Core 2 Duo or Pentium D?

[hampshirebrit]

Hi folks

I'm looking to build a system for running VMware under either Win2003Enterprise server or a Linux server.

I've specced a iP965 chipset mobo with 8GB memory and a large SATA drive plus the usual other bits.

Question is, which is the better processor to use for this type of application? Bearing in mind that the workload is likely to be as much memory and disk intensive as really demanding on the CPU, do I really need a Core 2 Duo, when the 3.4Ghz D945 weighs in at well under half the cost of a much slower (in Ghz terms) Core 2 Duo?

[[GSV]Trig]

C2D unless you want warm your house as well in which case go for the P4D

[chuckskull]

For something like this I'd suggest an E6600, not to expensive, virtualisation support, cooler and faster than the D945

[KalC]

core 2 duo anyday over the D945

[lanceuppercut]

core2 all the way!

[hampshirebrit]

Interesting. Thanks for the responses. It looks like C2D is the way to go, even at a lower clock speed.

It's a long time since I've specced up a new machine, and it's tempting just to look at a processor in terms of its Ghz speed.

Thanks again for the info.

[KalC]

the amount of work a c2d can do per clock cycle is much, much higher than a D945 - even at a lower clock speed

[Agent]

....as really demanding on the CPU, do I really need a Core 2 Duo, when the 3.4Ghz D945 weighs in at well under half the cost of a much slower (in Ghz terms) Core 2 Duo?

Ghz / Clock speed is not an indication of how much work is done

You can have a 2gigz CPU wipe the floor with a 4gighz one easily - Its all down to the architecture its built on, cache and what different technology's it uses (like SSE ect...)

In this case, The core2 will kick the P'Ds botty!

[DataMatrix]

Don't listen to these People, the Pentium D is far superior with its bad netburst achitecture, tiny L1 Instruction & Data cache, etc...

Jesus, what a dumb question, read some reviews on Core 2 Duo.

[alsenior]

Don't listen to these People, the Pentium D is far superior with its bad netburst achitecture, tiny L1 Instruction & Data cache, etc...

Jesus, what a dumb question, read some reviews on Core 2 Duo.

no need to flame. not everyone knows everything about computers. for newer users looking at clock speed is there difference between performance.

[hampshirebrit]

no need to flame. not everyone knows everything about computers. for newer users looking at clock speed is there difference between performance.

There's always gonna be at least one poster like that, unfortunately.

Anyway, again thanks for the mostly constructive answers. I've spent some time looking at this, and here's how the final spec is looking:

Processor: Intel C2D E6600, 2.4Ghz
Mainboard: Asus P5B Delux i965 wifi
Memory: 4GB kit (2GBx2)
Hard drive: 500Gb Seagate SATA3, 7200, 16MB, 8.2ms
CD/DVD drive: Lite-On 20X DVD+/- RW / RAM internal SATA
Graphics adapter: 256MB Asus Radeon X1650 Pro PCI-E HDTV
Case: Asus TM-210 w/o PSU
Cooling: Thermaltake Big Typhooon
Power Supply: 500w FSP Blue Storm


All of which works out at £875 before S&H charges. I've specced the deluxe version of the mobo b/c it can support SATA RAID for internal drives, and the idea is to make this one the main VMware server and add another 500Gb drive over time.

[[GSV]Trig]

Looks like a decent system to me, where you getting it from?

[KingLouie3]

Spec looks okay, but I would recommend the following:

changing the hard drive to WD5000AAKS or the Samsung HD501LJ for quietness, especially if you are looking to add a second drive later on.

Graphics card to a 256MB 7300GT for £30 quid from overclockers. It has a passive heatsink and runs vista aero very well. The WEI is graphics is 4.4 and gaming graphics is 4.3. Hardly matters if you running it as a vmware server.

Hope this helps!

[Agent]

Don't listen to these People, the Pentium D is far superior with its bad netburst achitecture, tiny L1 Instruction & Data cache, etc...

Jesus, what a dumb question, read some reviews on Core 2 Duo.

No need for that attitude mate - We prefer to do things politely around here and not be condescending

[ikonia]

for virtualisation, you may want to consider getting true work horse cpu's in the right area, opterons and xeons with the virutalisation configs.

If you want 8 gig of ram - I assume you'll be using a few virtual machines. The Opterons and Xeons are much better suited to this than "home computing" chips.

[nichomach]

That's a LOT more expense than either a C2D or Pentium-D, ikonia. If he's planning to deploy VMWare in a live environment, obviously, yes, larger tin is a good idea, but if it's for development and testing purposes, a C2D'd do nicely, I'd have thought, as long as it was one of the ones that support Intel's Intel VT virtualisation stuff - see http://www.intel.com/products/proces...t/core2duo.htm , which is another good reason for a C2D, specifically one of the E6XXX series.