tennyson Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 Hi All, I've just been reading up on my next acquisition. Nehalem and a good motherboard. The specs are impressive and if it lives up to the hype, who knows, flight simmers might just be that much closer to reality. Intel's new CPU, Nehalem , or Intel Core i7 as it will be officially known is slated for release (probably in the US) for the 17th of November. It is believed that they will release 3 separate chips, each aimed at different market sectors. They are codenamed the XE, P1 and MS3 with core frequencies of 3.2GHz, 2.93GHz and 2.66GHz, respectively.I've just been reading up on my next acquisition. Nehalem and a good motherboard. The specs are impressive and if it lives up to the hype, who knows, flight simmers might just be that much closer to reality. Intel's new CPU, Nehalem , or Intel Core i7 as it will be officially known is slated for release (probably in the US) for the 17th of November. It is believed that they will release 3 separate chips, each aimed at different market sectors. They are codenamed the XE, P1 and MS3 with core frequencies of 3.2GHz, 2.93GHz and 2.66GHz, respectively. Tests so far, next to a similar core 2 counterpart yielded a 29% difference and when compared to a similar AMD chipset the figure climbed to 36%. Initial chipsets are expected to carry 4 cores, but will be released with upscaled cores in future. So, it all looks rosey, doesn't it? Well, the motherboard side of things will blow you away as well. Major manufacturers are already selling motherboards in the US, ahead of the release of the CPU's. I particularly like Asus boards and as such are at the cutting edge of the new technology with two board available soon. The P6T and the Rampage (basically a board offered at gamers) have been reviewed and fared well under review. Both boards come with 6 slots for DDR3 modules running as fast as 1,800 MHz with capacities up to 12GB. The P6T will support triple SLI, however if you read the fine print, it will not support 3x Nvidia 260 or 280's. The slots are too close together for "fat" cards. The Rampage's PCI express slots are wider apart, but only offer twin SLI. There is a plethora of connections on the back of the boards. The 'Rampage' also has a really cool looking array of buttons on the board! Check the "START" button! Looks like something out of a Falcon Typhoon!!!! Of course, it goes without saying that AMD are hot on the heels of Intel. Thier chipsets are also due for release soon, but for my money I'll be sticking with Intel. This could just end up being a bumper christmas for Flight Simmers throughout the world.......Yo, Ho, Ho!!!! Frank P.S. I read a lot of this info from the Intel site and also Tom'd Hardware site and Atom. I'm sure if you type Nehalem in a search engine, there are 1000's more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
}SkOrPn--7 Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 From my reading of Nehalem about the traps this is one CPU that might just deliver and if anyone is thinking of upgrading now I would hold of until Nehalem hits the market and tested then make a purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtualwombat Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 A word of caution. I talked with a representative of an online computer retailer last week. The word they have is that the first Corei7 chips to hit the market will be for servers and will be around $1000 or more. Consumer-desktop chips might be available Q1 2009 but even then the impact on games may be much less than for office applications, perhaps 5-10% unless overclocked. I repeat this for what it is worth (maybe nothing). I have no reason to believe these guys know any more than the rest of us. As always, I'm going to wait until the reviews are in before I decide whether an upgrade might be cost-effective. Cheers, Noel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Archie Posted October 27, 2008 Share Posted October 27, 2008 ^x2 with Noel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wolter van der Spoel Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 ^x3 with Noel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 It is true that early adopters sometimes suffer the consequence of bugs and initial problems. I personally went out and bought 2x 9800 GX2's when they first arrived and now you can't buy them for love nor money and they are almost defunct. The saving grace is that they are still very functional, fast cards that yield high frame rates and exceptional graphic quality, but for the money, I'd probably have been happier buying 2 x 280's with some change left over. There is always the argument that when is the right time to buy any new hardware. For those more conservative, the answer is later rather than sooner. The write-up is only for information sake, although I'll be lined up with my money in hand on day one of release. Cheers, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotspot Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 I bought some gear a few weeks ago to build a second FSX/FTX machine instead of waiting for Nehalem (still working on it), but in the meantime the board I got for mid 3's is now over 5 due to exchange rates, and the news last night was that the AUD would fall to around 50c US. Lets hope when the new Intel CPU arrives it hasn't doubled in price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bendigoandy Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 A word of caution. I talked with a representative of an online computer retailer last week. The word they have is that the first Corei7 chips to hit the market will be for servers and will be around $1000 or more. Consumer-desktop chips might be available Q1 2009 but even then the impact on games may be much less than for office applications, perhaps 5-10% unless overclocked. I repeat this for what it is worth (maybe nothing). I have no reason to believe these guys know any more than the rest of us. As always, I'm going to wait until the reviews are in before I decide whether an upgrade might be cost-effective. Cheers, Noel. Being part Centrecom, we have being told the as above but the pricing will depend on the MARKET at the time ,but all IT prices will increase over the next few weeks ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony31 Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 I'm glad I bought my E8500 nearly a month ago because the arse has fallen out of the au$ in the meantime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted October 28, 2008 Author Share Posted October 28, 2008 I never thought of it like that. I bet Intel and the IT manufacturers are spitting over this release. Talk about bad timing, when the Aussie dollar is so low. I know we are only a small blip on their financial radar, but I'd bet they will still feel it. I know many years ago, in the IT industry, that Australia was highly favoured by the IT manufacturers as we are known world wide as heavy and early adopters of modern technology. I guess the IT industry will not be the only industry to suffer fiancially over the coming months and years, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingblind Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I've been holding off on the purchase of a new CPU for a while in anticipation of prices falling due N's arrival and the subsquent flow on effect on other established chips ie Q9940 Q9950 etc. Look at CPU prices now! :o Bugger. :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butch Posted October 29, 2008 Share Posted October 29, 2008 I will go the i7 route too, but that will not be until at least the Q2 2009 so by then all the bugs would been worked out, drivers matured and most importantly...the bang vs buck ratio would have firmly moved into the bang corner. I think the i7 heralds the arrival of the tube liner era to FSX. Too bad we have to spend more money on a faster CPU, I'd bet that there is more than enough grunt in today's quad cores if FSX could parallel process, too bad its merely the step in the evolutionary chain towards multi core capable app. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted October 29, 2008 Author Share Posted October 29, 2008 Well put, Butch. When I think of the great hardware that I've updated over the years, only to find marginal gains and quite often disappointing results. Let's hope when the i7 arrives the trend might change, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted November 1, 2008 Author Share Posted November 1, 2008 Hey Butch, FYI, they are already taking pre-orders for i7 CPU's and mobo's to suit at: http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/ I don't know that the pricing is right, probably more a guide until they arrive ashore. It's gonna be a bit more than I'd thought. I will be buying the 2.9ghz cpu, Asus mobo and 6 gb Ram, so imagine I won't get much change from 2 grand. Cheers, Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butch Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Patience grasshopper... Early adopters get scalped, that is the way of the world. Add to that the current crisis, .65 cents to the US.... At the bare minimum smart money would wait till after Christmas, but the best time will come in about six months. More or less before July, so just in time to claim it on your tax return. ;D We don't know what % the performance gain is at this stage but running by the numbers, the cheapest i7 is $750, and the Q6600 is at $350, that is a 47% premium so the performance gain (for break even) would have to be a performance gain of 47%, I doubt that will be the case. Add to that calculation a new board and ram... the ROI is out the window. Of course this isn't a business so I'd settle for a price / performance ratio of about -10%. Having said that... I am very excite to hear they are already taking pre-orders. Thanks for the HU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingblind Posted November 1, 2008 Share Posted November 1, 2008 Excellent advice there Butch. Think i might skip a generation of C/GPU's (Q6600-8800GT) and go straight for a system based on the i7 solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted November 2, 2008 Author Share Posted November 2, 2008 I hear you, Butch, but it's like telling me to wait until all of the FTX regions are finished before buying them. I gotta have my toys! Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtualwombat Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 Hi folks, The first reviews are in and they are overwhelmingly positive, even for the Corei7 920, the slowest model. In game tests give around 20% increase in fps for Crysis, and about 30% for Far Cry2 over a E8500. http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/03/core-i7-reviews-counting Sadly, my system has just had a major failure, resulting from a faulty case fan causing overheating. My own fault for upgrading rather than getting a whole new system; the fan that failed had been in the system for 3 upgrade cycles. So now what to do? Go without a computer until the new chips hit the stores? Cheers, Noel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butch Posted November 3, 2008 Share Posted November 3, 2008 I was just about to post that reviews are starting to trickle out... I haven't bought a new system in about 14 years, I split the upgrades between CPU and GFX approximately over an 18 month cycle so I have reasonable gear most of the time and my financial controller doesn't get upset. It all depends on your spending intentions, cheap = new q6600, expensive = i7, the logical choice would be q6600, logic aside (like tennyson) I would easily find the temptation to get an i7 overwhelming i'd probably just say 'what the heck' and get an i7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgutteri Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 Okay so the i7 is now released in Australia. For those of us able to afford a computer in this economic climate (and wintry climate too if you're in Melb atm!), how does YMML go with the 920 chip? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurdy Posted November 24, 2008 Share Posted November 24, 2008 $570 ... pheeeeeeww! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted November 24, 2008 Author Share Posted November 24, 2008 My other post, "Took the plunge" has some info on my new system with the i7 940, if that is what you are looking for. I've been so caught up with other productivity at the moment, but I'll be getting to some serious testing soon, however the results so far are stunning. My outlay was 2500 bucks and probably one of the most productive upgrades I've ever done. I've actually had FSX/FTX running with all of the sliders full and running smoothly and the system wasn't even tweaked. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 Just had a look at the prices here in the UK the flagship weighs in at 800 GBP With tax far too much money in my mind, I wont be upgrading at them sort of prices im sure. But good luck to them that can as i say that is the flagship the others come in at quite resonable prices if you have the spare wonger lying around. cheers Iain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSBrad Posted November 28, 2008 Share Posted November 28, 2008 I'm not going to be buying anything for a while soon either, I'll wait and see what AMD produces and by that time Intel should have a few more i7's on the market. Remember in 2 months time the prices will be lower after Christmas etc etc and all the bugs have still to be ironed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solareagle Posted November 29, 2008 Share Posted November 29, 2008 Here's some benchmarks which show a 3.3GHz i7 920 beating a 4.2GHz Core 2. I would expect the clock for clock gain to be just as high with FSX. Running one of these at 4.0GHz should get the job done nicely. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12957441&postcount=4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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