I have to make a recommendation to management regarding whether or not we should spend the extra money to purchase new computers with Intel i7 CPUs (i7 950s) or whether we should buy Intel Core 2 Quad processors (Q9550s or something equivalent.)
Our main task are Microsoft Visual C++ development, thus we are aiming to ensure the best compile and link times for our money.
The i7 systems are $600 more each than the Intel Core 2 Quad systems. The GHz of the CPUs is basically equivalent.
Is that extra money justified in terms of additional compilation/link performance?
I’m going to go for the trite answer and just say “Yes!!!!!”
Pretty sure this is too late for the OP, but for anyone else reading this… don’t think that that $600 will be wasted (and it should be getting smaller as time goes by as well), the core i7 will own the Core 2 Quad. I’ve had both and have seen my compile times drop from about 27 min to 11 min.
Core i7 all the way!