Quote Originally Posted by threeply View Post
Unfortunately the pricing gap between the Nehalem Xeon CPU series and the Core i7 at same clock speeds will seriously hinder the value of the upcoming Gainstowns if leaked pricelists are to believed (i940=~$570 vs. X5570=~$1300).

On the positive side the Thurley platform should provide better power efficiency and compatibility with the Core i7 i.e. using the same HSF, RAM, SouthBridge. Although RAM will probably have to be buffered and registered but the cost is incremental and heat dissipation should be much less than the current FBDIMMs used by the DPs now.

Perhaps a Skulltrail Extreme
Xeon platforms have always been more than the comparable single socket versions along with the boards so thats nothing new.
Hell, my X5470's retail for app $1300.00 each and the SM X7DWA-N board was close to $500.00 when it came out so no increase in cost to get a system that doubles the computational power and thats just using the X5570's(2930mhz) not the available top end W5580's(3200mhz)
Memory is slated to be DDR3-1333 ECC but registered is not mandatory as far as I've heard.
yes, the idea of a SkullTrail Xtreme appeals to me also.
Someone want to hold a gun to Francois head to get it a done deal?
He's way too big to hit!