Nehalem is not for gamers

[Bojamijams]

http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=480


According to Anandtech. And it makes a compelling argument.

I guess it'll still improve F@H performance so a lot of people here will be interested for that aspect.

My hype for Nehalem has died a bit.

[evil-98]

im looking forward to more on rendering when i went from P4 with HT to a quad core it was a huge leap, cant image how nehalem will handle rendering

[ownage]

Wrong section. It is probably cheaper for most of us to buy a Q9650 then buy a Nehalem system.

[AngryArtichoke]

It'll be interesting what the numbers have to say. When the Nehalem hits eight cores, it'll take a bit for the software to catch up as well. Perhaps the small gaming performance bump might give AMD a chance to get back into the desktop game.

[MrMojoZ]

I don't see this stopping some Intel fans from spending $1000s on upgrades though, Skulltrail didn't exactly add tons to the gaming department and people bought it.

[Bojamijams]

The thing I don't understand... and I disagree with Anandtech highly here is this

They say the games benefit hugely from the big L2 cache. Except, the 3mb L2 E7200 performs EXACTLY the same as the 6mb L2 E8400 when they're clocked the same. Dead even down to a single decimal point.

Ehh.. guess we'll just have to wait for benchmarks. I was hoping I could avoid a good NB block since I'd be upgrading to Nehalem but looks like I'll be staying C2D .. maybe pickup that new BP block for the NB/SB.

[roofsniper]

personally i don't think intel at all is for gamers. i have reasons behind it and i already posted some of it in the amd forum: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=189310&page=4.

*waits to get flamed* :up:

[Bojamijams]

And I'm chomping at the bit for those to come out. After workng with the QX9650 since it came out, and 9550, I know it would be easy to clock a Q9650 over 4.1 with the multi.

I think it will go down as one of the great chips of all time,

andyc

Interesting... I think I'll keep my eye out on that baby then. Especially if I crack my E7200 when I remove the IHS

[NaeKuh]

uhhh i have both. (not going to specify)
Iany, R3, and a lot of others can vouch on this statement.
The chairman of Blingville almost resigned and jump ship after seeing a picture!

:T

Im just gona say :rofl:

And look at my sig. :up:
X3370 = Q9650 :up:

Last 3 are E0's btw! absolute monster overclockers. Ive been playing with mine a lot eariler then you guys got the chance to. :up:

Anyhow going back to my :wasntme:


Why is this in the lc forum?

[hotdun]

And I'm chomping at the bit for those to come out. After workng with the QX9650 since it came out, and 9550, I know it would be easy to clock a Q9650 over 4.1 with the multi.

I think it will go down as one of the great chips of all time,

andyc

I just don't see that much of an improvement over the older 65nm Q6700 processor. Slightly higher FSB with a little more L2 cache, that's it. I know of alot of 65nm quad cores running at 4GHz that would give the new 45nm a run for their money. Just my $.02.....



Interesting... I think I'll keep my eye out on that baby then. Especially if I crack my E7200 when I remove the IHS

haha, nice....make sure to post some pics...:)

[Gir92]

You have to remember that both the cpus and the motherboards are not finalized yet. In a late beta stage so to speak.

[NaeKuh]

You have to remember that both the cpus and the motherboards are not finalized yet. In a late beta stage so to speak.

thats why im :rofl:

[MrMojoZ]

The thing I don't understand... and I disagree with Anandtech highly here is this

They say the games benefit hugely from the big L2 cache. Except, the 3mb L2 E7200 performs EXACTLY the same as the 6mb L2 E8400 when they're clocked the same. Dead even down to a single decimal point.


Size of cache and how the L2 is used by the CPU are two diffrent things. Notice the refrence the access speeds in that article as well and the change over to a L3 style cache system that benefits servers.

[NaeKuh]

heh,

I can get those clocks out of my 9550 all day long, so I'm a little surprised you haven't done more with the chips.

andyc

high clocks doesnt mean squat to me. :P

i could push 4.8ghz on persephone on phase.

WCG stable is where it counts :up:

[Extigy]

only time will tell. My personal opinion is that there will be an improvement - at a great cost (albiet a small one) until games start making full use of multiple cores. They may also overclock better. I know the IHS is bigger than the current LGA775 = larger area = more heat dissipation.

[MomijiTMO]

Who cares? I mean this whole gamer image is really lame and crap as most gamers are retarded and won't upgrade often.

I'm looking forwards to Nehalem even if I don't plan on jumping on straight away. I'm eager to learn how much faster I can do practical stuff like compressing videos/mp3s, going insane with filters in PS and of course 8 threads!

[gxavier]

Since when, in the last 2 years, has anything better than an original 65nm C2D been important for gaming? The CPU isn't the bottleneck here... the GPU is. In the last 2 years there's been a HUGE improvement in graphical power in order to cope with games like Crysis. The CPU's have improved just as much, but it's not necessary.

I'll still be getting the nehalem, but never ever did I think it was going to suddenly increase my framerates dramatically. Buying a new GPU is still the best bet for those that are still worrying about framerates.

With the exception of games like SupComm, where many many numbers are being crunched, the GPU is still the best investment you can make as long as you already have a C2D.

[Fragger]

Who cares? I mean this whole gamer image is really lame and crap as most gamers are retarded and won't upgrade often.


You know nothing about gamers, we MUST have the latest gear, so please stop insulting us.

[Bojamijams]

Yeah that was a rather stupid thing to say.. most gamers actually upgrade as often as possible to get more FPS in their games with better graphics options.

[road-runner]

And I'm chomping at the bit for those to come out. After workng with the QX9650 since it came out, and 9550, I know it would be easy to clock a Q9650 over 4.1 with the multi.

I think it will go down as one of the great chips of all time,

andyc

Q9650 are out... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115130

[skinnee]

Who cares? I mean this whole gamer image is really lame and crap as most gamers are retarded and won't upgrade often.


You know nothing about gamers, we MUST have the latest gear, so please stop insulting us.

I agree with Fragger...go piss up a rope after making a comment like that!

[Movieman]

I'm not big into single sockets but these Q9650's look to be one hell of a chip from what I've seen.
Get a board that will do 450FSB and 9x445 for 4000 is almost a given.
These E0 stepping chips are just beasts!:up:

[Movieman]

Well we'll see come day after tomorrow:D 4.2 would be a walk in the park on my board. I can do 470FSB all day long without breaking a sweat on the 790 Ultra, and when the souped up version comes out, even better.

andyc

4230mhz huh? That will make a nice email machine..:rofl:
I may be able to match that on 8 cores this coming weekend.:wasntme:

[Anemone]

Honestly, you've only got maybe a month or 6 weeks till you can make the choice for yourself, maybe a bit longer. And if it turns out that Yorkies are better, well that is fine enough, because they'll be plentiful. I can't help but worry that the Anand article was written with someone from Intel in the background writing a check. Because Intel would love like crazy that you buy up all the stock that is out there now rather than wait and fight for a small # of Nehalems.

I can see where the article is coming from, but I'd like to see some tests. And do try to remember that the expansion of cores is well underway. We've seen a couple of years now of next to no top end core speed increases, but a nearly constant push to increase the core count. @ 32nm I'd expect that full 8 physical cores become a mainstream reality.

Last point, and it's not a strong one, but a point nonetheless is upgradeability. A Nehalem socket now is likely to be Westmere ready in '09/10. A Yorky now is the end of the road. Small point because most folks don't fret much about replacing a mobo along with a cpu, but for some this will be a concern.

Wait and see I say. I don't think pure L2 is going to be the end all of the answer in performance.

[MomijiTMO]

You know nothing about gamers, we MUST have the latest gear, so please stop insulting us.


Yeah that was a rather stupid thing to say.. most gamers actually upgrade as often as possible to get more FPS in their games with better graphics options.


I agree with Fragger...go piss up a rope after making a comment like that!


+2:down:

andyc
Alrightie guys, do you think you are the average gamer? Com'on I said most. I know the gamers here upgrade often to get the best performance build for their buck.

I've been to a million game forums only to find people suggesting the most retarded advice simply because they really don't have a clue and just follow the hype. I do recall someone recommending underclocking as a way to give better temps and this alone would give better performance. =\

The average gamer doesn't have the latest pc.

[jaredpace]

i bet if nehalem oc's to 4.3ghz it will beat penryns in games

[MomijiTMO]

That would be a huge OC. We have been spoiled by Core 2.

[Bojamijams]

That 790i "FTW" (A term that has recently started making my skin crawl) will be one hell of a bencher too. It will all be here come Thursday:D

And then you can slide that 8 core lead sled over here and get some.:rofl:

andyc

Only recently? Imagine living with it...I had to bury the box deep in my closet so that I don't see those letters.

But they do make it a better mobo.

[Movieman]

Honestly, you've only got maybe a month or 6 weeks till you can make the choice for yourself, maybe a bit longer. And if it turns out that Yorkies are better, well that is fine enough, because they'll be plentiful. I can't help but worry that the Anand article was written with someone from Intel in the background writing a check. Because Intel would love like crazy that you buy up all the stock that is out there now rather than wait and fight for a small # of Nehalems.

I can see where the article is coming from, but I'd like to see some tests. And do try to remember that the expansion of cores is well underway. We've seen a couple of years now of next to no top end core speed increases, but a nearly constant push to increase the core count. @ 32nm I'd expect that full 8 physical cores become a mainstream reality.

Last point, and it's not a strong one, but a point nonetheless is upgradeability. A Nehalem socket now is likely to be Westmere ready in '09/10. A Yorky now is the end of the road. Small point because most folks don't fret much about replacing a mobo along with a cpu, but for some this will be a concern.

Wait and see I say. I don't think pure L2 is going to be the end all of the answer in performance.

I'd disagree mildly with that point.
We're now seeing 4000mhz common and done by the average guy where we didn't see that 2 years ago.
These new E0 stepping cpu's are making this possible for the average Joe.
It's also happenning on the dual boards.
back in Dec 2006 the absolute best I could get out of a 8 core dual socket clover was 3258mhz on air and stock volts.
I just saw 3965mhz in windows(no load) on a pair of high end harpertowns and that was on a board that the only way to OC it was using SetFSB.
Now as to power, I had to push the Harpers to 3600 to match a Gainstown system at 3000 in Cinebench 10 and this guy only had single channel memory and a beta bios..
Now I know that doesn't mean anything to gaming but cpu power is cpu power..

[majestik]

Say, when is the NDA on nehalems is over? So people can post some OC results, at least.

[Movieman]

That 790i "FTW" (A term that has recently started making my skin crawl) will be one hell of a bencher too. It will all be here come Thursday:D

And then you can slide that 8 core lead sled over here and get some.:rofl:

andyc

Lead sled huh?
Ok, when you can match this with that anemic little 4 core then come and we'll talk!:rofl:

[TedShred]

:shocked:

wow, that's one of the wildest looking bikes I've ever seen. what is it?

[Movieman]

Do make me go "distributed" on you. I get them 2 790's side by side and I'll smoke dat chit.:rofl:

That's a damn nice setup there MM, WOW:shocked:

andyc

Yes, I imagine that TWO systems built by you can beat this ONE built by me but were talking your thoroughbreds vs my Clydesdale.
You do know what would happen if you hooked up a Throughbred to a Clydesdale I assume?
That thoroughbred would be dragged all over the yard on his backside..:D
Seriously, looking forward to what you can get out of that Q9650 and the 790 board.. Should be a beast.:up:

Damn, I forgot, just got a Skulltrail board so this weekend I'm building a dualie that actually has built in overclocking ability unlike the Supermicro systems that only have setFSB available.
They are solid as a rock for our DC work but for "E-Peening" contests are lacking.
Maybe I just can match your two 790 systems with one as the cpu's in this are from God.
I think the best silicon that Intel put out.
3965 on just 1.225v is incredible.

[Movieman]

Not if my Throughbred takes off hualing ass down thru the back yard before old Clyde can grab a hold she won't:rofl::ROTF:

andyc

We'll see.. Parts arrive Thursday, but I have work friday and sat so maybe build sunday..:up:
Get 2 systems that can make at least 21,000 a day in WCG and you might have a chance..
Otherwise get out the Tide TireTrack remover!:rofl:

[Kayin]

Dave, I need to remind you that you suck.

My board (which with Sao Paolo would have done 24 cores and overclocking) is DOA and there is no replacement on it.

Wife DID say I could save up for Skulltrail...

[Movieman]

LMAO....a classic if ther ever was one. I've never considered sig'ing someone before, but that quote is worthy. I almost woke my wife up I busted out laughing so hard:rofl:

andyc

That's an oldie..You just have to spend more time over in the WCG section.
I've been run over so many times I have tiretracks imbedded in my spine..
I move my machines around to different accounts to help people so my numbers aren't what they should be..
It's so bad now that even Tide won't help.
I have to use that Oxy-Clean to get the damned marks out!:rofl:

Kayin;3231612']Dave, I need to remind you that you suck.

My board (which with Sao Paolo would have done 24 cores and overclocking) is DOA and there is no replacement on it.

Wife DID say I could save up for Skulltrail...
No, you want solid and dependable then you buy this:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon1333/5400/X7DWA-N.cfm
Stick a $500.00(used) pair of 5420's in that modded to 3000mhz and you got a winner.
BUT with Nehalem coming you might want to wait..
That is the tough one to answer but that SM board and a pair of 5420's is a hell of a machine.
FBDimms are down to $58.00 a stick. Heck, I just bought 4x1 gig of the nice Kingston HyperX DDR2-800FBDimms for $238.00 shipped direct from Kingston
That board also has 2-PCI-eX16 slots so you could stick a couple ATI 4870's in it in crossfire if you wanted

[MrMojoZ]

You know nothing about gamers, we MUST have the latest gear, so please stop insulting us.


Yeah that was a rather stupid thing to say.. most gamers actually upgrade as often as possible to get more FPS in their games with better graphics options.

You folks are confusing gamers with hardware enthusiasts. Most PC "gamers" have computers that barely run the most current games. ;)

[Movieman]

You folks are confusing gamers with hardware enthusiasts. Most PC "gamers" have computers that barely run the most current games. ;)

BUT:
Shouldn't the comment be taken in context of the venue where it was spoken?
The gamers here at Xs have some pretty impressive systems from what I've seen.
A 4000mhz E8500 with one-two 9800 or 4870 series cards isn't out of the norm here but is the norm.
Someone comes in and shows their high end dual core at 5000mhz on a single stage and everyone goes 'ya and whats so special about that?"
Almost funny but here Xtreme systems are the norm and it was to those people that the comment was made.

[oohms]

BUT:
Shouldn't the comment be taken in context of the venue where it was spoken?
The gamers here at Xs have some pretty impressive systems from what I've seen.
A 4000mhz E8500 with one-two 9800 or 4870 series cards isn't out of the norm here but is the norm.
Someone comes in and shows their high end dual core at 5000mhz on a single stage and everyone goes 'ya and whats so special about that?"
Almost funny but here Xtreme systems are the norm and it was to those people that the comment was made.

I think XS is a collection of the top couple of rungs of pc hardware enthusiasts... if you go to a lan party its pretty much split 3 ways; Gamers with the latest tech (1 yr old or newer parts), Gamers with oldish pcs that still play most things (939 A64, 7800GTX, etc) and the people who only play CS... You would be surprised by how many people still use socket A pcs :p:

[Fragger]

The comment made was insulting to all gamers, calling us retarted no less. This coming from a guy who plays with pictures for fun..................

[Movieman]

I think XS is a collection of the top couple of rungs of pc hardware enthusiasts... if you go to a lan party its pretty much split 3 ways; Gamers with the latest tech (1 yr old or newer parts), Gamers with oldish pcs that still play most things (939 A64, 7800GTX, etc) and the people who only play CS... You would be surprised by how many people still use socket A pcs :p:

I understand but my point was the comment was made here, to the people that are at "the top" so it's relavance was misplaced for l;ack of a better term.
yes, I know about socket A's..
My 78 year old mother uses one every day and itr runs fine
Asus K7V-266Mb with a AMD 1400mhz downclocked to 1000mhz and a 32mb Jadon vid card..
I built that for her from spare parts 4 years ago and it will run forever..:D

[CyberDruid]

I have a feelng Nehalem is not going to be OC friendly right off the bat. And when it comes to performance you gotta OC. I'll stick with the top tier "obsolete" s771 gear for a while.

[Charles Wirth]

Nehalem is for anyone who wants higher IPC and FPS, a premium for the new platform on launch is always expected with new hardware.

Granted 8 core 16 thread is overkill but there is variants with less cores expected, Pat mentioned dual core today, mobile shown operational.

[MomijiTMO]

I think XS is a collection of the top couple of rungs of pc hardware enthusiasts... if you go to a lan party its pretty much split 3 ways; Gamers with the latest tech (1 yr old or newer parts), Gamers with oldish pcs that still play most things (939 A64, 7800GTX, etc) and the people who only play CS... You would be surprised by how many people still use socket A pcs :p:

Well I'll take your word since this is the norms for you and I guess everyone else.

My comment about 'most' was wrong. I should have said average at least but the best choice of words would have been a third. After reading MM's post, it dawned on me that it could be taken as a offensive post. However it should be apparent since I am at this site that I don't have anything against 'gamers' and I'm not one to create a stir so relax. No need to bash my ego into the wall anymore is there?

[Movieman]

Well I'll take your word since this is the norms for you and I guess everyone else.

My comment about 'most' was wrong. I should have said average at least but the best choice of words would have been a third. After reading MM's post, it dawned on me that it could be taken as a offensive post. However it should be apparent since I am at this site that I don't have anything against 'gamers' and I'm not one to create a stir so relax. No need to bash my ego into the wall anymore is there?

Nah, we still love you.. At least for tonight..:D
This is a small issue and lets put it to bed.
Back to whether Nehalem will be a good gamer..:up:

[twwen2]

Back to whether Nehalem will be a good gamer..:up:

This'll be interesting. I can't imagine that intel would ever release a chip that performed worse than the previous generation (albeit in one small area of performance), but how much better will Nehalem actually be?

(rhetorical questoin - we'll just have to wait and see!)

[_G_]

You would be surprised by how many people still use socket A pcs :p:

socket a, pff I have a socket 7 box around here somewhere with vista installed on it lol

[Anemone]

Mmmm mobile 8 thread Nehalem. mmm :)

[twilyth]

Mmmm mobile 8 thread Nehalem. mmm :)

For crunching and folding, I wonder if hyper threading is still going to be like stuffing 2 ferrets in a sock.

[MrMojoZ]

This'll be interesting. I can't imagine that intel would ever release a chip that performed worse than the previous generation (albeit in one small area of performance), but how much better will Nehalem actually be?

(rhetorical questoin - we'll just have to wait and see!)

Short memories around here at times. The early P4s performed worse than the last set of P3s.

[twwen2]

Short memories around here at times. The early P4s performed worse than the last set of P3s.

Or perhaps no memories :p:. P3 was a little bit before i got into OC'ing, i knew nothing about HW back then. Thanks for pointing that out though, interesting indeed!

[NaeKuh]

Say, when is the NDA on nehalems is over? So people can post some OC results, at least.

well, its not just the cpu you know.

Theres also the problem with the NDA on the board as well.

:rofl:


Lead sled huh?
Ok, when you can match this with that anemic little 4 core then come and we'll talk!:rofl:

O M G Dave's E-Penis just got bigger then mine! :rofl:

ahem, guys drool @ That 10x Multi, incase you didnt notice. :rofl:

[Bojamijams]

I figure for us watercoolers, it'll at least be nice not to have to have a NB block. Clean up some room and gain a bit of flow back.

[_G_]

Im guessing these will be harder to oc (like amd's) since the memory controller is onboard now (chipsets will mean less and getting a good chip/memory controller will mean everything)

also that means a socket change when new memory standards came out.

[Bojamijams]

The DDR3 will only now become the 'standard' when Nehalem comes out .. so it'll be a long time before its phased out

Yes a good chip will be more important but thats better then getting a good chip AND a good mobo for a great overclock

[MrMojoZ]

Or perhaps no memories :p:. P3 was a little bit before i got into OC'ing, i knew nothing about HW back then. Thanks for pointing that out though, interesting indeed!

Sure. The P4 was the chip that created alot of AMD fans. :D

[IanY]

There's no Gainesville/Tylersburg ICH10R mobo in the works, only Smackover, at least one that's about to be released. Pity.

[orclev]

Partially OT here (I've been making a lot of posts like that, I'll try not to make it a habit), but the latest rumor I heard is that nVidia might be releasing their own x86 compatible CPU. Current speculation about it though is wondering how they'll get past Intel's licensing, as they would essentially need the go ahead from both Intel and AMD in order to produce a x86 compatible CPU.

Originally saw this on slashdot, but the source article is at http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/20/nvidia-announce-x86-chip

[twwen2]

As you said, nVidia don't have an x86 license, so i don't think we'll be seeing that any time soon!
And i wouldn't beleive anything from INQ either.

[Movieman]

Nehalem is for anyone who wants higher IPC and FPS, a premium for the new platform on launch is always expected with new hardware.

Granted 8 core 16 thread is overkill but there is variants with less cores expected, Pat mentioned dual core today, mobile shown operational.

Personally I think it's just right!:rofl:

[skinnee]

Originally saw this on slashdot, but the source article is at http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/08/20/nvidia-announce-x86-chip

Article by Charlie...:shakes:

[orclev]

Article by Charlie...:shakes:

By your reaction I take it he has a reputation? I don't normally read inquirer so I'm not familiar with any of their authors.

[twwen2]

I don't normally read inquirer so I'm not familiar with any of their authors.

I wouldn't start now, your not missing much. Charlie just spews BS and is extremely biased. :down:

[IanY]

Charlie, Fudd and gang are supremely prejudiced against anything by Nvidia.

[adamsleath]

Nehalem is for anyone who wants higher IPC and FPS
so it is for gamers, or not? im indifferent either way tbh

[cobra_kai]

To be honest it seems as though most of the improvements made on Nehalem are aimed at server applications. However, there also several that seem to me would improve performance in lower threaded desktop apps. Just to list a couple: the turbo feature that allows dynamic scaling of clock speeds for each core if other cores are unused as long as TDP restrictions are met. According to a thread on Anand, cores can be increased as much as 266 MHz if fewer cores are being used. The second is higher memory bandwidth and the IMC. Yes, the L3 cache has higher latency than the old L2 cache, but this might be mitigated by vastly higher bandwidth to memory as well as decreased latency to memory. Finally, I don't know how much you guys know about the details about computer architecture, but if you read the Anand article it describes improvements to the reservation stations, out of order instruction window, ROB etc. I believe that while there may not be huge improvements, nevertheless Nehalem will bring improvements for gamers.

[xdrift0rx]

it HAS to go forward in a sense..i mean, how could it be worse for games? it has more IPC correct? it has a higher clock speed correct? it has more easily accessible bandwidth correct? what are you losing here that could make gaming worse?

[Blauhung]

There's no Gainesville/Tylersburg ICH10R mobo in the works, only Smackover, at least one that's about to be released. Pity.

There are a few of them in fact, just targeted for server people:p:

[IanY]

There are a few of them in fact, just targeted for server people:p:

Now you got me all wired :p:

Are you referring to something crazy like 4 physical cpus, 16 cores and 32 threads, or are you talking about something more realistic like the current Skulltrail?

The last person I spoke to told me not to hold my breathe and to stop dreaming.

[Blauhung]

Now you got me all wired :p:

Are you referring to something crazy like 4 physical cpus, 16 cores and 32 threads, or are you talking about something more realistic like the current Skulltrail?

The last person I spoke to told me not to hold my breathe and to stop dreaming.

No, I'm saying there are run of the mill platforms that will run dual socket at stock settings. But I can't see Intel leaving that market hanging. Just may be a bit longer in coming because there's things that the platform developement groups can be working on right now that will bring in a lot more money then Skull Trail 2.

Remember though, all the abilities are there if another manufacturer wants to beat Intel to a overclocking friendly Gainstown board.

[adamsleath]

i saw one nehalem board that had triple pci-e slots...i mean who's that for if not a gamer?:confused:

still; it seems mainly for non-gamers (ie servers), but then again, 'extreme' people will probably mostly have nehalems with triple channel ddr3 :hehe:
while some will maintain their penryns...but if nehalem wins then i can see where this is going.
pc's are overkill for gaming anyway, and yet 'gaming' remains a selling point.

penryns are for sale now and nehalems arent :p:

[step]

i saw one nehalem board that had triple pci-e slots...i mean who's that for if not a gamer?...

[adamsleath]

http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/571/gigabyte.jpg

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=571
http://www.pcper.com/images/reviews/571/foxconn.jpg

...look at all those chips around the cpu socket on the giga-board, they need some heatsinks?

[Jowy Atreides]

so it is for gamers, or not? im indifferent either way tbh

nehalem is for gamers, everyone has a trend of equating pc games to FPS and Driving genres only

PC is the proving ground of the best RTS games and they will benefit from the extra threads when coded well

so Nehalem is for games.....just not your games
(directed only at people who convey the nehalem is not for games thought pattern)

[adamsleath]

i was just pointing out the graphics slots...i mean that's just asking for uber-doober-pooper-scooper 3d rendering.

i guess you could apply it to an animated fly-through simulation of the next olympic villiage, while crunching and encoding dvd's at the same time? :lol:
and also chatting on half a dozen web-dating chatlines :ROTF:

[Jowy Atreides]

i was just pointing out the graphics slots...i mean that's just asking for uber-doober-pooper-scooper 3d rendering.

hmm, I wasn't saying anything against you :lol:


im indifferent either way

I just used you post as a base to vouch my standing on the nehalem is not for gamers argument :)

[adamsleath]

im just thinking out loud

new mobos with new cpu architecture/imc and all that jazz; it's a significant step forward for intel pc's surely....

but also a point that as far as gaming upgrades go, it wont make much difference to 'most' games...vs a highly clocked penryn, but it's conjecture mostly without all the usual stats...and there's pricetag to consider for the early x58 platforms.
i take a back seat, for the knowledgable ones..;) i want to learn more...

[MrMojoZ]

It isn't for gamers, it is for extreme gamers. Normal gamers would be better served with a cheaper platform that would allow for more to be spent on the video card.

[IanY]

There are only two double-wide PCI-E slots on those Ggabyte and Foxconn mobos. They also clearly do not have the Nvidia chipset and are not SLI ready. Those mobos are designed for AMD X2 Crossfire.

[IanY]

No, I'm saying there are run of the mill platforms that will run dual socket at stock settings. But I can't see Intel leaving that market hanging. Just may be a bit longer in coming because there's things that the platform developement groups can be working on right now that will bring in a lot more money then Skull Trail 2.

Remember though, all the abilities are there if another manufacturer wants to beat Intel to a overclocking friendly Gainstown board.


I certainly hope so, because I already feel like I'm being hung out to dry.

[Bojamijams]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/08/19/nehalem-derivatives-detailed/1

And then to counter Anandtech completely.. here's an excerpt

"Clock speeds haven’t really been discussed so far, although Intel did show a demo of Lost Planet: Colonies running side-by-side on both a Nehalem and a Penryn processor, each clocked at 3.2GHz. In terms of performance in the demo showed, the Nehalem-based system was around 50-to-80 percent faster.."

[NaeKuh]

i saw one nehalem board that had triple pci-e slots...i mean who's that for if not a gamer?:confused:


are you serious about this statement?

....


i was just pointing out the graphics slots...i mean that's just asking for uber-doober-pooper-scooper 3d rendering.


*sigh*

im ditching the second video card for this again:
http://www.areca.us/products/pcietosas1680series.htm

To me now, io > video. :T

1680ix. That to me is more important then Xfire now. :T

[gxavier]

Yep I like raid cards. Lots of PCI-E = more raid!

[orclev]

are you serious about this statement?

....



*sigh*

im ditching the second video card for this again:
http://www.areca.us/products/pcietosas1680series.htm

To me now, io > video. :T

1680ix. That to me is more important then Xfire now. :T

Yeah, I've got triple PCIx motherboard, but 2 of the 3 slots aren't being used for graphics cards. One is being used for my soundcard, although if I can reduce the footprint of my graphics card I can reclaim a PCIx1 slot and move the soundcard to there. The other slot is being used by my 4 port RAID controller.

[Bojamijams]

are you serious about this statement?

....



*sigh*

im ditching the second video card for this again:
http://www.areca.us/products/pcietosas1680series.htm

To me now, io > video. :T

1680ix. That to me is more important then Xfire now. :T

I swear.. once I do my next upgrade where I decide to finally jump into RAID configs, I'm sending Naekuh a PM. Assuming he doesn't bite my head off.

[IanY]

Naekuh: just a warning. I've heard repeatedly that the 1680i doesn't play too well with SSDs, and that the controller of choice is the 1231ML. I know nothing, but I've seen some complaints.

Also, I've heard alot of complaints about the cheap SSDs and multitasking, and that even the expensive SSDs don't do so well in real usage as opposed to benchmarks.

[hotdun]

Also, I've heard alot of complaints about the cheap SSDs and multitasking, and that even the expensive SSDs don't do so well in real usage as opposed to benchmarks.

I've read similar things on the SSD's themselves. Degredation is a big concern....

[IanY]

The part that concerns me the most is someone said defragmenting a SSD is dangerous. It may damage the SSD.

[AliG]

Honestly, it's quite clear wolfdale is the best choice for gaming, for many reasons (speed and that nehalem seems to perform less than yorkfield in games anyways)

[orclev]

The part that concerns me the most is someone said defragmenting a SSD is dangerous. It may damage the SSD.
... uh, I may be missing something here, but there seems to be very little point in defragmenting a SSD. The whole point behind defragmenting a drive is to reduce seek times, but SSD has effectively 0 seek time, so don't think it would make a difference. Defragmenting it wouldn't damage it directly so much, as it would increase the number of write cycles on the cells, thereby reducing the expected lifetime. Remember, each cell is only good for so many writes before it will give up the ghost (even if it's a ridiculous number of writes, and spread evenly across the cells with write leveling).

[NaeKuh]

Naekuh: just a warning. I've heard repeatedly that the 1680i doesn't play too well with SSDs, and that the controller of choice is the 1231ML. I know nothing, but I've seen some complaints.

Also, I've heard alot of complaints about the cheap SSDs and multitasking, and that even the expensive SSDs don't do so well in real usage as opposed to benchmarks.

yeah i know.

But the difference would be small that i wouldnt notice it.

And the 1680ix.. well if i dont get it, rubycon will seriously chop my head off. I still trust rubycon over anyone. After she showed me a encode of a 2 hour movie in a little under 3min. That was just insane.

[IanY]

i have yet to see anyone use samsung SSD's tho.

I might get lucky and score 4 ES Intel SSD's 2.5mm.

The Samsung SSDs are exactly the same as the OCZ (not the cheapo "Core" POS crap). They sell for about $650 for a 64 GB. Those are only average.

The ones to get are the MTron Pro 7500 (also Korean.. Imation markets). Those are sold at $950 for one 32 GB.

Did I mention that a $300 147 GB Cheetah 15K6 will wh00p any of those SSD's asses in sustained reads, sustained writes, random reads and random writes ? :D

Rubycon.. the guy with the 4 GB/sec sustained read SSD array :)

[NaeKuh]

Did I mention that a $300 147 GB Cheetah 15K6 will wh00p any of those SSD's asses in sustained reads, sustained writes, random reads and random writes ? :D

What iany i cant hear you.

Your jet engines behind you are too loud. :rofl: