Xeon processor

Hey CSWP...

Me thinks you don't need to spend more on the Xeons. They got twice as much cache as the P4, but I don't think you would see a great deal of performance from running SW on it. Better to use the Xeon on a server than a desktop...

Mr. Pickles

are amd's not in the running?

Wayne,

I'm in the same boat and have been doing a lot of reading on anandtech.com and tomshardware.com. The Xeon only really offers more cache over the P4. And if you're really worried about cache there is a P4 Extreme Edition that has 2.5MB of it. From Tomsharware.com it looks as if the extra cache doesn't really give enough performance to justify the $600-$700 charge over the regular P4-3.2GHz.

As far as RAM, I'm going for 1GB of PC3200, the 400MHz stuff. I'm still debating on hard drives and video cards. Western Digital has a 36GB

10,000rpm 8MB cache sata drive thats fast, but I read that it has an annoying high pitched whine thats sometimes worse than scsi's. So I may just go with a 7,200rpm drive with 8MB cache. I'm still torn between whether I should get the GeForce FX 5950 or the Quadro FX 1100 video card. Both can be had for the same price, but the 5950 is a better performer, but come with the no more than 12 windows limitation. Who opens 12 windows that often? And would this be eliminated anyway with the softquadro hack?

You may want to wait for the next gen procesors to come out this quater as they will definitely lower the cost of the P4-3.2GHz CPU.

I'm comparing what I can get between Dells 360 Precision, Alienware's gaming and professional systems and xicomputers offering.

So to answer your question, skip the Xeon and go P4 or AMD.

Jeff,

Were did you find the information on the 12 window limitation of a FX5950?

I just ordered one thinking that I will have to softquadro it with 4x.xx drivers to make it make it work.

Would be nice to avoid this. Don't think I would care about a 12 window limitation.

Jay

I don't think 12 windows is a fixed number. That number will go up or down depending on the size of the window. I think. Back when I used to get that bug, it was at a lot less than 12 windows. More like 3-5.

I believe this was listed on the video card support section of the SW site. But, why even run Softquadro with this card, unless you are dying for realview? How often does anyone work with that many windows open at once? Personally I will go with the 5950 since I believe it to be a faster card that the FX1000 or 1100.

anandtech.com

processors.