Dual Processors

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I am getting ready to build a new PC, which will be used primarily for gaming. I was orininally going for the A7M266 mobo. But a friend said that I should go for a dual processor mobo.

I know that software has to be specially written to support dual processors, but he said that the nVidia Drivers support dual processors, and because most of hte power for games comes from the graphics cards, this would make hte games better. Even if hte game wasn't specifically written for dual processors.

Would I be better off to go for a dual system? Bearing in mind that I want the best performance for my games
 
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Pettytheft

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Slap your friend for not knowing what he's talking about. There are all of two popular games that support dual procs, Quake3 and Falcon 4. You'll be better off by spending the extra dough on high quality parts and the fastest single processor out. If your primarily gaming then stick with a single cpu.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by pettytheft on 08/12/01 12:27 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 
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Was he wrong, also, in saying that the GF3 would run faster if I had dual processors then?
Not the game itself, but the actual card?
 
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Pettytheft

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Yes, the Nvidia drivers have nothing to do with supporting dual processors. Maybe he was thinking of the P4.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.
 
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74merc

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utter BS.
dual processors are for one thing, number crunching.
they don't help games, unless you are running NT or Win2k and burning a CD in the background.
nVidia + dual processors = a server with a badass vid card and nothing more.
it won't be any faster, with the exception of the two games mentioned above.

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Independant thought is good.
It won't hurt for long.
 
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Thanks then guys, other wise I would probably have went for a dual processor system. You saved me a good few quid.

:)
 
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Gog

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Don't save the money, spend it on RAM and BEER.

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Look at the size of that thing!
 
peach

peach

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No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No .

Go with the Dualie....

You see, the reason you buy fast computers has nothing to do with need but <b>Envy Factor</b>. Now SOME people think that JUST because it is difficult to tell the real world benfit from two procs from normal benchmarks, just take the common sense approach: <b>Two procesors HAVE to be better than one! I mean there is two of them!</b> That lame excuse about only for NT, well now evreyones using 2k, so that it is out - besides I LOVE NT - who needs USB - totally overated. Now if all you do is one thing at a time on your comp, ok the sinlge procers might have a point, but come on!!!! don't you play two games at the same time?!?!?! What do you think you have TWO hands for or why they have DUAL head video cards for? Wouldn't you want to play them on the same computer??? Geez. it is not like the Dual Athlon only comes on ONE board right now that is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. They are making it sound like you have to buy a SPECIAL 460 WATT POWER SUPPLY or something.... Nahhh... go with the duallie, you really do want one. Besides, it will get you chicks.

<font color=white>I am not responsible for anyone takiong this seriously and purchasing a Dual Athlon system

<font color=blue>On company time..... :cool:

<b>Change the Sig of the week!!!!</b>
 
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FatBurger

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lol
And people say I make pointless posts.


Anyhow, if you're running W2k, and more than one program at once, then dual processors come into play. The first program will run on the first one, the second on the second CPU. So two instances of Photoshop (is there a point?), would run on separate processors. That's how Raystonn explained it, anyway.

For games, there's no point. Unless you want to run a dedicated server and the actual game. Hey, that's not a bad idea, actually :)



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peteb

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I think photoshop is multi-threaded anyway, so you can just run 1 instance.

Many professional graphics apps are multi-threaded, they are one of the prime drivers for home/small business dual rigs...

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FatBurger

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Yeah, I know it's multi-threaded. Just using it as an example. Bad example, I know...



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Photoshop is indeed multi-threaded and does benefit from dual-processor love.

A question on dual processors - I have a computer at home that is dual capable. My question is - the processor already in is a PIII 933, cC0 stepping, vcore is 1.66
I have a second PIII 933 that I just got and installed, but it is cD0 stepping and the vcore is 1.72. Will they work together? I have heard diffent answers to this.
 
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Pettytheft

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What motherboard are you using? They usually work but some motherboards are not as forgiving on the steppings of CPU's.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.
 
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The mobo is ASUS made - CUR-DLS ServerWorks ServerSet III LE
I got one of those Hateway 6400 servers last month.
 
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Pettytheft

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I haven't heard anything about mixing steppings with the serverset III chipset. I know of a couple of via motherboards and one Intel that does not handle mixed steppings too well. If you already have it give it a shot, the only time i've seen probs with that chipset is with cheap ECC ram, you gotta buy the good stuff.

Or try this forum <A HREF="http://forums.2cpu.com/" target="_new">http://forums.2cpu.com/</A>, everyone there is a duallie.

Blah, Blah Blahh, Blahh, blahh blah blahh, blah blah.
 
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Renegade87

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Look,

Most of these guy's don't have any first-hand experience with a SMP(Symmetric Multi-Processing) system and games. They are just regurgitating what they've read all over the web. Not to say that they're completely wrong, as the only SMP supported games available are the 2 previously mentioned(Falcon 4 & Quake 3). But, there are other benefits to a dual CPU system. Overall system response is much faster, smoother, and more stable (depending on chipset). The general perception is that a dualie system would be approx. 10% faster than a single CPU system of the same clock speed and memory type/ammount. I personally feel this is a bit low(in my application anyways), but that's the general perception. However, Multitasking is much quicker, and as for web surfing, I(unfortunately)am stuck with a 56K dial-up connection, but with my new Supermicro PIIIDRE (dual PIII 733EB's & 512MB of RDRAM) rig I can achieve a percieved 50% decrease in page load times with as many as 6 diffreent pages open simultaneously. I haven't yet had a chance to play anything on my rebuilt system, but am very happy with the overall speed, responsiveness, and stability of my new dualie, and you would be too. Head over to 2cpu.com and read the FAQ's of SMP systems. That should answer many of your questions.

"It's not that I don't like people, I just seem to feel better when they're not around"
 
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Renegade87

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Quote from hdyw at 2cpu.com "even if a game is NOT SMP compliant, it can still use SMP in that you can set the affinity for one of the two procs, set the priority to realtime on the proc, and essentially you have one proc dedicated to the game, and the other one running your system services."

"It's not that I don't like people, I just seem to feel better when they're not around"
 
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FatBurger

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That's very true, but you still need to be running 2000 or NT. Just to keep people from using 98 and 4 Xeons. lol



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Renegade87

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Do you actually know anyone who has thought they could use win98 with 4 Xeon's ? I didn't think so. Let me know if you find anyone so we can flame the hell out of him.

"It's not that I don't like people, I just seem to feel better when they're not around"
 
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Hades

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Im on my second Dual system. I love it. Im always the first to have the game loaded in an online game, and little things like that. Even with my dual PII 400, i was beating the 800-900 systems (top of the line at the time).Go for the dual proc system if you have a little extra cash. And whats wrong with Win2K?? The short response is that its just friggin cool, and it does work better, depending on other factors (chipset, vid card, etc.) of course, but thats the same with any system.

happy hunting
 
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FatBurger

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Do you actually know anyone who has thought they could use win98 with 4 Xeon's ? I didn't think so.
Click to expand...

Right, it's called a JOKE.



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<font color=red>Change the Sig of the Week!!!</font color=red>
 
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