Deuling Dualies?

Which dualie processor/motherboard/memory combo gives the best stability?

Which is easier to build?

any P3 with a BX setup, like the Asus P2B-D/L/S/LS or the Abit BP6. you might need the powerleap Neo-370 or iP3/T adapters to put in newer P3s.

There are no dual P4 systems available. AMD AThlonMP/XP seem to do good on the 760-MP/MPX boards, Anandtech has their database server on a dual Athlon!

Of course, easiest to build is the P3 system, a lot of info and docs are available.

I guess the Asus P3C-D with PC600/800 RDRAM will be the best bet, but I would prefer the BX!

girish

<font color=red>Nothing is fool-proof. Fools are Ingenious!</font color=red>

#1) What do you want it for?

#2) While I love the i440BX chipset (my main desktop is a dual i440BX system) it's growing a bit old. If you want a dual P3 system Acorp makes a good dual i815 based board called the 6A815EPD1. Get one <A HREF="http://brimarcomputers.safeshopper.com/12/24.htm?999" target="_new">here</A> for US$115. The only disadvantage to the chipset is a max of 512mb of ram. If you are willing to look to the VIA side of things stay away from the 133 boards because of low memory bandwidth. MSI makes a good 266T board (I don't recall it's name) but you'd probably have to have it shipped from asia or europe. Or dual P4 Xeon if you've got cash to burn.

#3) Get cD0 stepping P3s.

#4) Unless you're going to seriously overclock (rather hard on dual cpu systems) then generic PC133 CAS2 SDRAM.

- JW

if you're looking at dual athlons, forget about waiting and just pick up a tigerMP(s2460). unless you need the 64/66 pci slots, which a good majority of the people at this time do not. from benchmarks it performs the same within as the tigerMPX. that's what i'm doing now. and from personal experience, i won't trust anything other than supermicro or tyan to build a workstation around.

I run duals because i multitask between notepad, outlook express and winamp

From what I've heard don't get the RAID version. Get a PCI card if you want RAID, or better yet, go SCSI.

Quite a few people over at <A HREF="http://www.2cpu.com" target="_new">http://www.2cpu.com</A> have these boards and for the most part they appear to fly along. Enter the forums and do a search for Acorp in the motherboard forum and you should find plenty to read (including benchmarks).

The other thing is they're so cheap. If after 3 months it turns out you don't like it you're only out $115.

There are rumors Acorp may release an i815 B step version of the board that would run Tualatins. Dual PIII-1400 @ 1700 could be fun.

- JW

[edit]
Hey! I drive a Ford! Crown Victoria Interceptor
[/edit]<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by JCLW on 03/04/02 03:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>