Intel Xeon 2.67GHz Dual Core, only $157 ?

[sdsumike619]

There's too many damn chips to choose from...what is this Xeon thing all about and why is a dual core 2.67ghz chip so inexpensive?

[ViRaL1]

Xeon's are more of server class chips. The motherboards are more expensive too and they usually (but not always) more expensive RAM. Rallynavvie's got the 411 on Xeon's. Apparently they're good for video work though.

[rallynavvie]

I dunno, the line is being re-drawn with dual-core and soon quad-core chips on the market.

The Xeons (and the Opterons by AMD) are different architecture meant to be running full tilt non-stop. Part of the reason they're expensive is because the components are a little higher quality. They're also made to run with the server chipsets and take advantage of the performance gains therein.

Now with something very much like SMP of old in the new multi-core processors the line has grayed. Xeons will still be high performers and will always have the architecture edge that allows more than one to be used. So while someone may have a single Pentium quad-core another will have two quad-core Xeons for feasably twice the performance. And then there are boards made for four processors, though I don't think they're available for 771 yet.

The simplest way to look at it from a consumer standpoint is that the Xeon (or Opteron) system will cost 3-4x the cost of a Core Duo (or Athlon X2) system and will maybe provide 1.8x the performance. If you're trying to wring every last bit of performance from a system and you have the cash to spend then go with the SMP machine.

[jagabo]

There's too many damn chips to choose from...what is this Xeon thing all about and why is a dual core 2.67ghz chip so inexpensive?

The cheap 2.67 GHz Xeon is an outdated Pentium 4 based dual core server chip. Performance is way below AMD X2 and Core 2 Duo (the other chips you have been looking at).

[rallynavvie]

No, it's a 65nm Dempsey core Xeon, it's still pretty damn fast. The only Core Duo that would outperform it would be a Conroe which costs more anyway.

[sdsumike619]

I think I've decided to go with the slowest core 2 duo chip, the E6300
It's definitely the fastest for video encoding for $183