The unofficial "I'm waiting for Sandy Bridge" thread ...

[knucles]

again, i didn't said that it's pretty, or cheap, or useful, or cold, i am just saying that it's out there. and it's out there for the same price as the 17'' macbook pro

i would never buy this kind of desktop replacementes but some people do.

2,8core 2 duo < i7 920 quad 2,66
9600gt < 280m x2 (sli)
320gb < 3x 320gb in raid 0
4gb ddr3 < 6gb ddr3

really, can you blame them?



and by the way: this is as much portable as the imac and still it's years beyond comparison components wise.

the imac should match this pc replacements at least.

9400m + core 2 duo for top imac it's as ridiculous as those laptops

 

[nahsor]

again, i didn't said that it's pretty, or cheap, or useful, or cold, i am just saying that it's out there. and it's out there for the same price as the 17'' macbook pro

i would never buy this kind of desktop replacementes but some people do.

2,8core 2 duo < i7 920 quad 2,66
9600gt < 280m x2 (sli)
320gb < 3x 320gb in raid 0
4gb ddr3 < 6gb ddr3

really, can you blame them?



and by the way: this is as much portable as the imac and still it's years beyond comparison components wise.

the imac should match this pc replacements at least.

9400m + core 2 duo for top imac it's as ridiculous as those laptops

Understandable but you have to take into account the fact that iMacs aren't marketed for heavy-use. They are the sleek, cool (yet powerful) replacement for pcs. Anyone who needs the specs beyond the iMacs probably needs it for 3d rendering or some sort of professional use in which case they opt for the Pros. Plus, one reason for the higher prices which people fail to take into account is the fact that you get OS X instead of crappy Windows and the overall quality is much better. You pay more for computers that last longer and have a better resale value.

 

[Dwalls90]

No, we're not saying that at all. No way will the laptop Sandy Bridge be 8 core.

Who's to say it will or won't? You don't work for Intel.

Which doesn't exist.

Physically, one die, two cores, four threads. OS X recognizes it as four cores, and processes it in that manner.

Sure, because THAT is all that matters.

And your ego does not?

A laptop with Bloomfield? I don't think so.

Proven, wrong.

 

[knucles]

Understandable but you have to take into account the fact that iMacs aren't marketed for heavy-use. They are the sleek, cool (yet powerful) replacement for pcs. Anyone who needs the specs beyond the iMacs probably needs it for 3d rendering or some sort of professional use in which case they opt for the Pros. Plus, one reason for the higher prices which people fail to take into account is the fact that you get OS X instead of crappy Windows and the overall quality is much better. You pay more for computers that last longer and have a better resale value.

and yet they are: lg lcd, intel processores, nvidia gpu and ocz hdd?
those components are available for all

imac is a desktop replacement i get that, but for my work for exemple apple doesn't have anything perfect and that's why i have a mac laptop and a pc desktop:

for 3d rendering you have 2 options : imac and you will be under processing stuff

or

mac pro and you will be stuck with a crappy gpu or wait 1 year to pay the double for 1 card from like 5 that apple let you put in it

of course this would be solved by a configurable mac tower but for now i am with a i7 quad 920 + ati4890 + 6gb ddr3 +128 ssd ocz that i built for under 1000€

ps: i hate using windows, but i need it to fill the hole in mac lineup

make mac pro gpu free and i will be ready to buy it

 

[Dwalls90]

and yet they are: lg lcd, intel processores, nvidia gpu and ocz hdd?
those components are available for all

imac is a desktop replacement i get that, but for my work for exemple apple doesn't have anything perfect and that's why i have a mac laptop and a pc desktop:

for 3d rendering you have 2 options : imac and you will be under processing stuff

or

mac pro and you will be stuck with a crappy gpu or wait 1 year to pay the double for 1 card from like 5 that apple let you put in it

of course this would be solved by a configurable mac tower but for now i am with a i7 quad 920 + ati4890 + 6gb ddr3 +128 ssd ocz that i built for under 1000€

ps: i hate using windows, but i need it to fill the hole in mac lineup

make mac pro gpu free and i will be ready to buy it

Apple has always, and unfortunately, been very behind in the GPU sector. It's really annoying, and only hurting the few gaming enthusiasts they have.

 

[nick9191]

so what you're saying is that with sandy bridge there will be octo core macbook pro's?

No, but Haswell in 2012 is 8 core standard.

So 8 core MacBook Pro in 2012.

 

[nahsor]

Apple has always, and unfortunately, been very behind in the GPU sector. It's really annoying, and only hurting the few gaming enthusiasts they have.

It doesn't seem worth it for them to offer gpu-less option. A true gaming enthusiast is more than likely opting for a pc anyways.

 

[knucles]

and by 3d rendering i was not refering to games; i am talking about archicad, autocad, maya, rhynos, artlantis and so on.

i am an architect and my 3d rendering is made on a pc by lack of apple options, i would pay a premium for a mac pro happly if it was the best options but it isn't the best option neither the cheapest.

if i can't get the best machine for me (because does not exist*) i will get at least the cheapest

if leopard were available for pc's ( ain't happening i know) that would be the cheapest most powerful machine for me. i would pay 500$ for pc leopard

*mac pro gpu free or
pc os free

 

[Dwalls90]

It doesn't seem worth it for them to offer gpu-less option. A true gaming enthusiast is more than likely opting for a pc anyways.

Correct - but Apple has surely preventing gaming communities from flourishing on Mac OS X by not providing an option for increased performance in games. With more and more people buying Macs, one would think Apple would step things up a bit and offer more BTO options. No - not the five million pointless configurations sites like HP and Dell offer, but at least enough to customize a computer to one's needs.

 

[DamnDJ]

I have no idea what Sandy Bridge is, but i'm okay with that since I Love my new MBP

 

[Tallest Skil]

Who's to say it will or won't? You don't work for Intel.

The eight core variants are all server chips. Ever see a laptop server?

Physically, one die, two cores, four threads. OS X recognizes it as four cores, and processes it in that manner.

Okay, you go ahead and think that threads are equal to cores.

And your ego does not?

Yes, you're correct, obviously; boot time is the most important thing on a Mac Pro.

Proven, wrong.

Hooray for you. And?

 

[iMacmatician]

aren't any variations with quad or dual with sandy bridge?

No known dual-core Sandy Bridge, but there may still be Arrandale in 2011. Sandy Bridge will replace about half the Arrandales so we will see more affordable quad-core.

The eight core variants are all server chips. Ever see a laptop server?

Even the high-end desktop variant is "only" 6-core. Westmere and Sandy Bridge will supposedly scale to 8-16 cores but they seem to be server variants.

 

[Dwalls90]

The eight core variants are all server chips. Ever see a laptop server?

No, but I have seen some laptops use desktop CPU's. The point is - Intel hasn't released specifications as to how many cores their different niche markets will use for that platform, but it is still possible.

Okay, you go ahead and think that threads are equal to cores.

Do you know the differences? This isn't the same as HT at all, though it's often mistaken as HT.

Yes, you're correct, obviously; boot time is the most important thing on a Mac Pro.

Not most important, but can mirror overall performance. You made it sound like boot times and overall performance are inversely, or not, related at all.

 

[nahsor]

Correct - but Apple has surely preventing gaming communities from flourishing on Mac OS X by not providing an option for increased performance in games. With more and more people buying Macs, one would think Apple would step things up a bit and offer more BTO options. No - not the five million pointless configurations sites like HP and Dell offer, but at least enough to customize a computer to one's needs.

Great point. With game compatibility not being as big an issue as it used to be in the past, and Apple increasing its hold in the "regular" consumer market, maybe Apple will move towards adressing gaming needs within the next few years.

 

[knucles]

''Furthermore, Sandy bridge processors will obtain support to the new collection SIMD AVX instructions (Advanced vectors extensions), which will replace SSE expansion. This New collection will be compatible with SSE, it will increase the registers length by two ( to 256 bits ), and will also give programmers additional three- and four commands.

In this case Intel promises, that the use of AVX will raise the operation speed of some algorithms by 90%. ''





can you guys explain me better what's avx and what might bring to the users?

 

[iMacmatician]

Haswell is eight cores standard on all chips. Sandy Bridge is 4 to 8. No more dual cores starting with Sandy Bridge.

New information reveals there will still be dual-core Sandy Bridge variants. I wonder where the previously reported 6-core variant is.

2 cores, 4 MB L3
4 cores, 8 MB L3 (mainstream)
8 cores, 16 MB L3

http://www.canardpc.com/news-37333-...en_photo_le_futur_sandy_bridge_d___intel.html

 

[JTK28]

The unofficial "I'm Waiting for Sandy Bridge" thread...

Just going by everything i've read in the past and recently about Arrandale. All the general "disappointment" about it doesn't really surprise me. Now don't get me wrong, Arrandale is obviously going to be an upgrade to what we have now. But if you think about it we get a better version of what we have now every 6 months anyway. So to say Arrandale is an improvement is obvious. However, I personally never thought it was going to be what everyone around here was making it out to be. Everyone was touting the fact that it Arrandale is a new architecture but while that true, it is planned to be phased out within a year (according to Intel).

With that said...

I personally think the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture is the one to get excited about. It really seems to be the one to "wait" for and is scheduled for 2011. (I use the word "wait" very tongue in cheek...)

For those that don't know, here are some facts...

*4 GHz clock speed

*4 to 8 cores (Arrandale is still 2 cores)

* Sandy Bridge will focus on power efficiency.

* Performance will be increased without a core size increase (similar to the Netburst to Core transition).

* The CPU core is scalable.

* Due to the small 32 nm process, the floating point unit is small compared to the rest of the core.

* Dynamic Turbo allows the CPU power to exceed the TDP value when the rest of the platform is relatively cool. The frequency gain can be up to 37% for one minute, and over 20% in most cases.

* Nehalem may stay at the server platform while Sandy Bridge is released for the mobile segments, which would split the markets into two CPU lines.

* Sandy Bridge's CPU and GPU are likely to be on one die (unlike the two-die approach of Nehalem).

* Because of the high-performing CPU and off-chip components, it may be necessary to improve bus interconnects. The internal bus is to be improved.

* The Sandy Bridge microarchitecture is also said to focus on the connections of the processor core.

* If the transition to 22 nm is difficult, then Sandy Bridge may go over three generations (Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and another Bridge) as opposed to two with Nehalem and Core 2.


I just thought someone should post the

"The unofficial "I'm Waiting for Sandy Bridge" thread..."

Also if any of the information posted is incorrect please feel free to correct it.

 

[Buzz Bumble]

Don't bother with "Arrandale" or "Sandy Bridge" ... you guys should wait for "AstroSmurf".

 

[2good2btru]

You know? Sometimes Technology pisses me off. Don't get me wrong, I'm a geek tried and true, but why so much hype when even you said it yourself, that it will be phased out in 6 months?

Personally, Sandy Bridge seems to be more exciting than Arrandale. The latter hasn't really sparked my interested very much. But at the same time, I'm not going to wake until 2011 just to upgrade, because then Ivy Bridge or whatever comes next will be 'coming'.

Buy what's the latest if you want/can afford the update soon after it's released, but don't get caught up over what's the latest and greatest.

 

[5630745]

The new stuff isn't even out!!!!

 

[LedCop]

LOL! Yeah, I'm waiting for this - with my Penryn Macbook Pro in the meantime.

It is with Sandy Bridge that quad-cores are a certainty, along with USB 3 and Light Peak. Probably SATA III and blu-ray as well.

 

[JTK28]

You know? Sometimes Technology pisses me off. Don't get me wrong, I'm a geek tried and true, but why so much hype when even you said it yourself, that it will be phased out in 6 months?

Personally, Sandy Bridge seems to be more exciting than Arrandale. The latter hasn't really sparked my interested very much. But at the same time, I'm not going to wake until 2011 just to upgrade, because then Ivy Bridge or whatever comes next will be 'coming'.

Buy what's the latest if you want/can afford the update soon after it's released, but don't get caught up over what's the latest and greatest.

I started this thread because (yes) sandy bridge seems to be more in line with what i would want in an "update" but also to poke fun a little. I noticed so many people just on pins and needles "waiting for arrandale" and posting in that thread. And i understand it happens every 6 months around here like clock work, but people have to get a grip a little.

I think you said it best....don't get caught up with what's the latest and greatest. Because truth be told, once you buy your computer, its obsolete. Its sad but true.

 

[JTK28]

The new stuff isn't even out!!!!

Exactly! The whole thread is a bit tongue in cheek...

 

[Erasmus]

Count me in! I want my quad-core MBP, dammit!!!

 

[robfromabove]

LOL! Yeah, I'm waiting for this - with my Penryn Macbook Pro in the meantime.

It is with Sandy Bridge that quad-cores are a certainty, along with USB 3 and Light Peak. Probably SATA III and blu-ray as well.

Don't forget about the nuclear powered battery.