Nehalem 101 part1 - 1366 and X58

[saaya]

1) What memory modes except for triple channel are supported? Single channel? Dual? I am considering to run my system temporarily with 4x1 GB in dual channel mode if possible, and if that doesn't mean too much of a performance impact.

core i7 supports single dual and tripple channel.
each channel only has 2 slots though, while some server boards MIGHT have up to 4 per channel. running dual channel is perfectly fine, and actually shows slightly better performance in some scenarios than tripple channel!

2) I read a bit on the memory controller/Memory module voltage not being separate yet and Intel recommending app. 1.65V for the RAM subsystem. My Corsairs are rated for 1.8V tho....any recommendations? I don't want to ditch my RAMs.

1.8v should be fine as long as you increase VTT as well.
this voltage is called QPI/Dram on asus and QPI/VTT on gigiabyte.
its the uncore voltage, and the memory controller is part of the cpu uncore.
so this is basically the chipset voltage... if you increase it, then it seems even memory voltages of up to 2v and higher are fine.
the rule of the thumb seems to be to keep vdimm and vtt within .5v of each other. so 1.3v vtt for 1.8v vdimm...
you will find that vtt can be as high as 1.5v without any problems for 24/7, and higher vtt means you can run higher memory clocks, so you might want to run more than 1.3v vtt.

I'll see how the prices are developing around XMas...and then decide if I am changing or now. My Q9550 at 3.91 GHz is pretty neat so far.

Well, unless you have a really powerful vga, or even 2 or 3, or unless you really see that your maxed out by cpu power and you need more, for example for vide en/de coding or other cpu intensive tasks, then there is no reason to upgrade yet.

If you want the fastest of the fastes
if you have one or several powerful vgas
if you are a workstation user working with professional tools
if you are a virtualization fan
if you want to benchmark
if you want to play with a new plattform

then go for core i7


if you want to play games
if you are short on money
if you care about price/perf

then go for an E8400/E8500/E8600...

Best article I have read in a while here! SUre it'll get ripped left and right!
Thanks so much for your insight - helped me a lot!

as long as i get a single feedback like yours that what i did was helpful in some way, ill do my best to continue