A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was thinking of buying or building a system built around a quad-core CPU. I had made a mental note to wait until the fall, until I looked in my RSS reader one day and saw that Dell was selling the Dimension 9200 with an Intel Core 2 Q6600 (quad-core, 2.4GHz), 2GB of RAM, and double-layer DVD burner for $649 (with shipping, $680).
After it arrived, I installed an extra 2GB of RAM ($70), replaced the default 80GB single drive with a 160GB Raptor (10,000 RPM) system drive and a 500GB data drive ($250 combined), and ditched the Nvidia 8300 GS video card in favor of a 512MB ATI Radeon HD2600XT ($95 $155). I also upgraded Vista Home Basic to Vista Ultimate x64 ($199).
Grand total: $1295 $1355. Here’s how it does on the Windows Experience Index:
Three observations:
1. This machine really does fly. It’s especially impressive to see a 1600 x 1200 screen full of thumbnails in Windows Photo Gallery draw itself instantly.
2. Vista x64 is working better than I imagined. I had tried it back in February and gave up because of driver and software compatibility problems. Those appear to be all fixed now. There are still a few missing pieces in the 64-bit puzzle (like no connector for Windows Home Server), but I can deal with those issues and will definitely keep using Vista x64.
3. VMWare Workstation 6 absolutely rocks on this machine. I have Ubuntu Linux 7.04, XP Pro, and Vista Enterprise Edition all running in virtual machines and this box isn’t even breaking a sweat. I’ll have more to say on this subject at ZDNet soon.
With the exception of a single test system running on a four-year-old P4, every system in this home/office is now dual-core or better, with most running some flavor of Vista (the exceptions being a hard-working Media Center Edition 2005 system, another running the final release of Windows Home Server, and a third running the latest beta of Windows Server 2008).
I really don’t think I’ll need any new hardware for at least another year!
Hey Ed,
Good post. I was thinking about getting a Dell 1430 dual quad core as a home workstation. But I’d use Fedora as my primary OS. I know that you’re running Ubuntu under VM on your system. I was wondering how many CPUs does VMware Workstation allow you to see? All four or only two?
Looking forward to your ZDNet post.
‘sodo
‘sodo,
VMWare allows you to specify one or two processors for a VM, so no, it won’t use all four.
Ed,
How quiet is the 512MB ATI Radeon HD2600XT?
As I said in one of my comments above, I’m using the ATI Radeon 1650 PRO in my HTPC. The fan on this thing is loud enough to be heard over the television.
Any thoughts on a higher-end video card with a fanless design?
Thank you.
Aaron
I don’t see an answer to Svenkpoijken’s question regarding onlyt two processors visible in XP. Which is a pity, ‘cos I have the same problem.
But I can only get XP to run if I disable the quad core (ie revert to dual core) and also if I disable the SATA RAID controller.
I’ve tried installing the RAID driver but that says it can’t be installed ‘cos the feature doesn’t exist and I can’t get XP to run if I enable RAID in the BIOS.
I’ve yet to find a driver to cover my quad core (6600) problem
Anyone any ideas?
I’m running XP Pro SP3 on a Dell XPS 420 with 4GB RAM and 2 500 GB (non-RAID) Seagate HDDs
Shoulda gone with an Nvidia. Much more industry-friendly. From my perspective, and that involves a bit of stereoscopic 3d gaming (aka – standard gaming format of the future) ATI has dropped the ball.