Intel Core 2 Quad in January

[MacRumors]

IDG News reported earlier this month that Intel will be launching the Core 2 Quad chip for high-end desktop PCs during the CES expo which takes place Jan 8 - 11, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Intel will launch the Core 2 Quad chip for high-end desktop PCs during the CES trade show in Las Vegas the week of Jan. 8, industry sources said.

The newest Quad processor chip from Intel follows the Quad-core Xeon 5300 and Quad-core Core 2 Extreme QX6700 launched in November. Unlike the other processors, the "Core 2 Quad" is expected to be aimed at mainstream users.

While there are no known plans for Apple to use the Core 2 Quad, there have been some rumors that Apple may use the Quad-core Xeon 5300 for a future 8-Core Mac Pro.

[p0intblank]

Whew, so many cores to handle! I can't wait to see where this goes.

[twoodcc]

Originally Posted by p0intblank

Whew, so many cores to handle! I can't wait to see where this goes.

i second that

[sachamun]

Originally Posted by p0intblank

Whew, so many cores to handle! I can't wait to see where this goes.

[dogbait]

Originally Posted by sachamun

AHHHH, that's funny!

I for one would love a more affordable 'Mac Pro', however Apple are right now seeing growing sales of their computers. I think that we'll have to wait till sales start to flatten before they introduce another product line.

[MacSA]

How many other manufacturers offer quad core chips already?

[Peace]

According to MacWorld,Intel is one of the many companies introducing a new product at this years MWSF.
http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/...ors///CC743005

[phillipjfry]

Originally Posted by Peace

According to MacWorld,Intel is one of the many companies introducing a new product at this years MWSF.
http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/...ors///CC743005

After link jumping I saw at http://www.macworldexpo.com/live/20/...FO07A/SN617818
that microsoft will be one of the hosts for party. Just kinda weird to me is all

Also clicking on the Microsoft icon on the page took me to
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/
First thing in the page shows office 2004 for mac to be 25% off.
Maybe they are tryin to get as much money as possible from 2004 before a possible announcement of office 2007 for mac *crosses fingers*
I know so little of the mac world (and its inclusion of M$ products in it) so I could just as well be babbling about nonsense

[evilgEEk]

Can this even be utilized by your average consumers?

[virus1]

you mean intel core 2 quado?

[xJulianx]

Originally Posted by evilgEEk

Can this even be utilized by your average consumers?

Thats what I was wondering, all of these new processors are given the ability to be potentially faster (example, 64bit compatible), but is the average consumer actually going to be making use of these new chips anytime soon?

[gwangung]

Originally Posted by xJulianx

Thats what I was wondering, all of these new processors are given the ability to be potentially faster (example, 64bit compatible), but is the average consumer actually going to be making use of these new chips anytime soon?

Whenever software writers figure out how to soak up all that extra horsepower.

[puckhead193]

what are the chances of this being put in an imac?

[Antares]

Since these are Core 2, could they possibly be pin-compatible with Core Duo slots? Please say yes. I would love to be able to upgrade my iMac...eventually.

[Swarmlord]

Originally Posted by gwangung

Whenever software writers figure out how to soak up all that extra horsepower.

It would be nice if they'd just figure out how to spawn their process in a single thread rather than hogging the entire cpu when they perform a background task like checking for the need for updates. (Symantec, you listening?)

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by xJulianx

Thats what I was wondering, all of these new processors are given the ability to be potentially faster (example, 64bit compatible), but is the average consumer actually going to be making use of these new chips anytime soon?

Just install Handbrake and become one of those average consumers who which they had four cores in their Mac.

[mainstreetmark]

You'll need a 30" screen just to have enough space for MenuMeters to do all the CPU graphs.

[kalisphoenix]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

Just install Handbrake and become one of those average consumers who which they had four cores in their Mac.

Quoted for truth. With Macs increasingly doing video legwork for the average consumer, these cores can't be added too quickly. H.264 requires a lot of horsepower.

[MrCrowbar]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

Just install Handbrake and become one of those average consumers who which they had four cores in their Mac.

Wouldn't make it faster on my Macbook (2GHz Core Duo 1st gen), the bottleneck is the superdrive. It's a whole lot faster when I'm ripping the DVD image from hard drive. But it still saves time ripping the DVD directly, and I still have lots of spare CPU power.

But it's true that encoding video is really CPU-intensive. I encode a lot of 2 minute videos from my camera (Canon Powershot 530 or something) because they are not compressed when recorded (8 minutes fill up th 1GB card). I use quicktime to make a 3000 kbps H2.64 movie out of it and replace the files in the iPhoto library. That's about the only time I really wish I had a little more horsepower. It just takes awfully long if you want the high quality stuff.

I doubt games make good use of dual processors at all, the high end gaming computers only have 1 CPU with 2 cores. Maybe because XP pro does not support more than 2 processors and 4 Gigs of RAM?

PS: Can you still buy Processors with "just" one core?

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by evilgEEk

Can this even be utilized by your average consumers?

1. Four cores are not utilised by the average consumer, but not all consumers are average.

2. More importantly, this is missing the point. Apple is already shipping systems with four cores. These systems have two dual core processors, and two processors cost money. If a single four core processor is cheaper than two dual core processors, then Apple can use them to either make more profit or to sell cheaper MacPros or both.

[evilgEEk]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

1. Four cores are not utilised by the average consumer, but not all consumers are average.

The article says that unlike the other processors, the C2Q is expected to be aimed at mainstream users. I take mainstream to mean more along the lines of the iMac users, not Mac Pro users. But that's just my take on it.

2. More importantly, this is missing the point. Apple is already shipping systems with four cores. These systems have two dual core processors, and two processors cost money. If a single four core processor is cheaper than two dual core processors, then Apple can use them to either make more profit or to sell cheaper MacPros or both.

Definitely agree with you there. If Apple is able to drop prices a little then that's a good thing.

[SPUY767]

Originally Posted by gnasher729

If a single four core processor is cheaper than two dual core processors, then Apple can use them to either make more profit or to sell cheaper MacPros or both.

The Mac Pro isn't going to change architecture, it will merely become an 8 Core Machine. Apple dove into the XEON pool, and not without reason. They aren't going to get out now.

[AidenShaw]

Originally Posted by SPUY767

The Mac Pro isn't going to change architecture, it will merely become an 8 Core Machine. Apple dove into the XEON pool, and not without reason. They aren't going to get out now.

The multi-socket Xeons on the high end will continue to make sense, with various numbers of cores. Dell/HP/IBM/... sell quads (dual dual-core) and octos (dual quad-core) side-by-side. Before too long, there will be hex systems as well (dual octo-core).

Apple just needs to add a mini-tower/pizza-box to the lineup - the ProMac is simply too huge for many people.

The mini-tower would be single socket - so the ProMac would always have the capacity for twice as many cores.

The mini-tower would have some expandability - a real PCIe x16 graphics socket, a second bay for either a SATA hard drive or SATA optical drive, and one or two PCIe x4 option slots. (One slot would have the NTSC/ATSC tuner card for the Media Centre Edition.)

[AidenShaw]

Originally Posted by MacSA

How many other manufacturers offer quad core chips already?

I just received a Dell PW490 (two quad Xeon 5355s (2.66GHz)), and 6 PW 390s with C2 Extremes (quad 2.66GHz).

Dell has quite a few server and desktop models availabe with quad cores at the full range of speeds.

Same for HP and IBM. Most big vendors seem to be able to offer a quad-core option for the high end of their models with Core 2 or Xeon 5100 chips. Usually it's just a CPU upgrade option, not a special quad core model.

For example, the Dell PW490 has the options:

• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5060 3.20GHz, 2 X 2MB L2,1066 [add $130]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5160 3.00GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $930]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5150 2.66GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $520]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5140 2.33GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $260]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5130 2.00GHz, 4MB L2,1333 [add $130]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5120 1.86GHz, 4MB L2,1066 [add $60]
• Dual Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5110 1.60GHz, 4MB L2,1066 [Included in Price]
• Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5320 1.86GHz, 2 X 4MB L2,1066 [add $620]
• Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor X5355 2.66GHz, 2 X 4MB L2,1333 [add $1,290]
• Quad Core Intel® Xeon® Processor E5345 2.33GHz, 2 X 4MB L2,1333 [add $1,030]

My octo and quads were ordered on the 15th, and delivered yesterday and today. Less than two weeks for CTO, even with the holidays.

[Mac'Mo]

ooo quad core, thats cool, rushing technology quickly