Dual core Intel... how hot?

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Fri, Aug 04, 2006 at 12:17:24PM -0400, Colin McGregor wrote:
> One computer magazine columnist 10+ years ago noted,
> tongue in cheek, that the PC you want was always about
> $5,000 U.S. (i.e.: the box with ALL the high end
> goodies). Now, these days I am sure that number has
> dropped, even with $500+ video cards, and top of the
> line CPUs, etc..
> 
> Still, the question comes back to where/when can you
> reasonably justify such costs? If you are talking an
> engineer doing high end CAD work, where saving say 30
> minutes per day at $N per hour, well, the numbers can
> be crunched and likely a top of the line CPU (or
> CPUs)can be justified over the course of a year (in
> which case go as nuts as the numbers justify). On the
> other hand a shipping clerk who needs to type up
> Fed-Ex shipping labels, well, forget it, a faster CPU
> will not make him type any faster, and that will be
> the speed bottleneck. In other words for ALMOST all
> business applications the sub-$1,000 no-name PC clones
> will do just fine.

The machine for my farther will be a new one to run SolidWorks, so yes
it is CAD.  He thinks the Dell 3007 would be a nice monitor for CAD work
too to replace the failing 21" CRT.

> Likewise, for home use what, besides some games, will
> come even close to taxing trailing edge current
> generation CPU chips? Again, unless one is doing
> something BIZARRE I can not see any need/point in
> using a high end CPU/system for home use...

My own machine is an athlon 700, and an athlon 1700+ in the mythtv box.
Plenty for my needs. :)

--
Len Sorensen
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