Quad Conroe vs. Quad Woodcrest?

macpro06 · Sep 11, 2006

I love new technology and my new MacPro is sending tomorrow FINALLY! However, I think Conroe will be releasing there quad versions in MacPro(my guess next year) but when and how much faster will it be than Quad Woodcrest? Should i return the Woodcrest MacPro and wait for the Quad Conroe MacPro or will the 2 chips be comparible??
I know new advancements will always be coming but i wan to make the right purchase in the right moment so i dont have to worry about purchaing another computer again for awhile, because Intel and AMD are in their battle for the fastes technology FINALLY!

wisredz · Sep 11, 2006

I think Quad Woodcrest would be better than a Quad Conroe. If I'm not wrong Woodcrest is the workstation chip of Core 2 Duo Series...

Converted2Truth · Sep 11, 2006

The quad conroe is named the "Kentsfield". so really it's 2x(dual-core Woodcrest ) vs 1x(quad-core Kentsfield).

That is what you guys are comparing, right?

Patch^ · Sep 11, 2006

IMO Woodcrest is better and core for core and speed etc woodcrest is better anyway

..Just from what I know etc.

wisredz · Sep 12, 2006

Converted2Truth said:
The quad conroe is named the "Kentsfield". so really it's 2x(dual-core Woodcrest ) vs 1x(quad-core Kentsfield).

That is what you guys are comparing, right?

I was under the impression that he meant 2 x Conroe

Pressure · Sep 12, 2006

Patch^ said:
IMO Woodcrest is better and core for core and speed etc woodcrest is better anyway ..Just from what I know etc.

Actually, since the Woodcrest depend on the Intel 5000X chipset and requires FB-DIMMs a Kentsfield Quad-core that uses normal DDR2 modules will always be faster.

The difference in Front Side Bus does not really mean squat if you are hiding it behind the hell-ish ram latency FB-DIMMs have.

Chundles · Sep 12, 2006

wisredz said:
I was under the impression that he meant 2 x Conroe

You can't have a 2x Conroe, only Woodcrest supports being used in dual-chip configurations.

Same thing with Kentsfield, it's two Conroe chips "mashed" together but you can only use one Kentsfield chip in a system. Clovertown is two Woodcrests "mashed" together and can be used in multi-chip configurations.

cube · Sep 12, 2006

Pressure said:
Actually, since the Woodcrest depend on the Intel 5000X chipset and requires FB-DIMMs a Kentsfield Quad-core that uses normal DDR2 modules will always be faster.

I wouldn't be so sure. The 5000X provides one FSB to each processor, while all the cores in one of these 4-core CPUs have to share 1 FSB.

MacBoobsPro · Sep 12, 2006

Converted2Truth said:
The quad conroe is named the "Kentsfield". so really it's 2x(dual-core Woodcrest ) vs 1x(quad-core Kentsfield).

That is what you guys are comparing, right?

I knew ages ago that Intels crap naming of processors would start causing confusion. Im pretty clued up on stuff but even im getting confused on this kind of thing. Kentsfield, Woodcrest, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Conroe, Merom, Xeon etc. I mean WTF gimme some numbers so I know whats what.

So is kentsfield a singlechip-quadcore?

Pressure · Sep 12, 2006

cube said:
I wouldn't be so sure. The 5000X provides one FSB to each processor, while all the cores in one of these 4-core CPUs have to share 1 FSB.

Oh I am sure. Every benchmark indicates this.

Plenty of people are already playing with Kentsfield, if you haven't noticed.

Mars · Sep 12, 2006

Yes it is. Or actually it's two Conroe's (Core 2 Duo-Conroe, not merom) placed on one chip, making it 4 cores. It can - just like Clovertown - be coupled with another Kentsfield (and maybe more?!), when it's going to be released later this year.

I expect the Clovertowns to be placed in the MacPro, while iMacs some time in the next 12 months might get the Kentsfield "The fastest iMac ever! Now with 4 cores!"

We'll see, we'll see... it would be cool thou...having 8 cores in the MacPro

and 4 cores in the iMac, making it a even better choice for consumers just like prosumers.

Chundles · Sep 12, 2006

stuartluff said:
I knew ages ago that Intels crap naming of processors would start causing confusion. Im pretty clued up on stuff but even im getting confused on this kind of thing. Kentsfield, Woodcrest, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Conroe, Merom, Xeon etc. I mean WTF gimme some numbers so I know whats what.

So is kentsfield a singlechip-quadcore?

Core Duo = Yonah, a mobile processor. 32bit, dual-core. Based on Pentium M.

Core 2 Duo: 64bit, based on new Core Architecture, dual-core. Only capable of single chip configurations.

Conroe - Desktop processor
Merom - Mobile Processor

Xeon = Woodcrest, capable of dual chip configurations.

Kentsfield = Core 2 Quadro, replacement for Conroe. Quad-core. Two Conroe chips on a single die. Only capable of single chip cofigurations.

Clovertown = replacement for Woodcrest. Quad-core. Two Woodcrest chips on a single die. Capable of two-chip configurations.

cube · Sep 12, 2006

Pressure said:
Oh I am sure. Every benchmark indicates this.

Plenty of people are already playing with Kentsfield, if you haven't noticed.

I am not impressed with Kentsfield's benchmarks. Only on video encoding/rendering apps does it show a reasonable speedup over Conroe. Of course where it sucks, it's not because of the memory, but rather because the applications cannot use 4 cores effectively.

Nobody benchmarked Kentsfield against dual Woodcrest.

Lollypop · Sep 12, 2006

stuartluff said:
I knew ages ago that Intels crap naming of processors would start causing confusion. Im pretty clued up on stuff but even im getting confused on this kind of thing. Kentsfield, Woodcrest, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, Conroe, Merom, Xeon etc. I mean WTF gimme some numbers so I know whats what.

So is kentsfield a singlechip-quadcore?

I saw this one comming as well!

But to answer what im thinking is being asked, there wont be a Kentsfield based mac pro, but there might be a Cloverton based mac pro.... according to anandtech the current mac pro can even run pre-released cloverton chips, so the current mac pro is very likely a good investment, and you will likely be able to upgrade it to cloverton chips in a few years.

cube · Sep 12, 2006

Lollypop said:
according to anandtech the current mac pro can even run pre-released cloverton chips, so the current mac pro is very likely a good investment, and you will likely be able to upgrade it to cloverton chips in a few years.

In a few years it will be difficult to find any Clovertown chips.

Lollypop · Sep 12, 2006

cube said:
In a few years it will be difficult to find any Clovertown chips.

Just like its difficult to find a upgrade G4 for my G3 B&W???

I agree, but I personally hope the old apple upgrade companies like sonnet stepping in on this one... either way I was just trying to illustrate that the mac pro wont change its architecture quickly and that you will be able to upgrade almost all the components for a while.

MacBoobsPro · Sep 12, 2006

Chundles said:
Core Duo = Yonah, a mobile processor. 32bit, dual-core. Based on Pentium M.

Core 2 Duo: 64bit, based on new Core Architecture, dual-core. Only capable of single chip configurations.

Conroe - Desktop processor
Merom - Mobile Processor

Xeon = Woodcrest, capable of dual chip configurations.

Kentsfield = Core 2 Quadro, replacement for Conroe. Quad-core. Two Conroe chips on a single die. Only capable of single chip cofigurations.

Clovertown = replacement for Woodcrest. Quad-core. Two Woodcrest chips on a single die. Capable of two-chip configurations.

Wow so my new OctoMac

will be 2 Clovertons right?

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