Nehalem 3.33 Quad?

[thagomizer]

Apple refurb store has just listed the 3.33 quad for $3199, $500 off list.

Some reviews (e.g. Anandtech) are showing that the Gulftown 3.33 will perform similarly to the current Nehalem 3.33 on most tasks except for those that need all 6 cores, or those that do h.264 encoding.

So... what do you think, is the current 3.33 quad a good deal? Yes, I know it sucks compared to what you can get in the PC world. I mean, is it a good deal at this price relative to other Mac Pros? The Gulftown single-CPU 3.33 Mac Pro would obviously have to be priced much higher than $3199, if they're going to keep this older model in the refurb store at this price, right?

And by the way, I found this amusing:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...293-337097-64293-3983983-3983984-3983986.html

 

[Salavat23]

That CPU that you linked is so expensive because it is the 55xx series Xeon. The one that comes with the Mac Pro is part of the 35xx family, and costs a hair under $1000.

 

[VirtualRain]

Apple refurb store has just listed the 3.33 quad for $3199, $500 off list.

Some reviews (e.g. Anandtech) are showing that the Gulftown 3.33 will perform similarly to the current Nehalem 3.33 on most tasks except for those that need all 6 cores, or those that do h.264 encoding.

So... what do you think, is the current 3.33 quad a good deal? Yes, I know it sucks compared to what you can get in the PC world. I mean, is it a good deal at this price relative to other Mac Pros? The Gulftown single-CPU 3.33 Mac Pro would obviously have to be priced much higher than $3199, if they're going to keep this older model in the refurb store at this price, right?

And by the way, I found this amusing:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/e...293-337097-64293-3983983-3983984-3983986.html

I think that is a decent bang for the buck for a Mac Pro. You are basically getting a 3.33 for little more than th cost of a 2.93. As you point out, the Gulftown won't have much on this except in isolated workloads that are massively threaded. Clock speed is still King in all tasks.

Having said all that, I'd be reluctant to do anything until after Tuesday at which point you should have the 2010 pricing in hand with which to make a more informed decision.

 

[Umbongo]

That CPU that you linked is so expensive because it is the 55xx series Xeon. The one that comes with the Mac Pro is part of the 35xx family, and costs a hair under $1000.

Actually it is so expensive because of the way major vendors list parts. It retails for $1,600.

 

[Salavat23]

Actually it is so expensive because of the way major vendors list parts. It retails for $1,600.

Dell lists their the majority of CPUs at MSRP.

And what you said has nothing to do with the fact that dual qpi CPUs are inherently more expensive than single qpi ones.

 

[Umbongo]

Dell lists their the majority of CPUs at MSRP.

And what you said has nothing to do with the fact that dual qpi CPUs are inherently more expensive than single qpi ones.

Intel don't have a MRSP as such, they only ever publish the price for a tray of 1,000 CPUs. Dell are 20-30% more than those prices because they are primarily targeting established customers. While the Xeon W5590 is an expensive processor, $1,600 for that dual processor functionality, HP's $3,000 price there is because it is intended to be added to a workstation that was purchased with a single CPU by a business. There will most likely be discounts involved so they price it stupidly high so they can make a nice profit off it even when those come in to play.

 

[Salavat23]

Intel don't have a MRSP as such, they only ever publish the price for a tray of 1,000 CPUs. Dell are 20-30% more than those prices because they are primarily targeting established customers. While the Xeon W5590 is an expensive processor, $1,600 for that dual processor functionality, HP's $3,000 price there is because it is intended to be added to a workstation that was purchased with a single CPU by a business. There will most likely be discounts involved so they price it stupidly high so they can make a nice profit off it even when those come in to play.

Dell lists their desktop CPUs at pretty much the 1k unit prices.