Current and upcoming hardware

banja · 5 Sep 2007 at 04:15

I want to buy / build a new system later this year, maybe early 2008, and want to get an understanding on where everything stands hardware wise.

Graphics cards I can follow, but what is happening with chipsets, CPU's, memory etc? I know it would be just my luck to build a system then discover it isn't upgradeable because I chose the wrong mobo or something.

I generally only get a whole new PC ever 3 or 4 years, so I want to start off as future proof as possible. The reason I ask (I thought I was reasonably clued up) was that I was only just made aware of the fact that current quad core CPUs are not really quad core at all in the fullest sense, but that the next iteration will be!?? Plus I was looking at P35 mobos, but then the next generation is probably just around the corner (or is it?)

helmutcheese · 5 Sep 2007 at 04:25

Correct the Current Quads are Non Native, basically 2 Dual Cores on 1 die.

There is new Mobos out real soon on preorder now.

truebluecfc · 5 Sep 2007 at 04:56

Is their actually any benefit in having a "native" Quad Core, and would it make overclocking any easier? I've also heard that AMD are releasing a "Native" Quad Core but Intel are still sticking with a 2x2 layout, just wondering.

split · 5 Sep 2007 at 05:30

Read here...

Brief...

The other way to make quad core chips was expressed in the diagram above, known as the native way. Native quad core designs incorporate four individual cores on one single processor die. The benefit for the manufacturer in this case has three parts.

They are afforded the ability to state that they have the world's first "true" quad core
These chips run much cooler than two die / four core solutions, since a single die will always radiate less heat than two in the same package. The manufacturer can then bundle less expensive coolers with their chips, and savings are then passed onto us as consumers.

Perhaps the most important benefit is that a native quad core processor can have all four cores talk to one another at the speed of the processor itself, rather than running communication from cores 0 and 1 out across the motherboard to talk to cores 2 and 3.