Re: [gentoo-user] Re: new machine : (1) which CPU ?

[Frank Steinmetzger <Warp_7@gmx.de>]

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Am Samstag, 21. Juli 2012, 15:33:05 schrieb Nikos Chantziaras:
> On 20/07/12 10:24, Philip Webb wrote:
> > I plan to build a new machine in the next few months:
> > it wb for regular desktop use, but performance is as important as price.
> 
> > A quick look at what was available in April suggested
> > an Intel Ivy Bridge i7 ( 22 nm ) ; Phoronix said it works with Kernel 3.2
> > + an Intel Z77 mobo (I usually buy ASUS) & that power/watt was excellent.
> > […]
> > I don't want to pay a premium price for a bleeding-edge device
> > which wb available at a more normal price a few months later.

Those two statements are a bit contradicting.
Generally, I wouldn’t buy an i7. First, those high-end components tend to be 
comparatively more expensive than their smaller siblings (regarding bang for 
the buck). Okay, it’s a quad with HT instead of “just a quad” (oh my, the 
times we live in), but secondly, if it’s *mostly* a desktop and occasionally 
performance-critical, I think it is also a waste of power. More power means 
more heat means more fan noise.

> > I wb buying it from the local store (Canada Computers), not on-line.
> 
> > Does anyone have thoughts or advice ?

A friend of mine built a new machine recently. I too am planning on doing this 
once I got the bucks (hopefully) in a few months. So we picked components 
together, based on recommendations of an “efficient home-brew PC” article in 
computer magazine c’t.
We know that Intel is more expensive, but also less power-hungry and known to 
work excellent both with Linux and with other components. And my friend 
believes that the Intel graphics drivers are still superior from a FOSS 
standpoint (he had an ATI in his old system).

Using the comprehensive Wikipedia articles on Ivy Bridge¹ and LGA1155², we 
decided for the biggest i5 (3570K, ~220€), as it has the bigger of the two HD 
Graphics chips (external Graphics were not on the shoping list). This new baby 
built GCC in 12 minutes and a bit. First he wanted an Intel board, but because 
those don’t have VGA anymore, he went for Gigagybe. He was building a big 
tower ATX system, and so chose the Z77 (around 100€).

I, however, am planning for something more modest, a cute mATX system with 
medium power. Right now I’m planning on a B75 board. It has all *I* need and 
is considerably cheaper (70€). I think I may also take the smaller i5 that 
comes with HD4000, the 3475S, which is around 25€ cheaper. But even then, it 
is still a beast when compared to my Core 2 Duo laptop which has to run 
permanently throttled due to its ageing heat spreader.

> This is a Sandy Bridge CPU.  I normally don't recommend the Ivy Bridge
> ones because they run hotter, so changing the clock multipliers isn't as
> fun as with Sandy Bridge.

Yeah, according to the aforementioned Wikipedia article¹, they changed the 
heat spreader material inside. However, the 2550K you recommended has a TDP of 
almost 100W, whereas Ivy Bridge maxes at 77W. How much those figues are to be 
taken as real-world values is of course something else.

A nice improvement of Ivy Bridge in my view is its integrated USB3 controller, 
which, according to some tests, is considerably better than the patched-on 
solutions of Sandy Bridge boards. And if you don’t want a dedicated graphics 
card but still want some GPU power, that’s of course another plus for Ivy.

Hm... perhaps one can use the best of both worlds and use a Sandy CPU ond an 
Ivy board? The other way around would work with a BIOS upgrade.



Footnoty stuff
¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_(microarchitecture)
¹ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_1155

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