this summer. Now...which kid or grandkid is
gonna need a good handmedown computer? Heh!
Thanks for the info and links to more info John. I really enjoyed
reading up on this new sweetheart!
McG.

 

[John Lewis]

Since when has Intel cpu's cost less than AMD cpu's? AMD make Celeron
like cpu's too, they are called Sempron. You've got it all backwards.
Intel is the company that overcharges on their cpu's.

Now, there's a thought... it would be much easier to get reasonable
performance out of a dual-core Sempron than a dual-core Celeron,
with no external memory-controller either.......... What's the betting

that AMD is going to make Intel even more uncomfortable later
this year... they may have some unannounced surprises up their
sleeves.....

John Lewis

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Now, there's a thought... it would be much easier to get reasonable
performance out of a dual-core Sempron than a dual-core Celeron,
with no external memory-controller either.......... What's the betting

that AMD is going to make Intel even more uncomfortable later
this year... they may have some unannounced surprises up their
sleeves.....

The problem is not the technology but the capacity at AMD. If they are
using all their capacity making high margin dual-core 64s and Opterons
they are not going to be able to produce dual-core Semprons to give
away. They may want to build up their cash with the high end chips
before going back into the low cost fray.

 

[John Lewis]

The problem is not the technology but the capacity at AMD. If they are
using all their capacity making high margin dual-core 64s and Opterons
they are not going to be able to produce dual-core Semprons to give
away. They may want to build up their cash with the high end chips
before going back into the low cost fray.

Yes, indeed...........

AMD is urgently trying to bring a 3rd-party silicon-house on line in
Singapore. Also, I believe that IBM builds some of their chips, so
I'm sure that urgent capacity dialog is underway there too.
For AMD, overall CPU demand is going to be the big problem
for at least the next 12 months. This is their first big window of
opportunity in a very long time to seriously hurt Intel's core CPU
business--- provide they can ramp up the capacity before Intel
can fix their power-hungry x86 desktop/server architectures.

And AMD need to somehow jettison their loss-making
flash-business without a fire-sale.

John Lewis

 

[McGrandpa]

Now, there's a thought... it would be much easier to get reasonable
performance out of a dual-core Sempron than a dual-core Celeron,
with no external memory-controller either.......... What's the betting

that AMD is going to make Intel even more uncomfortable later
this year... they may have some unannounced surprises up their
sleeves.....

John Lewis

But, that's good news for us, the Lowly Consumer I like it when
things heat up between major competitors like AMD/Intel, ATI/Nvidia,
M$/*ANY*thing else!
McG.

 

[been there]

( BTW, I build PC systems and make all of my buying decisions
on sound technical information, not emotion. Comes from my
training as a professional electronics engineer. )

John Lewis

oooooh...

Why don't you get a real engineering job with your training as a
professional electronics engineer or didn't that include a degree ?

 

[John Lewis]

oooooh...

Why don't you get a real engineering job with your training as a
professional electronics engineer or didn't that include a degree ?

Degree--->Engineer--->SW/HW Team Lead--->Project Mgr.-->Consultant.

Happy now ?

John Lewis