How come quad core processors aren´t making their way into commercial desktops yet?

Question

The only companies that make quad core desktops that are affordable and iBuyPower and Velocity Micro. Velocity Micro is barely affordable. But quad core chips are $299 for a 2.4 GHZ chip, so cheap.

Answer 1

Nobody really wants to fry eggs on their desktops at this time.

Basically quad core is struggling massively with 2 things

1. As the first line in my answers suggests - they are hot little bunnies! In a commercial dataroom this isn't much of an issue as they tend to be air conditioned and super cool anyway - at home in your bedroom under a desk they become a neat way of making an insurance claim.

2. Home software just isn't designed to take advantage of even dual core in a big way let alone quad. The applications and OS need to know HOW to get at the additional processing power otherwise there really is just no performance advantage.
We'll see them in time - but to be perfectly frank I would rather run a dual board with dual GPU than spend the money on quad cores

Answer 2

Well after some breaf research, Dell, HP, and Gateway all offer desktops that con be configured with a quad core for under $1200. I don't know how cheap you expect them to be, when the processor alone is $299.

Answer 3

Because they are still pretty damn expensive.

Unless the commercial desktops are marketed for PC enthusiasts, or high end processing usage, its not gonna reel in enough business for the company

Currently, having more cores doesnt mean extra performance as not all softwares are designed to make use of the quad core system, even the dual core system isnt entirely compatiable wif current existing software.

With power comes responsibilities, with extreme performance comes extreme heat, marketing a commercial desktop with such a monster would require a huge *** fan(like the scythe infinity heatsink paired up with a vantec tornado?) to keep it cool enough to prevent damage within a short period of time (you wouldn't want tons of customers coming back to complain their processors are burnt right?..)

I rather stick to my overclocked dual core anyday.

Answer 4

Because there are no consumer operating systems that can take advantage of their power yet.