The solution Intel and AMD have turned to for desktops is to adopt a technique that has been used in supercomputers and big servers for years - "multi-core" processors. So I started with an Intel D945Gtp motherboard (the company's Media Series), added an Intel Pentium D 840 dual-core processor, and beefed it up with a couple of gigabytes of fast 667 MHz RAM and about a terabyte of storage in the form of Serial ATA hard drives (shhh, my wife hasn't seen that particular bill yet.).Ĭhips have gotten so fast these days that they are pushing the limits of physics, and taking the speed of processors higher has resulted in huge energy demands and waste heat. Since dual-core processors are supposed to excel at running multiple tasks simultaneously, my goal was to build a machine that would handle office work, photo and video editing, be a reasonably good game system, and also be able to do things like serving music, photos and video to rooms throughout the house - all standard fare for the modern, connected home. With both Intel and AMD moving their desktop lines to multi-core processors, I decided it was high time to build a multi-core system from scratch and then put it through its paces to see what the technology could do in a home-office setting. The Verdict: If you have a need for speed, want to build a multimedia server or just want a solid multitasking machine, this package will handle it with aplomb.The Bad: Setup instructions need to be more detailed and clearly written drivers on disc were missing a file, and new software had to be downloaded using another computer to get the motherboard working performance of motherboard's graphics is great for general use but will leave gamers underwhelmed chip tends to run very hot and the stock Intel cooling fan does a poor job.The Good: Excellent multitasking performance runs pretty much everything that a single-core chip can motherboard has full feature set, from serial ATA for four drives, to IDE support for optical drives, to support for up to 667 MHz RAM modules, to built-in audio/video/ethernet motherboard has RAID feature, which is excellent for those building a high-performance machine or who want to build redundancy into the system excellent audio quality.
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