Conflicting answers.... Some people say to get a Xeon chip for my computer some say to get the Duo Core..?

Question

Then some say the Xeon chip is only good for servers and that it uses too much something or other for a personal computer.... which is the right answer???

Answer 1

Okay here is the definitive answer that I hope will clear it up. For the most part (I will explain the exception later) Core 2 Duos are for desktops, and Xeons are for servers. The difference is that the Core 2 Duos use the LGA 775 socket, while the Xeons use the LGA 771 socket, hence they are not interchangeable. The LGA 775 socket comes on desktop motherboards, while LGA 771 comes on server motherboards. Now just in case somebody wants to get technical, you could build a desktop with a server motherboard, but it would be much more expensive, and would not yield any real benefit, hence it would be pointless. So, the answer is the Core 2 Duo is what you would want for a desktop.

Now to the exception. Recently, Intel released a new Xeon, the 3000 series, which are basically just Core 2 Duos rebadged with the name Xeon. There is absolutely no difference between them and the Core 2 Duos, they both use LGA 775, and both are architecturally identical, they just have different names. So in this case you could use either a Core 2 Duo or a Xeon, but you are really just using the same processor with a different name. Hope that cleared things up, if you have any further questions feel free to email me.

Answer 2

"What is Xeon?

Xeon is an marketing name for Intel's server-class CPU's from the Pentium family.

Intel has manufactured and sold Xeon versions of the Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4, and Pentium MP CPU's.

Xeon CPU's are differentiated from each other by their CPU speeds, Front Side Bus speeds, and the size of their L2 cache and L3 cache.

Current Xeon CPU's require the use of Dual Channel DDR or DDR2 SDRAM.

Intel also manufactures low-voltage versions of the Xeon CPU's. In addition to reduced voltage, these Xeon's also produce less heat."

Personally I would buy a dual-core.

Answer 3

I hate to complicate things but I think you really should get a chocolate chip. It's really sweeter!