is dual cpu overkill?

N

NerdzRule7

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 3, 2002
Messages
244
i've been considering a dual processor system for a while now, and i seem to have come across some spare cash which has really brought me looking again. right now my "server" is a 1.1 duron with 768mb ddr. it hosts half a terabyte of stuff;) off of 4, 120gb drives. on the same computer, i host games pretty often at local lans, we usually get about 10-20 guys in my basement playing CoD, Bf 1942, and CS for the most part. the server runs the bf server alone with about 80% cpu usage, with no one acessing the drives across the network, i have to take them off so i dont use up the extra cpu power. i was considering getting a 2400+ for it, but when i was browsing around newegg i saw some cheap MP dualies that had 66mhz pci slots, which would be really nice for a decent RAID controller instead of saturating my measley 33mhz pci bus like what i'm doing now. if i was to build a dual proc, i would prolly go with one of those cheap dual mp boards over at newegg, and then a pair of the 2400+'s. would it be worth it for hosting LANs and files at the same time? this is what i would like it to do, i have a gigabit network card for it so i dont think that would be too much traffic for the network.thanks.. The_Nerd
 
One benefit you'll get from dual CPU's is being able to have your TB up while hosting a game. :) Plus, things will probably work a bit faster, seeing how both CPU's will be sharing windows, so that will have even less impact on performance. ;) I'd say, go for it. ;)

You can keep your 1.1 around as well. Host two games at once on it. :p I hope you have the money to invest in a good KVM setup... :p
 
lol i already have a 2 port kvm for a few of my comps.. lol looks like i'll be investing in a 4 port baby... any other thoughts on me gettin the server? right now it looks like i'm goin for it! -The_Nerd
 
Yeah. If you have the money, go Xeon. :p Although, for gaming, MP might be better... AMD vs Intel...

If I had the cash, I'd already have a few dual setups.
 
My system (see sig) is quite competent for gaming, thankyouverymuch :D No need for an Athlon ...
 
lol i dont have THAT much money.. lol. either way i'd probably go dual opterons if i went high preformance.. i saw msi had a nice dual board at newegg..-The_Nerd
 
This is the ultimate proof of the 'bucket theory'...

Once a point a time, a rather wise IT columnist said: "The 'bucket theory' states that the larger the bucket you've the more water you find to fill it." He was referring to hard disk space. However he later re-addressed that theory to all things computing, which of course includes CPUs. The point is - if you've the tools, you'd find things to use them with.

:cool:
 
How much spair cash do you have?

The MSI K7D Master-L will set you back ~ $195
AMD Athlon MP 1.2GHz go for ~ $45 X 2
Crucial 512MB PC2100 DDR RAM ~ $65
Good Socket A coolers ~ $15

Add on to this what ever RAID controller you get and you will have a very nice server for not that much money. You would be able to host fifty users easily with this setup and with the HDDs on the RAID controller no CPU over head for the drives.
 
i have about $600 to spend on the server.. that configuration looks really good, my friends just keep sayin i'll never use any of the power it has. i really think i could use a lot of the power.. i do LAN games pretty often and we are thinking of expanding our group of guys.. so a bigger server would help. i think between that.. and folding in my spare time.. it would deff be worth it. the only thing i'm thinkin about on your server config CentronMe, is that you reccomend two 1.2's which would be about $90.. and i could just pick up a 2400+ for about the same price. would two lesser processors be better than one faster one? i just feel that one 2400+ might be faster than two 1.2's.. but then again i'm new to dual proc's.. feel free to prove me wrong:) and as for a mobo.. what about the Tyan S2466N-4M ? it always looked to be a stable compedetor-The_Nerd
 
you dont NEED a dual processor system for a server....on the other hand, if it is a busy server, you do, and if you are planning on using it as a workstation at the same time, then you do....you are gonna spend allot of money on this compare to a single proc system, think about what you need from the system....is it gonna be serving allot of connections at the same time? are they LAN or internet? if they are internet chances are people will not notice the difference because of the speed of the net, however if it is LAN then they could well notice the difference, so how many people are gonna connect, how many different services are going to run? (eg will you have 5 Quake III Arena servers running or just one?), are you gonna serve up applications to people over a lan? are you gonna run multiple databases? the list is endless, if the server is gonna do allot more work than you would excpect your average workstation to do, then you need the extra power, if not, go for a nice hefty P4 3.3+Ghz system for the same price ;) good luk

I use a dual proc system, but that iz because i do allot of maya rendering....would take me yearz on a similer single proc
 
i'm kinda following the bucket theory right now.. we only host one game simitilaniously on my current server.. cuz its all it can handle, same with files.. so i think if i have the extra power, i could use it between servers, and video encoding, and if absolutley nothing else, folding.. looks like i'll be picking one up soon.. any ideas on the proc and mobo tho? see my post above-The_Nerd
 
Go for MSI K7D Master L and Tbred 2400+ Xp's. Do the L5 mod and you are set :)

Also, if you want more than 2 gigs of ram (or use more than the first two slots), you will need ECC ram.
 
i'm having trouble finding the MSI board.. can anyone link me to a good site? also.. if i go dual 2400+'s.. that gives me a lot more processing power than the system i'm on right now. would the perfromance be that much better on the dual processor system so that i should move my vid card and just use that system? i was kinda skeptical about the whole dual processor thing until last night. i jumped on my friends dual 1800+ and it was as fast as my 2500+. and this is with about 3 years of crap on their system, and mine freshly reformatted. i was impressed to say the least and that kinda made me wonder if i should use the dual procssor power for my own gaming rig.. any thoughts?-The_Nerd
 
Originally posted by NerdzRule7
i'm having trouble finding the MSI board.. can anyone link me to a good site? also.. if i go dual 2400+'s.. that gives me a lot more processing power than the system i'm on right now. would the perfromance be that much better on the dual processor system so that i should move my vid card and just use that system? i was kinda skeptical about the whole dual processor thing until last night. i jumped on my friends dual 1800+ and it was as fast as my 2500+. and this is with about 3 years of crap on their system, and mine freshly reformatted. i was impressed to say the least and that kinda made me wonder if i should use the dual procssor power for my own gaming rig.. any thoughts?-The_Nerd
Click to expand...

Yea, I would just use it as your main. As for the 2400+'s you can probably overclock them a bit more just by upping the FSB. Duallies feel really fast because they can take on a lot more load so everything feels really quick and smooth.

However, do remember that in games, duallies lose some performance because of the overhead of running two processors.
 
ok so i'm gonna go with:

MSI K7D Master-L
2, 2400+'s with the L5 mod to make them mp's
1gb crucial pc2700
40gb WD hd (sata to come later)

i think that sounds good.. now how hard is the L5 mod to do, and where can i buy an MSI K7D Master-L?-The_Nerd
 
The L5 mod is dead simple to pull off. Make sure you buy a chemtronics conductive pen (some say rear window defroster paint works, but it didn't for me). New athlons have a thin coating of some sort over the contact points. What you want to do is somehow scratch off this coating, and then link the contacts with the conductive paint. I ended up using a fresh xacto knife blade and carefully picking away until I saw some gold flecks. Then I dabbed some of the conductive ink on a cdr case, and used a straightened paperclip to smear a tiny amount between the two contacts. Let it cure for a few minutes, and you've got an unlocked L5.

=edit=

I'm running 2 unlocked barton 2500s in my asus a7m266-d. They're running at 2133mhz (133fsbx16) at present. I would avoid jumping up the fsb, and rather ramp up the multiplier, as this will give better stability. If you merely unlock 2500s they will be running at whatever their default multiplier is X the 133 fsb, which gives you somthing like 1400mhz.... effectively underclocking them. The easiest thing to do is to check out www.ocinside.de and looking at their pinmod guide. 16x multiplier for 2500s is a slight overclock, and I needed to increase the voltage from 1.65v (default) to 1.75v to keep prime95 from coughing up any errors. After a 19 hour loop of prime95 no errors were shown, so I'm pretty confident the box is 100% stable.
 
Originally posted by NerdzRule7
ok so i'm gonna go with:

MSI K7D Master-L
2, 2400+'s with the L5 mod to make them mp's
1gb crucial pc2700
40gb WD hd (sata to come later)

i think that sounds good.. now how hard is the L5 mod to do, and where can i buy an MSI K7D Master-L?-The_Nerd
Click to expand...

I would get the 80gig 8mb cache WD. Much faster.
 
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