James schrieb: > Philip Webb <purslow <at> sympatico.ca> writes: > > >> I'm getting close to buying the parts for my new machine (see earlier msgs) >> & an Intel quad-core mentioned by a helpful responder >> has now come down almost within my price range. >> The CPU I have been contemplating for some weeks is >> an 'Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 4 MB 65 nm 2,67 GHz', which sells for CAD 225 , >> but there is now 'Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 8 MB 65 nm 2,4 GHz' for CAD 305 ; >> the 8 MB cache in the latter divides into 2 x 4 MB / pair processors. >> Prices continue to drop weekly & should go lower with our higher CAD. > >> My guess is that even a dual-core CPU wb overkill for my simple desktop, >> but I'm keen to get value for money in a machine intended to last to 2011 . >> Does anyone have any thoughts re dual- vs quad-core processors >> when used for various purposes with Gentoo ? > > > To really quantify things, you need to look at the minutia of > how the processors are interconnected, bandwidth, and a host of > very hardware oriented details. From a commons sense approach, > better performance must be achieved from the smaller sizes > of the transistors and such on the new 65-nm processes that are > used to build such multi-processor semiconductors. You can spend > a huge amount of time drilling down into these details, if > you want to. My experience is all that performance requires > and extra premium in costs from the purchaser to make the > suppler rich (or at least enough money to design the next chip). > Intel extracts a bit more profit from the user than AMD, because > they can. Just like Nvidia make more money than ATI..... > > That said, I like AMD products, but, it is a choice. > > > The better questions to ask are: > 1) Does the linux kernel run on this processor? > 2) Does the extra cost seem reasonable for my needs? > 3) Ask any minutia questions to some kernel experts > (for example maybe kernel.org or Intel have some > published benchmarks) > 4) Look for relevant benchmarks (benchmarks are like > statistics, folks publish what promotes their position. > 5) Just by the dam thing and enjoy the hell out of a smokin > box that the rest of us only dream about.... > > > (don't forget to purchase generous amounts of the fastest > ram the machine supports, or your pissing away your money. > Large L2 cache and the fastest memory available for your > processor dollars are usually the best choices, in my experience. > > Also look into heating issues and possible using a water cooling > system to extend the life of the processors and keep the > dB level down to something reasonable.... > > Personally, I put off purchases as much as possible, but when the > time comes I get a 'one off' of the latest and newest, to stretch > my limited dollars (or those whom I work for). > > > hth, > > James >
If the same rules apply to Intel Quad Cores that applied to Dual Cores then faster memory is a good investment. Faster RAM timings don't make a big difference, though. So, don't buy Corsair just because the one millisecond better timing they guarantee. Stick with something reasonably priced. Water cooling? Well, it's got its advantages but I would stick with air cooling, less trouble in maintenance and failure. To the main topic: I'd say, log your system's load to see if it's above 2 from time o time and check if your main applications are threaded or are executed in parallel. -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
