Westmere vs. Nehalem

The single processor with the highest clock speed and efficiency.

I posted some benchmark results earlier, but of course running Windows 7 software and using Gulftown i7-980X Extreme (desktop version).

I am pretty sure you would regret the other, dropping over 1GHz even with 8-cores, and giving up some L3. One processor with faster 6-core would be faster and more efficient.

I'm considering buying a Mac Pro too. With a 16 GB Apple memory configuration, the 6 cores and the 12 cores are almost the same price (the 3.33GHz 6-Core is $5,474.00 and the two 2.66GHz is $5,749.00, a $275 difference).

So, should I go for the 6 cores considering the immediate benefit of speed or for the 12 cores, for the future benefit ?

I think the 12 cores would be a better investment.

First 99.9% of people buy their RAM elsewhere.

Look at the price difference of just the processors.
Then look at how it will be used.

The future benefits? those take a couple yrs and will benefit both.
So no better investment. But do what you want and feel comfortable.

The only reason some will buy a dual is to have 8 DIMMs and cheaper RAM upgrade - 4GB DIMMs use to cost 2-3x what they are now.

Thanks The hatter for the answer.

99.9% is quite a big number but I get the idea.

I want to keep my future Mac Pro for several years so, the capacity to expand the memory is an important decision factor.

I'll wait for the benchmarks and I'll make my mind.

Thanks.

Apple price, way over charges for RAM and hard drives, and my Apple OEM RAM failed while still using 3rd party 4 yrs later.

If it was just for 3 x 2GB or 6 x 2GB yes it is more convenient and not a big cost issue. Still, OWC will buy back and rebate on Apple RAM.