How many apps support dual processors?

RomanJohnston

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May 23, 2011
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I am talking about a mother board capable of supporting two physical CPUs.

My son is building what he wants as the ultimate gaming system with upgradability in the future. It is my argument against this very expensive setup that most code now and in the near future (next few years) will not support such hardware. And the money would be better spent with a single CPU unit and upgrading other features like memory and SLI.

Any opinions out there?

Roman
 
The motherboard handles the dual CPU and makes them appear as a single CPU with a large number of cores for the operating system, but since most applications dont even support 4 cores yet, most dual processor systems will be overkill for what he is doing. If you spend 1000 on a computer now and 1000 on another one in 3 years you will actually end up with a better system in the end than a $2000 system today would be.

A single CPU board with a 2500K and a good GPU are more than enough for modern software and games, the only reason for dual processor boards is for workstation applications like Solidworks, professional video editing, and 3d modeling/rendering, if he isnt going to be making his living off of this computer there is no reason for a dual cpu board.
 

bearclaw99

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Dec 20, 2010
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Motherboards supporting more than a single processor are primarily server processors (i.e Xeons) which are somewhat more expensive than a normal desktop chip. It would be a much better idea to go from single chip to single chip

Getting two high end Xeons is going to run you $2000 alone, as opposed to $220 for a Core i5 2500K. You have to keep in mind too that core architecture will be much better a few years down the road too, and one chip then is likely to be better than an expensive Xeon setup which will not perform any better for games than the Xeon setup would today vs the i5 2500K

I have a Core i7 2600K @ 4.6 ghz myself, and even CPU intensive games do not give it much of a workout
 

diellur

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If he really wants upgradeability in the future, buy a big case. In the long run, everything inside it gets replaced anyway! ;)

Just to add to what's already being said, if multi-CPU systems (as in, multiple chips) were ideal for gaming, we'd be seeing lots of systems like that out there. Since we don't, then it's safe to say that there are better configs to go for.