Programmer needs help!

[Arch Angel]

I am a programmer that does SQL, VBA, .Net, .ASP, smattering of Java and C#.

My Xeon processor (personally, they suck IMHO) is long in the tooth and I was authorized to get a new system and Google is not helping and the assholes at Microsoft said they won't tell me unless I pay them for the answers since I am contractually obligated to use their products and the double whammy is that I can only obtain Dell computers.

For multitasking is a dual core (2 individual CPU's) Xeons with lower clock speed better than a Quad Core that has higher clock speed on their core?

I need to know because my boss is hammering me on obtaining equipment for budget purposes.

[PSUFAN]

Why do you need so many resources to write code? My guess is that it would be hard to obtain a PC that wouldn't be powerful enough to handle a text editor.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Why do you need so many resources to write code? My guess is that it would be hard to obtain a PC that wouldn't be powerful enough to handle a text editor.

Not just for coding, but for compiling (and I can only guess at MYSQL and Java) a faster clock speed would be better, but I'm not aware of any instruction set that Conroe and i7's don't have that Xeons have that would help in coding.

Price considered, I would take the higher clocked Quad.

[Arch Angel]

martyred is right, its for compiling.

I have two computers, one for coding, other for compiling. What is nice is that I can see the code and watch the compiling and if error appears, I can see it and take care of it. It's just when people come in and ask for reports and what not during my compiling that I need a faster processor to multitask. This piece of shit Xeon crawls when I have to do that.

I am leaning toward the quad core but I don't think my 2k budget would fit a I7 or higher-end Xeon. Force to buy from Dell limits my choice because they are overpriced if you want the high-end stuff. If they allow me to buy from NewEgg, I can get a sweet ass rig.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

I've compiled my own "hand rolled" custom Linux kernel under Gentoo on both Pentium "Netburst" generation processors as well as my current Core-2-Duo...

...it isn't even fucking close.

If the contest between Xeon and i7 is that much of a mismatch, the answer is a no-brainer. i7 all the way.

Do you have a link for lower end Dell i7's that your company would afford?

[ElTaco]

The more cores and more speed you have the better. If you are more keen on doing multitasking and your current computer is having its issues when you try to do multiple intensive things at the same time, I'd say you are better off with doing multi-core. You should easily be able to get a Quad core processor and even a Quad core Xeon processor, its only when you do Double Xeon processor that your price jumps well above $2k.

The i7 processor architecture is new and of course much better, but a quad core CPU processor should be a big improvement over your older processor currently in play. I would think that if you have a 2k limit, you should be able to go with a single Quad core processor with 4 gigs of ram and get much better results then what you've had.

Another option that a lot of companies use is to use a server that multiple people or a group share. This works better for groups of developers who work on the same product so one or more servers are shared by the group to do the daily/weekly compiles, as well as servers to run the software on for developer testing, QA and of course support. By sharing machines, you can certainly ramp up the capabilities of the machine and since it is so much stronger, you may not be affected as much as you would think since the machine would be many times more powerful and should be able to handle way more then your individual machines alone.

I'll also throw out that using servers and taking advantage of Virtual environments can help a lot, but not necessarily in this case. On the other hand, VMWare or Sun's xVM can improve testing and QA a ton. VMWare has a product called LabManager that isn't that costly ($1.5k/socket). It sits on top of VMWare and has many features for on the fly environment creation, which is great for testing and QA environments for both the developers, QA and support. It also allows for lifecycle management of systems, which can save $$ while improving efficiency.

[Arch Angel]

I've decided on the Dell T5400, Xeon E5430 processor.

If I had known we got huge discounts, I would have went to the X5450.