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Dual/Multi Core CPUs and 64-bit

M

mike400hp

n00b
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
48
I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are regarding dual or multi core cpu's and 64-bit computing. How will these new technologies change the folding community? More cores mean that performance will drastically improve the amount of work that can be done in a given time. Does folding take advantage of 64-bit processors? I don't understand the math behind it. Would folding benefit from the extra memory address space that 64-bit provides?

Something to think about:
Imagen a true dual cpu Intel Xeon workstation/server, with dual cores and HT enabled. That would be 4 physical cpus and 4 logical cpus for a total of 8. 8 clients running on one computer. WOW.
 
I'd say the major advantage of dual cores wrt folding is the fact that you don't need to buy as many power supplies or motherboards as you do now. FAH doesn't use more than 4gb of ram (although I'll probably be eating those words within a year) so the extended addressing space doesn't help. The instructions may be ported to 64-bit, and that'll definitely improve speed in many places, but that depends on Stanford to get it done. They're probably working on it, though.

I could go for one of those dual core dual processor Xeons. However, the speculation is that the dual core chips won't have HT as well. This means only 4 instances.
 
I can't wait to get my hands on some dual core goodness although I'll probably be getting the AMD version and no matter what it will be a good long while before I have the money for any upgrade.

The advantage is being able to run two instances at once of folding with no real speed loss and you only need one CPU to do this. It should be the same or about the same as a dual processor setup. You'll need more RAM to run more instances of course. But in the long run, this is cheaper since you only need one of everything instead of 2 PS's, cases, CPUs, motherboards, etc.

 
Regular dual-core intels are not HT-enabled but the Extreme Editions are, making it possible to run 4 instances of FAH at once.
 
I'm definately planning on buying a dual-core system (AMD) for folding and because of multi-tasking.
 
mike400hp said:
I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are regarding dual or multi core cpu's and 64-bit computing. How will these new technologies change the folding community? More cores mean that performance will drastically improve the amount of work that can be done in a given time. Does folding take advantage of 64-bit processors? I don't understand the math behind it. Would folding benefit from the extra memory address space that 64-bit provides?

Something to think about:
Imagen a true dual cpu Intel Xeon workstation/server, with dual cores and HT enabled. That would be 4 physical cpus and 4 logical cpus for a total of 8. 8 clients running on one computer. WOW.
Click to expand...
um buddy its call opertons and 4 dual core opertons is 8 PHYSICAL no ht bullshit they work in quads
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
um buddy its call opertons and 4 dual core opertons is 8 PHYSICAL no ht bullshit they work in quads
Click to expand...

Just find an 8-way board and you could have 16 running.
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
um buddy its call opertons and 4 dual core opertons is 8 PHYSICAL no ht bullshit they work in quads
Click to expand...

I agree that physical cores are better than HT "logical" cores, but for most finding and paying for a quad processor motherboard is going to be a lot harder. AMD is going to come out with dual core opertons which would be nice, but only the 8xx series would support the quad cpu setup. The 2xx series opertons only support up to dual cpu motherboards. So the real question is which is greater...

Two Dual Core 2xx series AMD Opertons
4 physical cores

or

Two Dual Core Xeons
4 physical cores
4 logical cores
Total of 8 cores on a dual cpu motherboard

What do you guys think? I'm personally an AMD fan, and most of my computers are AMD. However, with HT enabled Intel could double your "core count", which could really help for F@H.
 
Hito Bahadur said:
Iwill makes one. I don't know where you can buy it.

http://www.amdboard.com/iwill_qk8s-8p.html
Click to expand...
where do the other 4 go.....
iwill_qk8s-8p_sm.jpg
 
Ballz2TheWallz said:
where do the other 4 go.....
iwill_qk8s-8p_sm.jpg
Click to expand...

It is probably one of those boards that is connected to another identical board by HT connections kind of like SUN runs.
 
Spectre said:
It is probably one of those boards that is connected to another identical board by HT connections kind of like SUN runs.
Click to expand...

From all indications these will be true SMP. I run a few duallys and nothing is smoother, not even this 2.5 64.

My Intel 3.2 HT is a joke when you use the two side by side.
 
BillR said:
From all indications these will be true SMP. I run a few duallys and nothing is smoother, not even this 2.5 64.

My Intel 3.2 HT is a joke when you use the two side by side.
Click to expand...

I was talking about how the 8 way opteron config's worked that use two daughter boards connected by hypertransport. Not how the dual core opteron's will work.
 
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