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."
No thanks (Score:5, Insightful)
So much for the AMD threats (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder if the threats did them any good, or if Intel have now got so used to the cries of wolf that they called Dell's bluff? Intel probably told Dell to shut the hell up or miss out on the launch.
intresting looking on the inside.. (Score:3, Insightful)
but 4000 bucks.. well, it SHOULD be impressing.
but seriously though.. it seems like a "thank you mates! were so happy we actually GOT this thing and not having to just do a paper review on your paper launch".
just check these:
"
Subratings (out of 100):
Video: 100
Gaming: 100
Music: 100
Photo: 100
"
ok.
100% for Gaming? NOT! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but Athlon 64 SLI graphics card solutions have. Oddly enough, PCMag only directly compares this Intel Pentium EE 840 box with an Intel Pentium 4 EE 3.73GHz box. Any hard-core gamer who buys an Intel dual-core machine to play his SINGLE-THREADED GAMES instead of an Athlon 64 dual video card SLI box is beyond hope. Torch your money responsibly, kids.
Dell and Intel get 100% from PCMag for "Best Bribes Paid". Geeze.
Re:No thanks (Score:5, Insightful)
Dual cores are great for servers and embedded systems, but not sure about typical desktops.
Re:100% for Gaming? NOT! (Score:1, Insightful)
Oddly enough, Pentium 4 SLI graphics card solutions have too!
Gee, what does the chip have to do with the capability of the fact that this was a single video card box?
Re:No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)
Every try to play a game while encoding a dvd?
watch a different video while encoding a dvd?
I look forward to it like you can't believe.
Hit the Market... It's so meaningless (Score:5, Insightful)
AMD claims not to do this in one of the articles:
""'t is important to note that AMD only announces products when we are able to immediately begin shipping for revenue and that we have been shipping dual-core AMD Opteron processor production samples to customers and partners since January,' the statement added."
I guess we'll just have to see if AMD actually has products available at their release or if they're just doing the same thing Intel seems to be doing here.
Re:No thanks (Score:3, Insightful)
Do it with the dual core 3.2's and you'll better game performance witlh encoding. Though sliughtly less than with the single core and single task.
IMO, these aren't a sub for dual procs yet. But there' promising enough to give them a cost challange soon. And ther'e obviously better than single procs for any intensive cpu tasks that a user needs to do (not just wants for the money) while still having their computer usable.
I just m$ doesn't take advantage of this for more eye candy crap.
Re:intresting looking on the inside.. (Score:3, Insightful)
The biggest benefit of dual core... (Score:3, Insightful)
Its responsiveness of the system. I'm using A64 3000 and I get annoying stalls on system level.
The CPU spends time with the backside thread, while I would love it working on UI, there is annoying stall. Multiple CPU:s according to reviews remove those issues. And don't say having 20% higher processor clock speed is going to help, its by simple fact that CPU was just doing something else at a time I would of loved it to handle UI events. Having 2 cores means, that responsiveness of a system is greatly improved, atleast until people write most of their applications to tie up more than one core
Multitasking would be great for my desktop! (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't wait to get dual cores on my desktop. And to me the biggest advantages are responsiveness and better multitasking.
I really dislike how unresponsive my computer gets when I'm doing something computationally intensive, such as maybe ripping a CD.
I would also love it if my firewall and antivirus protection could be offloaded to another processor.
Re:No thanks (Score:4, Insightful)
They said the same thing about the 386/25 way back when. Don't worry, the software will catch up.
Re:An improvement (Score:3, Insightful)
for the rest...of us...that care about stability...heat is an issue...as well...as...the required...cooling...does makes it sound...like my vacuum cleaner...only louder...This translate into....considerable costs...due to reduced concentration while...actually....trying...to do some...work.
Re:No thanks (Score:3, Insightful)
The original poster was correct. A >= 3GHz P4 or any AMD64 will be more than enough for normal games as long as you have a decent graphics card. And yes, that includes Doom 3.
Re:Multitasking would be great for my desktop! (Score:2, Insightful)
Apple irrelevant. (Score:0, Insightful)
He's an apple zealot. You can't expect too much from those.
Re:Apple is already there (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:HP taking orders for dualcore opterons already (Score:3, Insightful)
[crickets]
Thought not.
Re:No thanks (Score:3, Insightful)
These EE boxes are only so expensive so that Intel can rape the early adopter hotrod crowd.
When mainstream Dual-Core P4s hit, they won't be that much more expensive than regular P4s. As a longtime smp user, I certainly think it will be worth the extra $50-$100 to get one of these systems.
Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
My point is this. Let's see what the average consumer does with his computer:
- Surfs the Internet
- Reads email
- Watches DVDs
- Plays music
- Plays games
- Maybe does some work
Note that among all of those things, people rarely do them all at once (and I am not talking about the Slashdot population that does work, listens to music and has browser windows open all at the same time).
Games are the only taxing item there, and most PC games are not even multithreaded. Gamers that buy the Alienware system are literally just wasting cash.
On top of all of this, no matter how much you do, your CPU spends quite a bit of time (upwards of 85%) in the idle thread (aside from you SETI@Home people).
When you put all that together, it makes little sense to buy a dual-core CPU for your desktop PC.