[AnandTech] Core i7: Is High vDimm really a problem?

[InnocentCriminal]

Really interesting article over at AnandTech for those of you interest in the whole VDimm malarkey with the upcoming Core i7 CPUs and DDR3 voltages...

Numerous articles and forum posts have been popping up recently about the potential of high VDimm settings damaging or destroying the upcoming i7 processor series. Will high VDimm cause damage? The answer to that question is not so simple actually. Unfortunately, due to the current NDA status, we cannot go into detail about this subject matter but can provide a general brief on it.

... any of you lot jumped the gun and already have some DDR3? Planning on upgrading or are you holding out for the boards & BIOS to mature?

Enjoy!

 

[alexp999]

Planning on upgrading or are you holding out for the boards & BIOS to mature?

Enjoy!

Thats gonna be me. Waiting till after christmas or possibly as late as next summer. Depends on what comes out between now and then. I'm gonna be more interestedin the nehalem equivalent of my P45. And like you say, allow BIOS' to mature and prices to drop.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Fair play.

Really you don't need to buy into Nehalem, your machine is more than enough for up coming games. You've already got 4 cores at a freakishly fast speed backed up by a stupidly good GFX card. You've got at least 3 years in that machine.

 

[Mussels]

the way i look at it, is that if an overclocker has a CPU faster than commercially available, its fast enough for any game (it has to be, or its one useless game)

so anyone with a 4GHz dual, or a 3.2GHz+ quad... you pwned the consumer market

Anyway, i'm waiting for nehalems die shrink. look at core2 65nm vs 45nm, and imagine that all over again.

 

[alexp999]

the way i look at it, is that if an overclocker has a CPU faster than commercially available, its fast enough for any game (it has to be, or its one useless game)

so anyone with a 4GHz dual, or a 3.2GHz+ quad... you pwned the consumer market

Anyway, i'm waiting for nehalems die shrink. look at core2 65nm vs 45nm, and imagine that all over again.

how about when we get to 1000pm and below!

Not gonna spend money for the hell of it. Would rather wait and see if mobo MF's can get it so that the ram voltage isnt controlled by the CPU.
Mind you in that time, RAM MF's should respond by bringing out low voltage high clocking DDR3.

We'll see. When it gets to the point I cant run my game at the settings I want to at around 60 FPS (with the exception of crysis )

I'll look at getting a new system.

Just out of interest, if SLi is gonna be software enabled on the X58, couldnt be enabled on any chipset?

GTX 260 SLI on P45 :drool:

 

[Mussels]

^

waiting for 2nd gen also gets the ram stuff solved before i spend anything.

SLI was always available on intel chipsets, The drivers are what dont allow it.

 

[alexp999]

^

waiting for 2nd gen also gets the ram stuff solved before i spend anything.

SLI was always available on intel chipsets, The drivers are what dont allow it.

Yeah but thats what I mean. If the drivers are gonna allow it on an X58, cant the same be done for all current intel chipsets?

 

[Mussels]

Yeah but thats what I mean. If the drivers are gonna allow it on an X58, cant the same be done for all current intel chipsets?

yeah. but Nv will have the same check it does now, so it wont work on previous chipsets unless someone modifies them.

 

[alexp999]

yeah. but Nv will have the same check it does now, so it wont work on previous chipsets unless someone modifies them.

Well it should be quite simple. If the driver foundations are there to support an intel chipset, in either case, I doubt I would ever go SLi, like I did with this one, its usually better to get one beter single card than two lesser cards for the same price.
But the idea of it is pretty cool, lol.

 

[Mussels]

well say, two 8800GT's/9800GT's is pretty good value for money in SLI these days.

$150 au ($300 for two) and you get some pretty mean performance, especially if you OC them.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

waiting for 2nd gen also gets the ram stuff solved before i spend anything.

See, if I had the patience to do that then I would, but depending on how my rig handles upcoming (natively) multi-threaded games I hopefully won't have to. Depending on how they run and the prices of Core 2 Quads go, then I would quite happily invest in a Q6600 with a decent DDR3 motherboard and hold out.

I'm more likely going to get more enjoyment trying to keep my ageing 939-AGP system alive. I should be moving to a 4200+ which means (if the CPU clocks as well as my 3800+) I'll be at 2.9 or higher.

I think I'll wait for the X58 compatible water-cooling kits and hope for plates allowing me to use them with my 939 board.

 

[tan.chen1]

the malarkey is real

check the architectural diagram... notice anything new? the answer is staring everyone in the face...

Core i7 nehalem bloomfield architectural diagram with IMC, tri-channel DDR3
http://www.augustinefou.com/2008/10/core-i7-vdimm-problem-aka-is-high-vdimm.html

Anandtech recommends keeping vdimm at or BELOW Intel's recommended 1.65V; otherwise the lifespan of the processor may be drastically shortened

Really interesting article over at AnandTech for those of you interest in the whole VDimm malarkey with the upcoming Core i7 CPUs and DDR3 voltages...



... any of you lot jumped the gun and already have some DDR3? Planning on upgrading or are you holding out for the boards & BIOS to mature?

Enjoy!

 

[mlee49]

Really interesting article over at AnandTech for those of you interest in the whole VDimm malarkey with the upcoming Core i7 CPUs and DDR3 voltages...

... any of you lot jumped the gun and already have some DDR3? Planning on upgrading or are you holding out for the boards & BIOS to mature?

Enjoy!

Exactly what it is!

 

[Steevo]

Basicly the CPU cannot handle the voltage needed to terminate the DRAM coorectly and dampen the overshoot. RAM makers need to ge with the program, if we already have DDR5 out for Graphics cards then why the wait to move other than to milk the market.

 

[farlex85]

Nice latencies they got going there, interesting stuff. When is the ban on talking in depth about this going to be lifted I wonder, they keep teasing us w/ bits and pieces w/o getting into the juice of the matter. And I though these were due out soon. I'm thinking if these memory kits are doing those latencies, tri-channel gets working, and you really can oc them, these things are going to put up vastly better numbers in some things than the original preliminary numbers.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Exactly what it is!

Well the word malarkey is just another way of saying bullshit. The deal with all this vDimm nonsense is that Intel are limiting the amount of voltage your RAM can use for safe operation (which means doesn't physically damage your CPU/Motherboard). So, they're (Intel) maximum value for safe operation (which means doesn't physically damage your CPU/Motherboard) is 1.65volts. The problem then comes from the fact most new, high performance (1600MHz+) DDR3 modules have a minimum voltage of 1.8v which is outside of Intel's safe zone.

I think it could be a deterrent the same way invalidating your warranty is when you overclock components, but the review I've linked to is a, preview to the whole deal before the NDA is lifted and sites can review the boards properly.

 

[alexp999]

Basicly the CPU cannot handle the voltage needed to terminate the DRAM coorectly and dampen the overshoot. RAM makers need to ge with the program, if we already have DDR5 out for Graphics cards then why the wait to move other than to milk the market.

Dont forget there is a difference between GDDR Ram and DDR Ram.

DDR is at the DDR3 stage while GDDR is at the GDDR5 stage. I dont claim to know a great deal about it, but I know there is a difference

 

[eidairaman1]

Nehalem was more of a server side upgrade, basically meaning its not worth the upgrade unless if your going to be running a server.

 

[alexp999]

Nehalem was more of a server side upgrade, basically meaning its not worth the upgrade unless if your going to be running a server.

True, until game developers pull their fingers out and get some good coded, multi-threaded games. Thats what MS wants to bring to the table with DX11. To make it easier to do so.
Dont forget, Nehalem features two threads per core, as opposed to one thread per core on the current Core 2 series.