Intel scrambles roadmap to catch up with AMD...

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20051024-1448-intel-serverchips.html

Dr. Mordrid

[Elie]

Yeah so they finally realized that the XEON chip and it's related chipset, is no longer competitive, and what do they do??? They cancel the Dual Core XEON project and decide to go with whole new CPU architecture and chipset.

This pisses me off royally because they just rendered my new Xw8200 obsolete!

[Sasq]

I gotta say, I stopped using Intel chips a few years back, when they started changing sockets more often then some of the forum members change their underwear.

[DGhost]

I gotta say, I stopped using Intel chips a few years back, when they started changing sockets more often then some of the forum members change their underwear.

what if you don't wear underwear normally?

[Umfriend]

Then you should use Intel chips so that at least something is changed frequently

[Nowhere]

Yeah so they finally realized that the XEON chip and it's related chipset, is no longer competitive, and what do they do??? They cancel the Dual Core XEON project and decide to go with whole new CPU architecture and chipset.

This pisses me off royally because they just rendered my new Xw8200 obsolete!

It's probably not like you could upgrade them too long anyway... (what Sasq said...BTW, which ones? )

[Technoid]

(what Sasq said...BTW, which ones? )

Trust me, you don't want to know.

[UtwigMU]

Well, IMHO buying dual socket motherboards for workstations has become less sensible since the introduction of dual core CPUs:
- compare cost of A64 X2 and regular motherboard to dual socket motherboard and 2 CPUs. Unless you want pair of ultimate single core CPUs or need 4-way system...
- OK, so you can do dual dual core, but most regular workstation apps don't scale as well past 2CPUs
- I/O slots, unless you plan to have RAID5 card requiring PCI-X or PCIe x4 or x8 slot, you don't need more expensive motherboards with better slots
- SCSI - for single user tasks WD Raptor is generally no slouch compared to 15k drives, especially, when taking price of both controller and drive in consideration
- also factor in the cost of case, PSU and it becomes even less attractive.

[Sasq]

and your 'IMHO' is relevent to Elie how exactly?

[UtwigMU]

To clarify: Already having dual mobo or planning to buy one is something different.

If you already have dual Xeon motherboard and 3.0+ Xeons you're left without noteworthy CPU (dual core requires new motherboard) and videocard (AGP->PCIe, if you have AGP motherboard 6800 ultra is your final step) upgrades, which is situation manny Xeon owners on various forums are facing.

My comment was concerning starting from scratch with dual board and was not related to Elie.

Otherwise, if you have high end dual rig, it might be worth to wait untill late 06 or early 07 when Woodcrest Xeons and Socket F (DDR2, new socket) Opterons come out.

[Nowhere]

You'd do better if you'd said "not a big deal, since Elie will be able soon to buy system more capable and cheaper at the same time"

And BTW, I somehow disagree about SCSI vs. Raptors...the latter are simply NOT a good deal at this point. The cheaper, 36GB, costs over 110€. For that price I could buy used Adaptec 80MB/s (pointless to get more for one drive - besides, controller will sit on normal PCI) card and a new 36GB SCSI drive (one quick look at our online auctions - and yes, there's this IBM 36GB for example)...and by adding prices of both I see I'd still be left with 20€ in my pocket. In practice - much more, because I'd probably buy 18GB drive for system/apps, they're (yes, new) for 50€ max...
And for 5€ more one could apparently have LSI/i960 RAID card with 8MB of cache, expendable to 64 (interestingly...it's quite small)

[Sasq]

To clarify: Already having dual mobo or planning to buy one is something different.

If you already have dual Xeon motherboard and 3.0+ Xeons you're left without noteworthy CPU (dual core requires new motherboard) and videocard (AGP->PCIe, if you have AGP motherboard 6800 ultra is your final step) upgrades, which is situation manny Xeon owners on various forums are facing.

My comment was concerning starting from scratch with dual board and was not related to Elie.

Otherwise, if you have high end dual rig, it might be worth to wait untill late 06 or early 07 when Woodcrest Xeons and Socket F (DDR2, new socket) Opterons come out.

not concerning Elie fine, however, I personally am considering a dual dual board next round, as WHILE most apps themselves might only work well on 2 cores, I need to test within 2 ~ 3 operating systems, virtual machines are my friend.

It is best not to make blanket statements without qualifiers.

[Jammrock]

mmmm... virtual machines.

[UtwigMU]

Well, I said "Unless you want pair of ultimate single core CPUs or need 4-way system...". You obviously need 4-way system, which should rock for virtual machines.

[Umfriend]

I'd rather have a real machine