My New Toy - Core2 Extreme Quad & 4-GIGS
 

Ok... so I've got to do a lot more video now... well what do you know... that also means it's time for a New Toy =)

After about 3 weeks of intense stress over picking the right shit I finally ordered the parts.

- CPU: Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad (QX6700):
I picked it over the dual core extreme and the quad that is out because it had more level 2 cache then both.

- RAM: 4 GIGS Corsair Dominator XMS 800(PC6400):
almost got the 1066 Dominator... but there was much debate over if I would actually be able to get it to run at 1066. Never did find anyone who could tell me with absolute certainty (it was pretty sad).

- OS: Windows XP 64-bit:
Absolutely NASTY once you get it setup right. Key here is not to burden the machine with a heavy OS. I've Had Vista on Dual boot for months and I'm pretty far from impressed. It had like 2 things I really liked but overall it felt like it was just something for Microsoft to do to keep busy.

Absolutely Happy about the results... this thing does things so fast.. sometimes I don't even realize they are done.



http://70.85.180.209/james/pics/QX6700MB.jpg
http://70.85.180.209/james/pics/QX6700SC.jpg

Nice man glad to see you got it :thumbsup

nice, but it's a waiste... there's no programs that use quad core yet...

Im confused by the "Dual core quad' thing......

I thought it was going to be 'Quad core'?

Please explain.....

I heard with xp 64 bit its slow on 32 bit programs is that so? if you dont mind me asking what did it run you? Very cool upgrade

True.... most programs are not designed to use 4 cores,

But that doesn't matter when I have several things to do and I don't want my primary machine tied up. But it's much easier to just let those apps run in the background as I can now do.

I can continue working on other stuff and hardly even know the encoder is running

As you can see in screenshot 2... the encoder is using all 4 cores (I tested this out on a Dual Xeon Core2 before dropping the cash on the QuadCore).


As far as cores... how many.. and what they mean.... think of it like this:

Programs are like cars on a highway.
Cores are lanes on a highway

Some Programs use 1 lane...
More Programs are using 2 lanes...
and hardly any Programs use 4.

While most of my programs only use 1 or 2 lanes.... that still leaves 2 more lanes open for me to do other shit with virtually No Noticeable slow down.

However, Most of my Video and encoding Programs are using all 4 Cores so the investment has totally paid off. Fuck, even if it only saves you 10 minutes per hour - that?s a free hour every 6!!

Right now I'm saving 40 minutes per hour over my previous 3.2 HT Prescott (which was not a slow machine).

My main goal was getting to 64-bit. As with the cores... most programs are still 32 bit... But the OS IS 64 bit... and that's what really counts for me. I hop around all over shit all day and every second saved is worth the 500 extra this processor cost.

I mean FUCK.... what?s $500 compared to an extra 3-4 hours each day?

Mr.Bond

Congratulations on your new toy. I bet it is pretty fast!What kind of video board do you have ?

He needs 64-Bit for XP to be able to access all his RAM.
In a 32bit arcitecture, the system can't address 4GB of RAM.

thats totaly geekalicious

64 bit OS will not run 32 Bit slow (but it won't run them any faster either).

You may be thinking of an emulator type situation in which Yes... a 32 bit OS will actually run a 16 bit app slower then a 16 bit OS because it's using some kind of emulator(hybrid jerry-rigg) to get back to the 16 bit world.


Total Machine Cost
$985 - CPU QuadExtreme
$225 - CPU - Asus Motherboard P5W DH Deluxe (an Average mother board)
$544 - RAM Corsair 4GIGS at cas 4

Other miscellaneous shit and total came up to about $2400 (no monitor). As you can see it's mostly the CPU and RAM. I was fuckin pissed I had to repeat the cost on my video card which was not compatible with the motherboard I wanted.

I had paid $450 for a nVidia 6800GT and its basically useless now.

Didn't go crazy... I only play 1 game.... Doom 3 ( where I can kill people and vent a lot of this type A Stress personality I have)

eVGA nVidia 7950 GT KO 512MB (SLI Ready). Cost 280 with like a $15 rebate I probably will be too lazy to send in.

Not a gamer... so I won't even use the SLI interface. The only reason I even got the 512 over the 256 was in anticipation of possibly using Vista in the future.

I fuckin hate Vista so far.

Can you tell me if this is good?

http://i6.tinypic.com/2qnv4w6.gif

damn, i think i just came in my pants....

Nice! You are the second person I read on GFY that tested and noticed all four cores working while encoding video, using Windows Media Encoder in your case and Cleaner XL in another. I am ordering a similar Core 2 Quad cpu and Intel motherboard combo to encode hdv videos with Cleaner XL 1.5. Can't wait to test it!

nice indeed :) if your doing a lot of video then the quad is definately the way to go, but i believe the dual core extreme is better for nonthreaded stuff like gaming. hopefully gaming will become more and more threaded in the future, makes sense, i know the hl people are working on multithreaded gaming

Nice mobo man. Runs hot like a mofo though. Take off the heatsinks and put in some articsilver5, shaved like 5 degrees celcius of mine.

I thought you bought a quad and was showing it off!! lol

very nice sheit!

I just wish it was a true quad-core. I'm not going to upgrade for a while (upgraded a few months ago so I have a whiles to go) but I can't wait to see how the true quads compare to the kentsfield.

The True Quad is available now at NewEgg for about $850... but I skipped it in favor of having a larger non shared L2 Cache(8MB). I still want to have FAST single and dual thread operations(similar to gaming).

I'm no expert... but I'm fairly sure the True Quad will spread load out more like a Xeon... sacrificing a little speed in favor of more threads at the same speed.

This was the only Clear review I cam across. It has the QX6700 clearly at the top... even over the True Quad.
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardwar...261_3652811__6


However, this review shows the QX6700 hardly beats the little $320 Core2
E6700 until the QX6700 is overclocked to a Sick Ass 3.55GHz... Then it Really Smoaked
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2049692,00.asp


So, I figured these reviews basically come out the way the reviewer wants them to... so I finally said fuck it and just went with the QX6700. I had been on the shit for 3 weeks and just had to make a decision. This CPU started out at over 1600 and is down in the 9's now. But, even the older extremes are rarely seen below 800 so I just went with it now.

Yo, WTF is that? A Quad Core 2? Like a real one (like 4 physical processors)??

.

Wow, you have a big cooler

thats decent :)

always the same: you need such engines to run at least a microsoft system

Thanks for the info. Nice to learn something.

:thumbsup Extremely Awesome, nice work man :thumbsup

The cooler is absolutely Retarded in Size. I was looking at watercooled but users at newegg gave it bad reviews (pain in the ass, water spillage etc). Additionally, even the most agressive watercoolers can Not go SubAmbient (below room temp).

How do you go below the Ambient Temp??

I got the Vigor Monsoon? II Active TEC CPU Cooling . It's has thermal electric heat pipes(4 of them) that use electricity to actually move heat from 1 area to another. This pulls the heat off the CPU and up to the fins more quickly. This technology has been available to consumers since the 90's.

At idle I see my CPU at 29c... below the mothorboard at 37c. The Extremes run hot... but so far I have never exceeded 47c even at sustained MAX.

Heres a link to the Thermal Electric Thing
http://www.vigorgaming.com/component...nii_intel.html (it's really cool - check it)


.

needs more cooling fan

:thumbsup a nice toy

Nice, too bad quadcores weren't around when I got my video rendering machine. I bought a dual-xeon 5100-series. Fucking awesome machine..but loud as fuck. I need this bitch watercooled... and it's not loud like a 'normal broken cpu fan', but more or less sounds like a vacuumcleaner. ahah :)

I was curious...what about Vista? Can Vista address more then 2gigs of ram? How high can Vista address?

Damn, videos should run like the wind. :thumbsup

damn, thats fucking sweeet machine.. i wonder what programs are you using to encode vids!

ps: do you run thunderball? :)

same feeling here lol :1orglaugh

nice setup man

OK, until now I have been pretty sure that I had the most bad ass PC here....But yours is over the top. Nice shit. :thumbsup

Believe it still has to be the 64bit vista.

I can't speak for Vista but I have 3gigs on my XP system.

It varies depending on system config. If you have 4+ GB, you can get a number ranging from 2 - 3 showing up in the System Info panel.

Windows Information Panel on XP will show the correct amount of RAM though.

There are bootup switches [ie /3G] that allow you to give 3GB to applications, but this in turn removes 1GB from the kernel, so it's a catch 22.

I am pretty sure vista handles more than 4

oh! very nice :)

Sweet looking setup man