Quad Processor

[Blackfire932]

The basic accepted thing ik is that mostly more processor can give u increased performance. I wanted to know though cuz i want to run a server. Prob dual or quad Xeons uk like p2 or p3 with like 1mb to 2mb l2 cache i was wonderin if i wanted to get a quad thats like 550 each wud it cost more to find n OS or somethin to run all 4 processor cuz i heard that 4 cpus wont be used fully in a typical OS. OR shud i get dual like prob 700 or 800 mhz wit 1 or 2 mb l2 cache. Assuming i need them, (i will i wanna run a massive server for huge internet mmorpgs) which would b the better trade off, 2 cpus a little faster or 4................if 4 cpus wat kind of OS or wat do i have to do extra to run them all where the load would b distributed evenly.

[GTSticky]

You lose CPU power with multiprocessor systems. The more CPUs, the more you lose. I'd suggest, just as a basic concept (without knowing how much power and which platform you want to run) that you consider a strong 2-processor system with plenty of RAM. Quad-processor systems do not come close to outperforming 2x2 processor systems, at least not in x86 architecture.

 

Windows 2000 Server supports 4 CPUs, so does Windows 2003 server. Both standard editions.

[airman]

umm...let's try to understand what you are saying...you are asking whether to get dual 700-800mhz or dual xeons? the obvious choice is the dual xeons...

 

also...i don't know where p2 or p3 comes in....just get a dual opteron or a dual xeon. those are really expensive, but they'll be very nice

 

 

also...any os is fine.

 

 

grr you got to it first gsticky

Edited September 22, 2004 by airman

[bigred]

half right on a pair of dual cpu systems hanging with a single quad processor system. it depends on what you're doing.

 

 

also 4 xeon 550's will get BLOWN out of the water by a P4 with hyperthreading. and you'll probably end up spending about the same amount for a nicer P4 3ghz or higher vs 4 old xeons.

[oralpain]

umm...let's try to understand what you are saying...you are asking whether to get dual 700-800mhz or dual xeons?  the obvious choice is the dual xeons...

 

also...i don't know where p2 or p3 comes in....just get a dual opteron or a dual xeon.  those are really expensive, but they'll be very nice

There are P2, P3, and, P4 Xeons.

 

 

Anyway, there is no point in getting a multi cpu system unless its acctually going to be faster than a single cpu...

 

2 cpus is not double the power and 4 defiantly is not quadruple. Befoer you get a multi-processor system make sure you need it.

Edited September 23, 2004 by oralpain

[Blackfire932]

yea guys heres wats happening im building a server to use for a game called everquest. eq yea not the normal version u pay 4 their servers. called eqemu( http://www.eqemulator.net/guides.php ) basically u need a database n i built one n the friggin thing is that if ne1s played n MMORPG before its a mother of a problem wen it comes to mutliprocess running n yes i do know that a p4 wit hyperthreadin might work better(prob wont cuz hyperthreading only does 2 processes the normal n the underlying bvackground proceses.) so wat i had a question about was if im runnin a quad xeons..............cheaper.............large cache..............not necessarily ungodly fast like no more prob then liek 800mhz........ will i need a specific OS to run them all with each cpu with n equal load cuz hi if u have a dual cpu then u can not get more power but more processes to runs simultaneously n if ne of u know databses or nething of gaming there are so many things it needs to do at once. If u have 50 ppl logged on there are 147 zones or somethin like that each plus AI plus computations for damage attack speed even movement plus soooooooooooooooo many graphical things in a world it needs to be able to run..........u need to able to run multi processes in order to get any amount of people to play on it so that it lives up to its expectations of a PVP(person vs person game(u killin another dude almost hand to hand)) so i need more then 1 processor to handle all these processes so its either a dual or a quad. Is a specific OS for a quad required or can i just run normal windows or do i need to buy more liscenses or somethin of that effect? The reason im gettin xeons that r this cuz i dont care about the processing speed wat matters is there fsb n there l2 cache as well as the amount of memory running in the computer n the hard drive speed. Mem will prob b 3 or 4 GB l2 will have to b 1 or 2 MB the combine FSB so thats like 400 or 433 so all im askin is are there ne extra requirements needed to run a quad...........somethin that wud f up buying it because it wont work or can i use my windows 200 advanced server copy?

[bigred]

it doesn't work that way. SMP does not add the cpus together. they do load balancing. cpu 2 only becomes active when cpu 1 reaches a certain load and so on. default on most multi processor boards is 75%, I set mine lower to 50% to get the most from the system... but it's still not like a chip 2 or 4 times faster.