Hi Rick,

I beg to differ.

> Bill this depends highly on what OS you're going to be using. Win NT and
> LINUX both support multiple processors. Win95/98 doesn't. To put it even
> more plainly: If you use a dual processor board with Win95/98 you'll find
> your sysem SLOWER than a system using one processor at the same speed. Why?
> Overhead caused by memory, PCI and other I/O activities is higher on a dual
> CPU system and you have no benefit from the second CPU.

If you are using Win98, the 2nd CPU does not get exercise and thus the hardware
resources like memory, PCI and I/O devices does not get shared between the two
CPUs.
The system is not slow down in anyway.

If you are using a SMP enable OS, the communication cost of the two processors
is balance by the added processing power, so you gain about 50% -60% more
computational power.

> It does nothing but
> produce heat(nice if you live in a cold climate though). NT does use the
> second CPU but only programs that use multi threading (Adobe Photoshop) will
> actually see a big speed increase.

True, currently there are not a lot of software which are compiled for SMP that
runs in Window NT.  The caveat is that we are planning for the future, ie more
software will be SMP enabled as software devlopers realise the size of the
market (which by the way is growing, dual processors Celeron, Pentium II and
Pentium III are growing).  In addition, if you are riding on Linux, you can
always re-compile whatever software you like for SMP.  So the 2nd CPU is not
useless.

> Ask yourself 'Which OS am I going to use,
> and which applications am I going to be using'. If you were planning to use
> this as a gaming machine under Win95/98, you won't be doing yourself a
> favor, even if you do get win95/98 running stable with this board.

Sorry, I have been running Win98 on the board with two CPU with Mechwarrior III
(yes, I know, the 2nd CPU is not use) and it is very stable.  The machine has
been running continously for more than 24 hours.

> You might
> have a bit more luck using Win2000, but that's a big 'might'.

Wait for my experience.  My next platform to try on the machine is Win2000.  I
am planning it for the coming weekend.

> If you're
> planning to use this as a server: No way. This board just isn't stable
> enough to rely on it 24/7. Just my $.02

I have to concur, according to reviews, it is not as stable as Tyan or Asustek
dual processors boards for 24x7 servers.  But if you are an enthusaist and not
running a business off it, you can try it for the fun of it.

Best regards.

--
Lim Wei Siong Vincent

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