Been Waiting for that Intel CPU? Price Drop!

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117529,tk,dn082404X,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,117529,tk,dn082404X,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Intel slashed prices across its Pentium 4 and Itanium product lines this week as it prepares for its biannual developer conference in San Francisco at the beginning of September...The fastest Pentium 4 processor currently available, the Pentium 4 560 processor, now costs $417 in quantities of 1000 units. This is a 34.5 percent cut from its previous price of $637. Other Pentium 4 processors based on Intel's new LGA775 (land grid array) packaging were also cut by anywhere from 33 percent to 18 percent, and Pentium 4 chips based on the company's older packaging technology saw similar price cuts."</i><br /><br />If you've been holding off on getting an CPU upgrade, Intel has just slashed their prices, so I imagine this will be reflected in most markets within a couple of weeks. Just in time too, because Intel hasn't emailed me back about a loaner processer for a review I'm going to do - I may need to buy one after all. Which would you pick: a 3.6 Ghz P4 or a 3.4 Ghz Extreme Edition? I'm leaning towards the Extreme Edition because I believe the extra cache will add up to more oomph when it comes to digital media editing - the new core on the P4 seems to be a bit of a dog based on what I've read. Thoughts?

[klinux]

a Powermac. (runs and ducks) :)

If forced to make a choice, I'd go with the EE edition as I think that will see more day-to-day performance improvement with the cache. I may consider upgrading my 2.66 to a 3.06 too.

[Jason Dunn]

a Powermac. (runs and ducks) :)

Hah! Nah, I'm basing the system around this amazing beast that Shuttle is going to send to me (hopefully) in about three weeks:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-32.html#shuttle_xpc_sb81p_highend_barebone

[Felix Torres]

My IT7 mobo doesn't do Extreme Edition.
Then again, serving content around the network isn't taxing the old Celeron 1.7Ghz.
I am planning to go up, though; I'm thinking 2.8 Ghz P4.
I can do that for around $150-170 and I'll finally be able to watch T2 on WMA HD at home.
Besides, Intel will likely discontinue most of the cpus my board can run by next spring...
:?

[Felix Torres]

Hah! Nah, I'm basing the system around this amazing beast that Shuttle is going to send to me (hopefully) in about three weeks:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-32.html#shuttle_xpc_sb81p_highend_barebone

Looks classy.
Wouldn't look out of place in any living room.
You planning to put XP media center on it?

[Christian]

a Powermac. (runs and ducks) :)

Hah! Nah, I'm basing the system around this amazing beast that Shuttle is going to send to me (hopefully) in about three weeks:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-32.html#shuttle_xpc_sb81p_highend_barebone

Does that mean it will be available in three weeks? I've been checking online stores almost daily for a while now, and I hadn't seen any real release dates. :oops: :)

[Jason Dunn]

Does that mean it will be available in three weeks? I've been checking online stores almost daily for a while now, and I hadn't seen any real release dates. :oops: :)

More or less - they're telling me I'll be getting a final production unit for review, which means it should be in the retail channel shortly after that...

[Jason Dunn]

Looks classy. Wouldn't look out of place in any living room. You planning to put XP media center on it?

Nope, it will be my primary data-crunching, game-playing, video-rendering, ass-kicking computer. :twisted:

[mcsouth]

Not sure if this really answers your question about the processor, but Maximun PC, in building their latest ultimate PC for 2004, chose the 3.6Ghz Prescott instead of the 3.4EE proc. Now of course, they ended up overclocking it to almost 4Ghz, but they had some interesting arguments to make in favor of the Prescott core proc....

In the end, it appeared to me as if the 3.6Ghz offered a bigger bang for the buck than the 3.4EE - what is the EE worth now since the price cuts? If I recall, it was over $1000 apiece before the price cut - heck, I just upgraded my PC with an AMD Barton core 2800+ proc about a month ago for $80 - and that doesn't include the $40 that I got for selling my 1900+ proc! I may not be bleeding edge, but I can build a pretty impressive PC for what Intel wants for one EE proc!

[Suhit Gupta]

a Powermac. (runs and ducks) :)

Hah! Nah, I'm basing the system around this amazing beast that Shuttle is going to send to me (hopefully) in about three weeks:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040804/barebones-32.html#shuttle_xpc_sb81p_highend_barebone
Hmm, I need to angle in somehow to get your "old" shuttle then.

Suhit

[Jason Dunn]

Hmm, I need to angle in somehow to get your "old" shuttle then.

Heh. This new one will be my fourth Shuttle - I've only passed on one to a friend, I'm still using two of them. I think my wife will want the next one... ;-)

[Suhit Gupta]

damn (mumble, grumble). Then I would like to lay claim to the new one so that when you get your next one, I am the first one in line. ;-)

Suhit