Two Xeon CPUs Are Better Than One Intel P4 Extreme Platform

[beegee]

With the interest in our Revit benchmarks and discussions of performance v price, Tom has helped out with a timely article .

Designed primarily for server and workstation applications, dual Xeon systems have largely led a niche existence. Additionally, their high price made them unattractive for standard users. Dual Xeon systems also required expensive storage modules, special power packs and big, ugly cases. Now, however, the situation has changed considerably.

When we compare, for example, the price of a Pentium 4 Extreme 3.2 GHz against two Xeons with 2.8 GHz, we see that the latter option turns out to be much less expensive. A Pentium 4 Extreme costs $950, while two 2.8 GHz Xeons can be had for $760. Applications that explicitly support the dual processor environments usually operate much faster with two CPUs than with one.

Conclusion

Applications already optimized for HyperThreading see performance gains from the use of two physical CPUs. In view of system costs, it is therefore worthwhile for users to go with a Dual Xeon as their next system if most of their time is spent rendering or encoding.

[Roger Evans]

An issue which hasn't been mentioned yet is Noise

My old system with Radeon 9700 was fairly noisy ~ a relief when switched off
New System Radeon 9600 256 is a lot quieter

I have no idea how Intel systems rate in this respect or Xeon dual
What are they like to work with?

Roger

[dg]

I understood that nvidia cards tended to have better openGL drivers, and so were preferred where the software could make use of openGL

Have the Radeon chips now caught up?

[beegee]

An issue which hasn't been mentioned yet is Noise

My old system with Radeon 9700 was fairly noisy ~ a relief when switched off
New System Radeon 9600 256 is a lot quieter

I have no idea how Intel systems rate in this respect or Xeon dual
What are they like to work with?

Roger

The Xeons fans aren't too noisy ( if in a server case anyway. )

As you say, you can get a lot more noise from a card fan. My current one mimicks a jet fighter taking off from a carrier.

Solution is to put the case under the desk somewhere

[fivejs]

How are "Dell" work station Xeon dual processor machines?

[czoog]

How are "Dell" work station Xeon dual processor machines?

We use Dell Precision 650 dual Xeon workstations in our office and I couldn't be happier with them. They are very quick, rock solid, and well built. The case layout is awesome, everything is compartmentalized, to isolate heat and exhaust it properly. It is also the quietest dual machine I have every used.. Here is a review if you are interested: http://cgw.pennnet.com/Articles/Arti...ICLE_ID=204692