How much better is 2 processors?

[FreeFallin]

This is my first time here Im not sure if this is the right place but if I were to put 2 processors, lets say TBird 1200s or 1300s, in my comp (yeah I know Id need a new mobo) how much better would my overall performance be? What would I notice as faster/better with dual processors? If anyone could lend some thoughts I would really appreciate that.

Stan

[CreepingDeath]

first of all this IS the right place to post this so don't worry.

second dual proccessors are mainly for heavy muilti-tasking duties you would not see much of a preformance increase for day to day stuff and very few games support dual proccessors.

third unless your willing to take the plunge to windows 2000 pro or NT compatible ( Linux and Unix as well ) you will not see any difference.

If i were you I'd put the money to good use somewhere else in your system <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

good luck

[kannibul]

Usually you will see an increase in performance by about 80% on average.
applications must be able to work with more than one thread before win2k or NT4.0 will push it to both processors.
remember though - the OS DOES run multi-threaded, so you will see an increase in speed of the system itself.
I have a dual PIII667 that runs faster than my 1GHz tbird system.
they are as close as one can get in the hardware area (both VIA chipsets w/pc133 ram/fsb, both have512mb ram (dually has ecc/cas3 which is slower than the cas2 on the tbird))
you get my idea..

[MacGyver]

Yeah, if you're expecting a huge frame rate boost in your games with a dualproc setup, you can forget it. Better spend the money on a better video card, more RAM, etc...

[ShadowKing]

Originally posted by FreeFallin:
<STRONG>If I were to put 2 processors, lets say TBird 1200s or 1300s, in my comp how much better would my overall performance be? What would I notice as faster/better with dual processors?</STRONG>

First of all, you would get about a 75% - 85% performance boost overall. When I went from single to dual procs, the first thing I noticed was when I right-clicked the menu popped up instantly instead of waiting a sec or so... All those little pauses that you wait for with Windows will go away. You will see a HUGE increase if you are one of those people (like me) who can't read the names of the windows on the Taskbar because you have so many apps open.

You will see a minimal (if even noticeable) increase in gaming. Even though the Quake3 engine supports dual processors, you won't see a huge performance increase on higher resolutions, because your video card will probably be the bottleneck. Dual procs does allow Windows to run all the other services on one proc and then give the game 100% of the other one though, so depending on how many services you have running (I have lots), you may see a bigger improvement.

For a program to be able to fully take advantage of SMP it must be written to be aware of multiple procs. One great example is Adobe Photoshop, also 3d Studio Max.

I love my dualie and will not go back. My next box will be a dual T-Bird.

[FreeFallin]

I do use Win 2000, would my boot up time be faster, or opening and closing programs?

also - does anyone know a decent dual processor capable mobo and how much it would cost? Thanks again for the input its helped a ton!

[CreepingDeath]

the Abit VP6 is my baby i have (2) pentium III 933mhz procs running at 1ghz.

this is a great board and the onboard raid kick a$$ , it can be had for about $150.00

[condor]

first of all I don't recall seeing any "dual Tbird" boards just yet..

second, you will get this performance increasae only in few applications that support multithreaded processing..


games will not get any boost from it.

Win2k and NT4 are the ONLY M$ operating systems that support SMP (multiprocessing)

and you cannot get just 2 regualr CPU's and put them together - you need cpu's that are matched and designed to work in a MPS system.

also MPS are designed for CAD / 3D design / Graphics / Video edit workstations or for Servers...

it's not for office applications/Internet/games applications..

bottom line : if you're not doing any of the tasks I mentioned before and have a lot of money to spend - stick with uniprocesor..

[crtlaltdel]

I heard AMD is coming out with a chipset to handle 2 processors. I think ABIT is making a board, might want to check their website

[ShadowKing]

Actually the AMD 760MP chipset has just been released and one MB is already available with 3 others due out by the end of June. The MSI looks to be the best...

Find out more at www.2cpu.com

[kingtbone]

I think with the extra money you're spending, it's really not worth it unless you're doing what Condor said. It would really go to better use on more RAM, or a better video card, depending on what exactly you want so desperately to be faster. Still, it'd be fun to mess around setting up an SMP system, I've never had the chance <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">