Dell Makes an I7 System for $1K

[Soopafresh]

http://gizmodo.com/5096865/dell-studio-xps-featuring-core-i7-reviewed-kicks-ass-saves-cash

I tried to price out the equivalent in parts from Newegg and just the proc, mobo, and RAM is around $1K alone.

Quite a good machine for those who are editing AVCHD.

[yoda313]

Ok what exaclty is an intel core i7?

Is it a super beefed up quad core?

[Soopafresh]

The latest and greatest. Think of Q6600 quad core, only twice as fast.



Full review at http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/11390-intel-core-i7-neha...review-14.html

[yoda313]

Ahh thanks soopafresh.

I know ghz is being supplanted by the number of cores regarding importance. But have multicore systems gone beyond 3ghz each yet? Last I checked I seem to remember p4 single cores peaking at 3ghz or so.

[johns0]

Quad core has gone beyond 3ghz but its over $1000 for just the cpu.

[yoda313]

@johns0 - ouch I don't think I need speed that badly

[ntscuser]

Here was I regretting I hadn't gone quad core instead of dual core then I find even that is now superseded!

[deadrats]

http://gizmodo.com/5096865/dell-studio-xps-featuring-core-i7-reviewed-kicks-ass-saves-cash

I tried to price out the equivalent in parts from Newegg and just the proc, mobo, and RAM is around $1K alone.

Quite a good machine for those who are editing AVCHD.

which i7 are they using? the 920 sells for less than $300, the ram is about $200 and a good motherboard is about $200 (though they do go all the way up to $450 for a high end model), that's about $700.

plus you need to remember that dell buys bulk from intel so they get special pricing, as soon as the i7's have been on the market for a couple of months the prices will start coming down.

besides, if you are building a pc for the primary purpose of editing AVCHD, i would just go with this:

http://www.leadtek.com/eng/tv_tuner/overview.asp?lineid=6&pronameid=447

and since this card uses a cell processor and as such is fully programmable in c/c++ (not to mention pascal/delphi and java) and since cell processor is thoroughly documented, i fully expect to see open source software and other application that take advantage of it's computing power.

p.s. as a reference point, a toshiba notebook using this exact same chip is capable of decoding 48 HD streams simultaneously, try that with an i7, or any desktop cpu for that matter:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9940771-7.html

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20050425/104149/

[redwudz]

From what I can tell, these are the specs on one Dell version:

Processor: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.66GHz (8MB L2 cache)
Memory: 6GB tri-channel DDR3 @ 1066MHz
Hard drive: 500GB SATA @ 7200RPM
Optical drive: SuperMulti DVD+/-RW
Sound: Integrated 7.1 HD audio
Video card: ATI Radeon HD4850
Networking: 10/100/1000 Gigabit ethernet
Dell wired keyboard and mouse
Operating system: Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Warranty: One year limited warranty with in-home service after remote diagnosis and 24/7 phone support
Dimensions: 14.2"(H)x6.7"(W)x17.1"(D)
360W rated power supply
In this configuration, the Dell Studio XPS carries a suggested retail price of $1299. The base version of it starts at $949.

[Soopafresh]

More benchmarks using VirtualDub and AutoMKV

The new procs are peppy, that's for sure.

http://www.behardware.com/articles/737-9/report-the-intel-core-i7-in-practice.html

The following page has AfterEffects rendering times.

[deadrats]

i wouldn't get too excited just yet, amd is poised to release the phenom 2, and aside from the die shrink and the associated higher clock speeds (they have been o/c'd to 4ghz on air and 6 ghz with ln2), they also sport 6mb of L3 (as opposed to 2mb L3 on the current phenom) and more importantly, they have more ht links.

for those that don't know, one of the things that has really killed the current phenom is that fact that it only has 1 hyper transport bus and 1 memory bus but it has 4 128bit floating point units* (1 per core), so between the small L3 and the minimum number of buses, this cpu is starved for data.

the opterons on the other hand have 3 hyper transport links, 2 memory buses, and 6mb of L3 cache, the end result is that in many workstation and particularly hpc applications, the quad core opterons hold their own against even the nehelams.

side note: following a discussion in another thread with johnnymalaria where he linked to documents from amd and microsoft that said that math via x87 floating point units was deprecated (in fact it's not even supported in the current visual c compiler) i started digging around a little and as near as i can tell it looks like amd is using some kind of "hybrid" floating point unit that's almost a mixture of a traditional x87 fpu and an ssefpu, the result is a 128bit wide *"floating point accelerator" per core, now from everything i have seen around the web on the phenom 2's (which is scarce due to nda's) it looks like amd has decided to bridge the gap between the opteron and the phenom and has given the phenom 2 6mb of L3 and 2 ht links, rumors have it that the phenom 2's are a pretty good match for the i7's.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_15331_15332%5E15334,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_15224,00.html

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8796_15223,00.html

i guess we'll find out next month...

[Zen of Encoding]

http://gizmodo.com/5096865/dell-studio-xps-featuring-core-i7-reviewed-kicks-ass-saves-cash

I tried to price out the equivalent in parts from Newegg and just the proc, mobo, and RAM is around $1K alone.

Quite a good machine for those who are editing AVCHD.

Great info, but where's the link to the "Studio XPS" i7 core system for sale on Dell's web site?
(or a link to ANY reputable web site selling a complete and decently optioned sub-$1000 i7 system)

[Soopafresh]

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dxcwzy2&cs=19&dgvcode=ss&c=US&l=...399&lid=627062

and keep your eye on this page in case there's a discount coupon code for one:

http://www.techbargains.com/dellcoupons.cfm

[oldfart13]

Why don't you just make one of these:

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/19/ps3-supercomputer.html

[Soopafresh]

$900 Today

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/odg/odg_hip1?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&dg...09&lid=1015124

[greymalkin]

While PhenomII 940 (3.0ghz) is good news for people like me who went the AMD route for the 780g board, it really only compares to the Q6600 (2.4ghz) Intel offers and can't even begin to touch the i7's.

According to TomsHardware, the Phenom is roughly 9% faster than the Q6600 in their tests, and costs 17% more. It is 22% slower than the Core i7 920 (2.66ghz) and about 50% cheaper...so there's the good for now.

I'll definitely go to a PhenomII and probably a 4800 series ATI card (if I can't get the onboard 3200 to do what it is supposed to!) and I'm excited there is a low-cost upgrade path for me, but it's really depressing to see that even right now the Phenom II is middle-grade when looking at the whole performance spectrum. By the time I get it it will probably not even register on the current charts .

With the new AM3 platform and the PhenomII they will pick up some of the budget crowd but unfortunately they are still behind.


Toms Hardware article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-940,2114.html