Prescott

[Wayne Luke]

By the end of 2004 we should have a Prescott EE 4.0 GHZ with Socket T, PCI Express, and DDR2...

That would be the time to buy then. It will provide no benefit upon release to the average user except to make your wallet a little lighter.

 

[The Sandman]

Don't bragging rights count for anything??

 

[Wayne Luke]

Not to me personally. When someone says they have $2500-$3000 to purchase a new computer I just laugh. I personally have 4 working computers in my home currently as well as 3 printers (HP 5510, Lexmark X63, Epson Stylus C62), an HP scanner, 17 inch monitors all around, Gigahertz networking and it all cost less than $3000.

This year, I will be adding another computer maybe 2 and standalone network storage of about 500 Gigabytes. New chips are fine and dandy but cost to performance is a big issue in my house where the average new PC is less than $500.00.

 

[Los]

So I should wait before I buy a new motherboard/cpu combo?

^_^

 

[Wayne Luke]

I would... New technologies always have a few kinks to iron out after a new release. Jumping on the initial release bandwagon usually leaves you with problem hardware and software.

 

[AWS]

What gets me is Intel's reluctance to jump full force into the 64bit bandwagon and open that market up. At this rate, they will be playing catch-up in the consumer market and are already behind IBM (makers of the G5 processors) and AMD. The 64bit chips already significantly outperform Intel's offerings. So while other chip makers are developing for the future, Intel is extending their current line and allowing their own 64bit technology to languish in the halls of disuse and abandonment.

Intel is developing a 64Bit chip for the consumer market. It will be true 64bit like the G5 and not one based on the dated x86 platform. MS has more or less put the development of XP x86/64 on the back burner moving most of the devs to other projects. This leads to speculation on news groups that MS is waiting for Intels offering before it releases a 64bit OS for the consumer market. Since there is already an OS for Itanium and if Intel uses a variation that platform for the consumer chips MS would only have to tweak the OS.
Most people don't want to hear it, but, if MS chooses to wait for Intel then AMD will be standing out in the cold. AMD made a bold move releasing a platform that had no OS support except for a few Linux distros.
MS sets the stage after a chip maker introduces new technology. When the transistion was made from 16bit to 32bit MS had an OS ready for the change.
The next year is going to interesting.

 

[Los]

I would... New technologies always have a few kinks to iron out after a new release. Jumping on the initial release bandwagon usually leaves you with problem hardware and software.

Well, I was going to try for a 2.6C/mobo combo, upgrade the ram and video card and use it for my gaming station. But hell, if the Prescotts are destined to drop down to what the late model P4s are at, hell, I'll shoot for a 3.2C/mobo at the end of Febuary, then save for the 4.6 (its also the size of my engine, hehe) Prescot, and have the ultimate gaming station... at least on my dorm floor.

 

[Los]

Intel is developing a 64Bit chip for the consumer market. It will be true 64bit like the G5 and not one based on the dated x86 platform. MS has more or less put the development of XP x86/64 on the back burner moving most of the devs to other projects. This leads to speculation on news groups that MS is waiting for Intels offering before it releases a 64bit OS for the consumer market. Since there is already an OS for Itanium and if Intel uses a variation that platform for the consumer chips MS would only have to tweak the OS.
Most people don't want to hear it, but, if MS chooses to wait for Intel then AMD will be standing out in the cold. AMD made a bold move releasing a platform that had no OS support except for a few Linux distros.
MS sets the stage after a chip maker introduces new technology. When the transistion was made from 16bit to 32bit MS had an OS ready for the change.
The next year is going to interesting.

Oooo! I love the mystery and strategy that big corporations use.

What if MS decides to back AMD? What happens to Intel?

 

[Wayne Luke]

I realize this. Microsoft has had an Itanium OS for over 2 years now. They also supported 64 Bit on the Alpha chip. To say there is no OS is really not true. Microsoft also isn't the only OS out there. I doubt very many 64 processor Itanium machines are using Windows as their primary OS especially with the current limitations and overhead of forcing servers to run in GUI mode that Windows causes.

As for a consumer OS, this is simply a matter of recompilation and Microsoft already has the tools. Or is Intel truly going to redundant and develop a completely new platform for the 64 bit consumer instead of using the technology already in Itanium?

Personally, I don't care which chip maker wins the war. In my everyday computing I see no advantage that one has over the other. I do not do video editting, I do not play state of the art games (I refuse to pay more than $20.00 for any PC based game) . The average user does not need 4 gigahertz machines, 90% of the processor is wasted in most PCs today as it is.

If Intel succeeds and can provide me with CPU's in my budget then so be it. If AMD does this then I will buy AMD. There is no brand loyalty in this household and I doubt there ever will be. In my opinion anyone who locks themselves into a particular brand for whatever reason on any product is just setting themselves up for pain and suffering in the long run.

 

[Wayne Luke]

What if MS decides to back AMD? What happens to Intel?

Intel is more at the mercy of hardware manufacturers such as Dell, HP, Gateway than they are at Microsoft's mercy. Microsoft themselves are at the mercy of the Hardware Manufacturers.

 

[Mikki]

Wayne Luke, I agree with your take on hardware...there's no need to run out and buy the latest and greatest when you can buy mid-range for much less and still get fantastic performance. It used to be that people bought for the future becuase hardware got outdated so fast, but now days that's not the case. A current mid-range system will last twice as long as it would 10 years ago using whatever current software is out.

It's even better for those of us into overclocking and tweaking because we can but the mid-range stuff, overclock the heck out of it and end up having a system that's faster than the high-end stuff running standard at a fraction of the price and will last just as long. Not to mention that you can take the money you saved and put it toward something else like a bigger monitor...

I love new technology but I don't usually play with it until it's not new anymore...hehe

 

[Los]

I know this will probably deviate a bit from the original intent of the thread but how do you overclock?

 

[Wayne Luke]

It is a combination of increasing the clock multiplier and the front side bus speeds. This makes the computer run faster and of course hotter so make sure you have a darn good cooling system. The default fans and heat sinks do not cut it here and if you aren't careful, you could end up with a charred chunk of worthless silicon.

Do a search on overclocking. There are many sites with step by step instructions, recommended fan systems and other information.

 

[Los]

Thanks Wayne.

 

[Los]

Where can I find information about the Prescot chip?

 

[Wayne Luke]

Intel's website... You can also do a search on it, just use the words "Intel Prescott" to find reviews and news articles on it.

 

[floris]

How do you get a gig like that?

I once made a web design for a new section of their site and told them I'd love to help write reviews in exchange for 'their old stuff' .. we finally got to an agreement, and now I write and update their site every quarter of the year with a project. They have a hard copy of the ezine too (might be a clue at who they are).

 

[Los]

Read it, liked it. ^_^

 

[AWS]

Intel hinted yesterday that they would be releasing an x86/64 chip for the desktop as soon as the software hits the market. My take is they will release it at the same time as XP64 or shortly after when drivers start showing up.