New PC - 2009

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Revision as of 15:31, 17 November 2010 by Mip (talk | contribs) (→‎HP)
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It's been a long time I'm surviving with the same PC at home. May be it's time to buy a new one...

Requirements

  • Main requirement: silence!
  • Form-factor: Laptop would be a nice-to have. Would free some space on the desk, reduce cable clutter. But more expensive
    • On battery time is secondary. I'll mainly use it as a desktop anyway
  • Resolution: laptop, min. 1440x900, ideally 1920x1200. Desktop, min 1920x1200 mandatory.
  • Ports: IEEE 1394 interface mandatory to acquire DV Video from digital handycam
  • OS: PC must be Linux compatible. Let's get a Windows license for ease. Windows 7 english 64-bit Professional minimum.
    • Ultimate + Media center would be nice-to-have
  • CPU:
    • 2 cores mandatory + Intel VTx instruction (or similar)
    • 4 cores ideally
  • Graphic cards:
    • NVidia used to have good Linux compatibility, but I heard many troubles with these cards nowadays. This constructor builds Ubuntu laptop, and includes a NVidia GeForce GTX 460M card (1.5GB).
    • Intel' GMA series work perfectly well on my DELL E6500 with Lucid 10.04.
  • Bluetooth
  • Wifi 802.11 n

Hardwarde information

Intel

  • Intel branding and CPU names is very confusing, and full of exceptions. We have
    • the microarchitecture,
    • the codename (variants of that microarchitecture), and
    • the brand name (the name under which the CPU is sold on the market)
  • First, look at Westmere architecture. Westmere is the latest architecture from Intel, with the most powerful features. That page gives the best overview of what CPUs to look for, both for desktop or laptop.
  • For desktop, 2 codenames provides the Westmere architecture:
    • Gulftown codename (for server and performance PC) — basically all CPU branded Xeon 36xx / 56xx and some branded Core i7.
    • Clarkdale codename (for value/mainstream PC) — basically some Core i3 and i5 (and Pentium / Celeron).
  • For laptops, there is only one codename, Arrandale, sold under the brands Core i5 and Core i7.

Intel microarchitecture

Nehalem
The successor of the Core architecture.
Westmere
A 32nm shrunk down version of Nehalem, which features some improvements like:
All CPUs with the westmere architecture should have the same features, however with some differences like # cores, cache size, CPU speed, etc.
Note also that there are differences between laptop & desktop. For instance laptop integrates Intel VT-d in the CPU, whereas this feature is actually provided by the chipset (5500/5520) for desktops.

Intel Chipset

(Desktop) Intel 5500 and 5520 Chipset
Supports the Intel Xeon processor 5500 / 5600 series.
Provides QPI, Intel VT-d (Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O), Intel TXT (trusted execution)
See also Wikipedia article

Intel Codenames

The 3 following codenames are based on the Westmere architecture:

Gulftown (32nm)
Includes the Core i7-9xx, Core i7-9xxX, Xeon 36xx (all with 6 cores) and Xeon 56xx (4-6 cores).
Clarkdale
Closely related to mobile Arrandale, originally sold as Core i5 and Core i7.
Arrandale
Mobile version of Clarkdale, sold as Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7.

Intel Brands

Intel Xeon
Intel Xeon is an Intel brand targetting performance / server desktop PC. We limit ourselves to those based on the Westmere microarchitecture:
  • Xeon 36xx (6 cores), only for uniprocessor motherboards
  • Xeon 56xx (4-6 cores), support multiprocessor motherboards

Summary below, see wikipedia for details:

Brand Codename
(desktop)		 Arch Brand name Cores
Xeon Gulftown Westmere Xeon 36xx
Xeon 56xx 		6
4-6
Core i5 / Core i7
Core i5 / i7 is an Intel brand, both targetting desktop and laptop markets. Summary below, see the pages on wikipedia (Intel Core, Core i7 list, Core i5 list):
Brand Codename
(desktop)		 Arch Brand name Cores Codename
(laptop)		 Arch Brand name Cores
Core i5 Lynnfield
Clarkdale 		Nehalem
Westmere 		7xx / 7xxS
6xx 		4
2 		Arrandale Westmere 4xxM / 5xxM / 5xxUM 2
Core i7 Bloomfield
Lynnfield
Gulftown 		Nehalem
Nehalem
Westmere 		9xx
8xx / 8xxS
980X 		4
4
6 		Clarksfield
Arrandale 		Nehalem
Westmere 		9xxXM / 8xxQM / 7xxQM
6xxQM / 6xxLM / 6xxUM 		4
2

NVidia

See this post on GuruHT:

FX 3800M 128 cores 1GB DDR3 256-bit mem itf 100W
FX 2800M 96 cores 1GB DDR3 256-bit mem itf 75W
FX 1800M 72 cores 1GB DDR3/DDR5 128-bit mem itf 45W
FX 880M 48 cores 1GB DDR3 128-bit mem itf 35W

DELL

Mobile Workstation

Model Code Price OS CPU RAM HD Monitor GPU Other
Precision M6500 2759€ HT
2939€ HT 		Win 7 Pro 64 i7-840QM 1,86GHz 4GB
8GB 		500GB 1920x1200 17" RGB NVidia FX 2800M 1GB 802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW slot-in + Base service
Precision M4500 2249€ HT
2429€ HT 		Win 7 Pro 64 i7-840QM 1,86GHz 4GB
8GB 		500GB 1920x1080 15.6" LED NVidia FX 1800M 1GB 802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW + Base service
Precision M4500 2014€ HT
2194€ HT 		Win 7 Pro 64 i7-840QM 1,86GHz 4GB
8GB 		500GB 1920x1080 15.6" LED NVidia FX 880M 1GB 802.11n + DL DVD+/-RW + Base service


TBC:

  • Alienware
  • Z600
  • Latitude

HP Desktops

HP Essential

Nothing to see there...

HP Advanced Desktops

Nothing to see there...

HP Elite Desktops

Nothing to see there either...

HP Workstations

Z200

Core i3 / i5, too small.

Z400

TBC

Z600

TBC

Z800

TBC

HP Laptops

Cfr laptops for small & medium businesses.

HP EliteBook NoteBook

Model Code Price OS CPU RAM HD Monitor GPU Other
EliteBook 8540p WD921EA
XN715EA 		1915€ HT
1786€ HT 		Win 7 Pro 32 i7-620M 2,66GHz 4GB 320GB 1600x900 15.6" NVidia NVS 5100 1GB 802.11n + BD ROM +
DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony
EliteBook 8440p VQ667EA 2048€ HT Win 7 Pro 32 i7-620M 2,66GHz 4GB 500GB 1600x900 14" NVidia NVS 3100 512MB 802.11n + BD ROM +
DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony
EliteBook 8440p XN710EA 2025€ HT Win 7 Pro 32 i7-640M 2,80GHz 4GB SSD 160GB 1600x900 14" Intel HD Graphics 802.11n + BT + BD ROM +
DL DVD+/-RW + 3G telephony incl. GPS

HP EliBook Mobile Workstation

Model Code Price OS CPU RAM HD Monitor GPU Other
EliteBook 8740w WD939EA 1649€ HT(?) Win 7 Pro 64 i7-620M 2,66GHz 4GB 500GB 1920x1200 17" NV Quadro FX 2800M 1GB 802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
EliteBook 8740w WD762EA 2789€ HT Win 7 Pro 64 i7-740QM 1,73GHz 8GB 500GB 1920x1200 17" NV Quadro FX 2800M 1GB 802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
Model Code Price OS CPU RAM HD Monitor GPU Other
EliteBook 8540w WD740EA 2284€ HT Win 7 Pro 64 i7-640M 2,80GHz 8GB 500GB 1920x1080 15.6" NV Quadro FX 880M 1GB 802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
EliteBook 8540w WD742EA 1899€ HT Win 7 Pro 64 i7-640M 2,80GHz 8GB 500GB 1920x1080 15.6" NV Quadro FX 1800M 1GB 802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW
EliteBook 8540w WD743EA 2199€ HT Win 7 Pro 64 i7-740QM 1,73GHz 8GB 500GB 1920x1080 15.6" NV Quadro FX 1800M 1GB 802.11n + BT + BD ROM + DL DVD+/-RW

HP ProBook NoteBook

Looks too cheap to be good.

Essential NoteBook

None (Old CPU's, like C2D, pentium, celeron)

HP Mini

None (out of scope).

HP Mobile Thin Client

None (out of scope).

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