Xeon question about my dell 490

Alright, I have a Dell 490 workstation with a xeon cpu, there is a place for a second cpu, but only one is installed. My question is, how can i figure out what is the fastest cpu this machine can use, im at 1.6ghz dual core xeon, being a xeon, does that make it perform better then a normal 1.6ghz cpu. My other pc has a amd 4800+ (2.4ghz) dual-core, which one is faster?

A Xeon is equal to an equilavent dual core 1.6 chip (probably c2d or core duo).
Your 4800+ would be faster all other things being equal.
With that said if you add a second xeon (has to be the same spec chip) then you would have essentially a quad core 1.6 ghz machine which in a multithreaded application would outperform the 4800+ because you have two more cores.
You might need a Voltage Regulation Module also to add second chip.
Download CPU-Z and Everest Home edition (both freeware-google them) and they will tell you exact specs.
It would IMO be a worthwile upgrade.
I love dual processor workstations.
Check out 2cpu.com. That site specializes in duallie setups.

Multi-processor (MP) motherboards are often used in servers and by power users.
The most used MP motherboards are for two processors (dual CPUs).
Make sure the CPUs run at the same voltage.
Preferably, they have the same stepping code..


While a dual processor motherboard seems like it would make a system twice as fast as a standard computer, this is not the case.
Limitations on the processor’s access to the system bus and memory will often require one processor to wait while the other is active.
In addition, until recently, few programs were written to take advantage of a multiprocessor system. Most programs will access the main processor and never send anything to the second; it was often limited to operating system processes on all but the most powerful of programs.


With the advent of multicore processors, many of the drawbacks to a dual processor motherboard have gone away.
The process of allocating system resources has been changed to allow more even access, and there are more programs that will use a second processor.
In fact, many programs are now written to use multiple processors at the same time.

I use Moo system monitor for cpu usage for my two physical cores with HT and I get to see overall cpu usage and individual core usage which shows 4 cores due to the Hyper Threading.
More and more of the freeware programs are pulling hard on all four logical cores.
Of course Photoshop CS,encoder/ripper/converters like Handbrake,Format Factory,Dvd Flick,Avidemux etc plus stream recorders like TuneBite will all use the four cores.
Also newer video games like I believe Far Cry 2 and maybe Crysis Warhead will use 4 cores.
I think more cores the better.
Of course nowadays a new quadcore on one die will be more efficient than an older dual dual-core.

I borrowed parts from my amd machine. The stats for this dell are now one 3ghz dualcore xeon cpu, 4gig of ram, 4 gig more of ram on the way, 64 gig pny solid state h.d., and a geforce bfg 260 video, 900mb of video ram, its awesome, prices will have to drop before ill add another cpu. thanks for all the help and happy holidays

lol, thanks