On 12 May 2002, at 19:17, Josh Caulder wrote:

> I'm going to be building myself another computer in the next week
> or so, but I have a few questions.  I want alot of processer speed
> and alot of folks tell me to go with a board that will run dual
> pro.'s. Can someone please give a good rundown on what the
> advantages and disadvantages of doing this would be.  If i do go
> this route I do know I want to run 2 PIII 1G pro.'s unless someone
> has a better idea about that. (The reason i say this is because I
> already have 1 PIII 1G pro., so the is really no reason I can
> think of to not just buy another 1 if I go this route.) Please
> help....

  You will not see any advantage to dual CPUs unless you run an OS
that supports them:  NT/2K/XP, Linux, x86 Solaris, BeOS, ... but NOT
Windows 95/98/ME.
  Although supported dual CPUs will improve overall system
responsiveness, you will not see much of a boost in individual
applications unless they are structured to take advantage of them
("multithreaded").  Many hefty applications, such as Photoshop, are.

  Intel recommends that dual CPUs be pretty closely matched, not just
in model and speed, but within one or two stepping levels of each
other.  While wider variation might not stop them from working
together, you are unlikely to achive a close match with CPUs bought
at different times.

  Don't let any of that scare you off, though.  The best way to get
to understand what dual CPUs will and won't do for you is to try it!

Dave Gillett

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