Slashdot Mirror
Intel 6xx Series Reviewed and Benchmarked
sebFlyte writes "It's been a long time coming, but Intel's first 64-bit desktop chip (the 6xx series) is here now, and thanks to ZDNet it has been thoroughly tested. The article has the full specs of the new family, explains the benefits of the changes, and also the results of tests on the new chips to establish perfomance boosts for games, photo manipulation and video work, among other things."
From the article
{
Pentium 4 660 3.6GHz 2MB yes / yes / yes $605
Pentium 4 650 3.4GHz 2MB yes / yes / yes $401
Pentium 4 640 3.2GHz 2MB yes / yes / yes $273
Pentium 4 630 3.0GHz 2MB yes / yes / yes $224
}
You can buy a well-built complete DEC Alpha computer on eBay for the cost of the cheapest single Intel 64bit CPU. And worse, same on eBay you can somtimes buy a API Networks 1U CS Dual 800MHz Alpha system for the most expense single Intel 64bit CPU. And Alpha 21264 still outperforms Intel per watt. I'm not impressed.
without prejudice
From TFA: he new chips also offer improved [...] memory overflow protection (XD bit).
I think they should call it the XP bit instead: it'd be an accurate description of the problem, and it would ring a bell immediately in consumers' mind...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
"251 TB of memory ought to be enough for anyone..."
Intel. 2005.
liqbase
What is funnier is the part:
Likewise, operations such as data encryption or hard disk defragmentation can load the processor, while the user compresses streaming video or audio data.
How many people rip a dvd while DEFRAGMENTING THEIR HARDDRIVE??? Oh wait.. I guess with 64 bits I will magically be able to do this.
100% of power consumed by a processor is converted to heat. 100%.
So I guess the amount of electricity that flows out of the CPU to the different busses comes from the hamster pedalling inside the CPU?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
I've been circling, waiting to update my box. I waited for the 939 boards to show up - finally they did, but the CPU's were priced in the same range as my PII 400 was in the day. No worries, with a few processors out there 3500+ and better, it was just a matter of time before the costs dropped back down to what I expect to pay.
A year later a 3500 is only marginally cheaper....
They added a few slower processors to cover cheap skates like myself rather than change any of the higher end prices. I am so looking forward to Intel finally releasing some reasonably fast x86-64 chips so these CPU's return back to what I'm willing to pay. God help us all if they ever works out there is only one vendor option.
Course the real price drop is probably waiting for only one thing - that I buy my kit today.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU