Spec me a Folding Box :)

[booyaka]

go with the MM Q6600 for the time being and sell it once the Q9450 is more commonly avaliable.

 

[theheyes]

Hmm... I'll give it a couple of hours thought.

 

[Yeggstry]

Bleh, I might just wait a couple of weeks and stick to the original plan.

(I changed my mind about three times writing this post)

I know the feeling mate, I've been doing that over the last 2-3 months as well I'm being patient for now as I can guarantee you that as soon as I get a Q6600 of MM the Q9450 will be out (see sod's law).

I do find the lack of any information very frustrating, particularly since Intel is talking about Larabee and Nehalem etc. Perhaps its to try and distract us from delays that they have :/

 

[theheyes]

Theres even a small part of me saying "balls to it!" and wait for Nehalem since I havent bought a motherboard yet! But then that dynamic could carry on indefinitely.

I'm leaning towards the Q6600 at the minute (yes, minute):

Pros:

• Good, proven chip with a decent PPD
• Available now
• £50+ cheaper

Pros for the Q9450:

• New tech, cooler and probably get a better overclock for the same power consumption
• SSE4 might afford some big performance increase (speculative)

Seeing as I'm not going for the all-time overclocking record on air and the fact SSE4 isn't that widespread it almost moots both the good points of the Q9450. Also, the saving is going to offset the cost of the power consumption.

I've got till 5pm to decide what I'm going to do (so I can order the parts and hopefully get them delivered tomorrow)

I hate computers.

 

[theheyes]

A few pictures in the meantime, because we all like pictures:

The Antec 4480 case with 380watt 80+ efficiency PSU (bargain - £47(!), provided it doesnt blow up) and Akasa case fan installed. Theres also an 80mm intake fan installed in the front which is not visible. [plug]ShadowScotland was kind enough to offer me his case for a good price so if anyone wants one, hes the man to ask.[/plug]

Various bits. Thermalright Ultima 90 + fan, 2GB of GSkill RAM, the old fan, 8400GS and a wifi card I bought ages ago because it had good Linux support.

*edit - wow the camera on the iPhone is pretty good when theres enough light.

 

[theheyes]

Right its done. Q6600 it is. Theory being its saved me £75 and is ready to go now. It actually brings me in just over the original budget at a total cos of ~£455 including delivery charges.

Also, in the not too distant future, if the Penryns prove to be really good then I can literally buy a drop-in replacement and move the Q6600 over to replace the E6300 and claw some money back in the process. Additionally, the Penryns will probably go through a few tweaks by then and I will also avoid the new product premium.

I'm a little disappointed but finally, things can get moving.

 

[Pilgrim57]

I suppose I could get the Q6600 and when the E6300 becomes a bit long in the tooth drop the Quad in there and replace it with a Penryn. But by then Nehalem will be out (albeit with a new socket).

I was trying to find out info on Nehalem - new socket will it be 771 that the Harpertown Xeons are using?. But its not due until Q4/2008, right?

Yeggstry said

I do find the lack of any information very frustrating, particularly since Intel is talking about Larabee and Nehalem etc. Perhaps its to try and distract us from delays that they have :/

I had a look on the Intel site & all I could find was PR rather than facts about Nehalem.Haven't even spotted Larabee
With the CPU war being about as 1 sided as gunboat diplomacy with Morocco, Intel aren't under any pressure to rush their product out when it means a price drop for existing stock.
Good luck theheyes I guess the Easter Bunny will just be bring you an egg.

 

[theheyes]

I think it will be a new socket altogether mate, onboard memory controller is going to be a new motherboard jobbie.

With new processors, I find wikis a good start, and also keeping a close eye on the technology news sites. If you want a boring fact sheet about upcoming stuff from intel clicky here.

 

[rich99million]

I wouldn't think SSE4 would bring anything extra to folding without the software itself being optimised, like the Double-Gromacs work much better if SSE2 is available - or am I barking up totally the wrong tree there (or just barking maybe )

 

[theheyes]

Nope pretty much spot on Rich, which is why it was a "speculative" good point.

I'd read somewhere that SSE4 was improving encoding by up to 40% but it all depends and I think they were intel's own figures anyway.

 

[Pilgrim57]

I think it will be a new socket altogether mate, onboard memory controller is going to be a new motherboard jobbie.

With new processors, I find wikis a good start, and also keeping a close eye on the technology news sites. If you want a boring fact sheet about upcoming stuff from intel clicky here.

Thanks for that your a scholar & a gent.
I guess the magazines are pushing whats out there rather what's to come.
I do regularly look at NVnews for reviews etc & have wiki bookmarked but never thought to check it for Nehalem.

 

[theheyes]

No problem dude.

As for my build, this muppet didn't select next-day delivery so now its going to be Tuesday.

You've gotta laugh.

 

[MartinBen]

I've given-up waiting on the Q9450 so (armed with my bonus) gone for an X38 Gigabyte mobo, QX9650 cpu, 4Gb ram and a Thermalright IFX-14 cpu heatsink.

Should all be here Wednesday so I can build it during my week off work

 

[theheyes]

Wow a QX9650... bit too rich for my blood. I'm more of a bargain basement lurker.

Have fun, let us know how you go on with your build. Are you going to make it fold??

 

[Mattus]

Be pretty interested to see how many PPD that QX9650 can kick out!

 

[theheyes]

For a CPU thats costing more than my entire build, hopefully a LOT.

 

[MartinBen]

Already using my current rig on Seti Project - averaging around 3000 work-done points per week (JohnSheridan). (Current rig being E6600 with 2Gb ram)

Will see how much better the new rig is

 

[Stan_Lite]

I was toying with the idea of building a new gaming rig with a QX9650 at it's heart but I've decided to get my eyes lasered instead so it'll be several months before I add any more hardware to the farm. I'll see what's available then.

Be interesting to see the output from one of these.

 

[theheyes]

Stuff arrived this morning. I'm taking a breather.

So far its been a right royal pain in the derriere. Most things that have more than one way of screwing in I've chosen the wrong one. I think I've taken more apart than put together!

Its a very close fit inside the case, so much so I had to take the rear fan out. As I was messing with the motherboard I also twisted the heatsink so I hope the thermal paste is okay - that will become apparent when its finished. After I finally got the motherboard in I realised the I/O panel was not going to go on. Out the motherboard came again. Locking the CPU into place on the motherboard took a bit more force than I'm used to as well so I hope to God thats okay.

I'm going to be chewing my underpants when the time comes to power-on.

 

[Yeggstry]

I've cancelled my order of the Q9450 now as it is now going to be another three weeks Ordered the Q6600 as its on TWO, saves me £82