Intel Dual-Core Systems Begin Shipping Monday 231
ThinSkin writes "The wait for Intel's dual-core processor is over, that is if you're willing to fork over some dough for a Dell or Alienware system bundled with the chip. Intel just announced that Monday marks the first day dual-core systems hit the market with Dell's Precision 380 workstation and its next generation Dimension XPS desktop, which start at $2,999. PC Magazine got a chance to play with the XPS system and came away quite impressed."
XPS review (Score:5, Informative)
HP taking orders for dualcore opterons already (Score:5, Informative)
http://theinquirer.net/?article=22553 [theinquirer.net]
Sun's been shipping dual-cores for a while now... (Score:4, Informative)
And just like the first UltraSparcs from about a decade ago, it's also fully 64-bit....
Re:Apple is already there (Score:2, Informative)
Dual core != Dual Processor
Besides, there have been dual core Power4 systems, dual core mips chips for a while now.. this is only new for x86 desktop systems.
Re:XBox (Score:2, Informative)
CPU - Xenon's CPU has three 3.0 GHz PowerPC cores. Each core is capable of two instructions per cycle and has an L1 cache with 32 KB for data and 32 KB for instructions. The three cores share 1 MB of L2 cache. Alpha 2 developer kits currently have two cores instead of three.
Here are the other specs. GPU - Xenon's GPU is a generation beyond the ATI X800. Its clock speed is 500 MHz and it supports Shader 3.0. Developers are currently working with an alpha 2 GPU. Beta GPU units are expected by May and the final GPU is slated for a summer release. The final GPU will be more powerful than anything on the market today; in game terms, it would handle a game like Half-Life 2 with ease. System Memory - Xenon will have 256 MB of system RAM. Keep in mind that this number should not be equated to typical PC RAM. The Xbox has 64 MB of system RAM and is a very capable machine. Optical Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon will not use Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. Games will come on dual-layer DVD-9 discs. While the media is the same as that of the current Xbox, the usable space on each disc is up to 7 GB. The drive is slated to run at 12X. Memory Units - Xenon will use 64 MB to 1,024 MB memory cards. 8 MB is reserved for system use, leaving a 56 MB to 1,016 MB for user data. Hard Drive - As many have speculated, Xenon's hard drive is optional. 2 GB of the drive will be used as game cache. The final drive size is still being determined. Camera - Xenon will have a USB 2.0 camera. It's capable of 1.2 megapixel still shots and VGA video. Photos can be used in-game and for gamer profiles. The camera can also be used for video chat. It's unknown if the Xenon camera will allow for EyeToy-like gameplay. Developers are currently using a simulated camera driver. Sound Chip - Xenon does not have an audio chip in the traditional sense. Decompression is handled by hardware, while the rest of the chores are handled by software. DirectSound3D has been dropped in favor of X3DAudio. The former was deemed too inflexible.
If anything these will be more like the DualCore G5s comming up in the the future for the PowerMac G5s.
Re:XBox (Score:4, Informative)
What I can't understand is how these companies are planning to deal with the enormous amount of heat that will be dissipated from a multi-CPU system, and not make the console sound like a jet engine at the same time. Anyone able to shed any light on that?
use "nice" & "chrt" to modify scheduling prio (Score:2, Informative)
With Linux you can also use "chrt" to specify that some task is "realtime": it will always get as much scheduling as it wants (make sure it will not loop endlessly though).
Re:Apple is already there (Score:5, Informative)
You complain that Dell is over priced while singing the praises of Apple in the same breath? How very amusing! I can't believe you even presume to be serious about this.
At $2999 for the Dell, and $2999 for a dual G5 2.5GHz from Apple, I would say Apple has the value here. But if you rather, you can buy the Dell... I am saving my pennies for the Apple.
Re:I don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
Yes, you obviously don't. Hyperthreading is not in any way like a dual processor or dualcore processor. On a HT processor you still can have threads waiting and not doing anything because another thread which is using e.g. the single FPU that the system has. If two computationally heavy threads want to run, they have to wait for their turn on the single FPU. And that is just one example for HT. On dualcore and dual processor systems you have everything doubled, which is a Good Thing.
Re:Apple is already there (Score:5, Informative)
According to the article, the Dell has a 20" LCD, a Radeon x850, a dual layer DVD+/-RW as well as a DVD-ROM drive, 500GB of disk and 1GB of ram, a 5.1 surround sound speaker system and has dual TV tuners. An Apple dual G5 configured that way? For $3,000? I'd LOVE to see that. Coming even close to that runs well over $5000 without the speakers or TV tuners.
And this Dell is STILL a rip off!
Re:No thanks (Score:3, Informative)
In all seriousness, you'd probably see the difference right away when running on a dual. It's not so much about getting things done faster, but getting two done at one time. In Windows, anyway, I noticed a big difference when switching to Dual. If I start an app, for example, Explorer doesn't just sit there waiting until it's done loading. It's still there, ready to go, presumably because it still has CPU resources.
Dual core is a different philosophy, not just another stab at prettier benchmarks. Frankly, I think it's kind of sad that dual machines didn't become more mass market in recent years.