Confuse P4 3GHz or XEON 2.6 GHz

[Sing601]

Hello all the people in the comunity, i have a bit of a problem here that i'm sincerely need an honest opinion from all of you and very appriciated for all the answer.

I'm planning on setting up a new PC, and i'm going to do many rendering for video(well not so many). So i'm considering 2 option of CPU for the PC. P4 3 Ghz with intel 875P or 865 (still confuse about both chipset too) or XEON 2.4 or 2.6 Ghz Dual Processor. I'm a little bit confuse because the price for the both set are almost the same but as you all know P4 is the latest and the Xeon been there for quite a long time. You all know too that in the matter of price P4 is not stable( i mean: it can drop hard for just a couple of months). But P4 technology is the latest with HT & PAT bla bla bla something (isn't that XEON HT technology too, or is it different than P4). So that is some consideration that make me confused. Hope all of you good guys in the community can give me shed of light on this and i greatly appreciate it

 

[shadus]

Xeon's have a larger on die cache and are for multiprocessor systems. They also use a different socket than a standard p4 and most of the boards are NOT nearly as current as the 875p, I think the current 'best' chipset for the xeon is the E7505... I think. If you are wanting to go multiprocessor the xeon is an excellent option, if not, then don't bother, it's a waste of money and time... pick up a p4 2.6c it's ht etc.

Shadus

 

[sjonnie]

Xeon is basically a P4 that can run in a dual processor setup, other than that there are no essential differences between your Xeon and P4 except that Xeons releases lag behind the top-end P4 processor (top P4 is 3.2GHz, 800FSB while top Xeon is 3.05, 533FSB). Xeons (since the P4) have always had hyperthreading enabled.

Neither chipset you mention, the 875 nor the 865 support dual CPUs so you need to rethink that if you want a dual setup. Go <A HREF="http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/linecard.htm" target="_new">here</A> to compare single processor chipsets or <A HREF="http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/linecard/svr_wkstn.htm" target="_new">here</A> to compare dual processor capable chipsets.

Price is of course a consideration and you are right that it does drop, the 3.06 GHz P4 dropped from $637 to $401 between January and April this year. But again, things move much more slowly with the Xeons. Also remember Xeon motherboards are expensive.

In the end, unless you have money to burn you would be better off getting a single P4 CPU or if you really need 2 CPUs a dual AMD system.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/myanandtech.html?member=114979" target="_new">My PCs</A>

 

[Sing601]

Thank you very very much Shadus & sJonnie for the good advice that you gave. Actually i'm considering for AMD single or dual processors too, but i never try to have an AMD before, i always been an intel guy. Well i know, i try to make a good set of PC with reasonable price for my work, mostly for video rendering, but the job is actually not that complicated like multi layered editing or something but more like home video with a bit weight in it, so actually i don't want to built PC that overkill what i want, seriously i'm not impatient guy in terms of rendering so that's why i'm looking for a powerfull processor that can handle that stuff.(with a reasonable price of course) But then again thank you for all the advice, i appreciated so much. If sJonnie said that the top end of P4 3.2 GHz is faster than Xeon 3.05 Ghz, then if Xeon in single processor can not outmatch P4, isn't it?

 

[Crashman]

No, XEONS only have 512kb on-die cache. It's true, they use exactly the same core as the standard P4.

So how then do they come up with 1MB and 2MB versions? They solder a tiny cache chip (L3 cache) to the pin grid itself!

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>