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I am getting ready to buy a new computer, however... my last computer that I built myself dident turn out so great (major heat problems I think). Anyway.... the new one is going to be totaly different but I am wondering a few things.

1. What is the use of multiple processors and how much/when could one expect to benefit most from them?

2. Where can one find motherboards that support multiple processors, I have yet to see one?

3. I am sure this will be answered when I go look at the motherboards... but in general do they still fit into regular ATX cases? (looking at the doublewide server case shown here if they fit http://www.directron.com/yy0221bk.html)

4. I am still trying to decide wether to do AMD or Intel... I love AMD but it looks like they are about to be blown out of the water from everything I can see. If I do P4 I may only be able to do single processor to start with... if you are using a double processor board do both processor slots need to be filled in order to run it?

I guess this is enough questions to get started.

There are others on the board for more versed in dual-processorization than I am, so I'm not going to try answering the majority of your questions. However, from what I know, there is not a standard dual P4 solution, nor does Intel intend to implement one, because it would infringe on their Xeon profits. I believe there are multiprocessor P4 Xeon solutions, but these will cost you an arm, a leg, and several thousands dollars on top of it. You can get a good dual athlon board for under 200 I think, and if my memory doesn't fail me, Athlon XPs will work for dualies (though I've seen some reports that MPs actually do have some underlying performance advantage for dual setups) meaning you can pick up very good performance at around 130 dollars each.

1 - Multiple processors are great when you have complicated calculations to do. Rarely will anyone using a typical desktop computer tax a dual processor system (I realize most here in this forum could though...). Few OS's can use dual processors; Windows NT server, 2000 Server and linux can all use dual processors, but only when told to do so. Win98 cannot, but I don't know about XP or 2000 desktop versions.

2. Yes. There are a few P-III, Xenon and Athlon MB's that have dual processors, but not all processors support being used in dual configurations. Confused yet? Do a lot of research before you committ your $

3. Yes, most will fit in standard ATX form factors - but double check before you lay down the cash.

4. IMHO, AMD or P4 'A' revision chips are the only ones worth buying. I lean towards AMD since they are cheaper as are the motherboards and their raw cruching power kills the P4 in pure computational power. The P4 is a true overclocker though, and you might see 2.2+ Ghz from a 1.6 GHz chip; Mb's are expensive though.

Most dual motherboards will allow you to use only one processor, but you have to put a 'blank' into the empty CPU slot.

Unless you are doing scientific computing, heavy video editing or 3D rendering, a single processor solution will probably suffice. I do a lot of the former, and am happy with my single processor, SCSI and huge ram solution. And it rocks playing games - everything loads into RAM... hehe

fink wrote:

1 - Multiple processors are great when you have complicated calculations to do. Rarely will anyone using a typical desktop computer tax a dual processor system (I realize most here in this forum could though...). Few OS's can use dual processors; Windows NT server, 2000 Server and linux can all use dual processors, but only when told to do so. Win98 cannot, but I don't know about XP or 2000 desktop versions.

2000 and XP professional can support dual processors. However XP Home can not, so if you do decide to go w/ a dual processor system, be sure to get the professional version.

Thanks -

Didn't know what of the new OS's would work with dual systems....

Dual processor systems are as smooth as buttah, even for regular desktop apps. If you do a lot of multitasking, they're definitely worth it (especially since AMD duallies are so cheap). Personally, now that I've had a dually, I could never go back... even an AthlonXP 1800+ feels a little sluggish with multiple processor-hungry applications going. That said, however, if you're big into gaming or only running one processor-intensive application at a time, you don't really need that second processor (unless you want it running Folding@Home at full speed )

If you decide you do enough multitasking to warrant a dually, you can find boards from Tyan, MSI, Gigabyte, and Asus. You'll have to check into processor compatibility further, because some boards appear to even support dual Morgan core Durons. However, I'd pony up the extra cash for AMD's Athlon MP processors, which are validated for dual processor applications, and come with an unlocked multiplier to boot.

For more information, you might want to check out two of TR's dual processor motherboard reviews.

Tyan's Tiger MPX:
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2002 ... dex.x?pg=1
Abit's VP6 (this one is pretty old):
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001 ... dex.x?pg=1

Dang - now I am getting excited about a dualie!

Just thinking my number crunching box was getting a bit long in the tooth....

I do a lot of gaming some video editing, my fiancee does a lot of PhotoShop and image editing stuff. I figured even if I dident need the extra power it couldent hurt.

At this point I am thinking more and more about going with P4 so I may just forget the dualie anyway... maybe just overclock it and that extra money I would have spent on the dualie could be put to another processor when I mess up and burn my system up.

Other thing I was considering was running multiple monitors off the one system... now this is something I have very little experiance with as I have have multiple monitors plugged into the computer at once and both would run and I could drag things from one to the over by draggin them off the screen and onto the next, is this an actual option for multitasking when I need more work space than a single screen will offer me.

I really have a few too many questions I think, but I have a dream... and want to make as much of it a reality as possible with my admitedly limited technical abilities. If multiple monitors are a realistic option that would be a time when multiple processors would be quite handy I think no?

My advice would be to go dual Athlon... Photoshop loves dual processors and you don't need to be multitasking for it to take advantage of a dually.

In terms of multimonitor, it's either dead easy, or almost dead easy depending on the OS and video card(s). I'd assume since you'd be gaming, Matrox is out of the question.

Right off the bat, multimonitor acts like a bigger desktop. You can stretch apps across both monitors, have them run on their own, drag them back and forth... just about anything you can do with a normal desktop you can do across two monitors with much more real estate.

How easy multimonitor will be really depends on the OS and graphics card(s) you plan on using. You can go with a single card that supports two monitors out of the box, or two physical video cards (one AGP and one PCI) to get your multimonitor fix.

I was looking at a GF4 for my gaming needs AGP of course... could I use the computers basic monitor port for the second? I would love to throw my old ATI AllInWonder in the case for my video editing but its AGP also and I dont suppose boards with multiple AGP slots are available huh? Maybe I would just be best off just keeping my old box up and running for my video editing. I had another silly question also...

Multiple harddrives are a must as I can never have enough space... so if I plan on having more than one harddrive would I get any benefit from using a 10k drive for my OS/System files and 7400 for the rest... over say just using 7400 for everyhing?

Unfortunately, no dual AGP boards exist I feel your pain.

For the GeForce4s, you can run two monitors from the same card, you just have to make sure that the card has two RAMDACs if you want to run two VGA monitors. Some video cards have DVI and VGA outputs, but two RAMDACS so you can use a DVI-VGA adapter to plug in two analog VGA monitors. Some cards, to cut costs, only have one RAMDAC so you can only pair up a digital LCD monitor and analog VGA monitor on the same card.

As for hard drives, it will help to have the OS/applications on a faster drive. You might also want to look into RAID if you're already planning on running multiple drives and have the money to spend. RAID 0 is great, but I'd recommend RAID 0+1 if you want the peace of mind of redundancy.

I have heard the ASUS A7V266-D is a decent board for dual Athlon or Durons.

What is the use of multiple processors and how much/when could one expect to benefit most from them

Folding@Home, mostly distributed computing programs. =)

But really, dual CPU's are even noticeable when running more then one single threaded program. Let say you want to run a certain program and run q3 at the same time, well q3 could have a dedicated CPU whereas in a singe cpu system they would have to share the same cpu and cycles giving you a lower frame rate.

//{DX}-Galland