Intel I7

[gandocadguy]

Anybody seen these little guys yet?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=4240162&sku=CP1-I7-965&SRCCODE=WEM1758C&cm_mmc=Email-_-Main-_-WEM1758-_-post

6.4gt/s instead of a FSB. Now I need to get the bosses to sign off on a test unit.

[ekubaskie]

Get rid of the FSB? What a novel idea...

AMD has been doing this with their chips for quite a while with their Hypertransport bus. And it's a big THING.

How fast a system can execute a tight little piece of code (benchmark scores) is only part of what makes a high-performance CAD system. Data transfer speed - from memory, hard drives, network, etc. - defines a big part of OUR performance. The AMD X2 chips' faster I/O has caught up to, and in some cases exceeded, the higher benchmarked Core 2 Duos in actual workday use.

Take the system cost into account, and the AMD has actually been a better buy - all through the Core 2's "king of the hill" period.

With the new i7, though, Intel is adding faster I/O to the mix, and a higher yet value for instructions/cycle. So right now I'm leaning towards the i7 for my next box.

I'm just not sure if I'll be willing to spend a $700 - $1,000 beyond what AMD's upcoming Phenom releases will cost me for mobo, CPU, and RAM. (Prolly depends on how much I DON'T blow in Vegas the next couple weekends!)

Also, what I haven't seen yet is info on whether the faster transfer rates apply to hardware other than RAM. If your drives, network, etc, are all still on some flavor of PCI, you still have some bottlenecking. Enough to make up the difference? I don't know. I can only afford to build one or the other.

Hmm - it's been over 8 years since I built an Intel box!

[gandocadguy]

(Prolly depends on how much I DON'T blow in Vegas the next couple weekends!)

Yeah I'm in that same boat.