I need a DUAL-CPU system!

[Barhab]

Which components can you recommend? (as cheap as possible)

[Allen Hallada]

Originally posted by Barhab:
Which components can you recommend? (as cheap as possible)

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Unfortunately we don't have anyone who has posted results yet with the dual processors. Probably because PTLE didn't support it before 6.1.

I would be going with the A7M266-D myself.

http://store.yahoo.com/directron/asus7am266.html

Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[cmcquistion]

I don't use ProTools (except Free), yet, but I have a lot of experience with dual AMD systems.

My personal favorite motherboard is the MSI K7D Master. My second favorite is the Asus A7M266-D.

Instead of getting MP processors, consider just getting some cheap XP1700's. Mod them for SMP, change the multiplier and voila... MP2000 or higher and they are only $45 bucks each.

For all the info you need on modding XP's to MP's and changing multi's and such, check this thread:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showth...threadid=91425


A couple things to keep in mind for dual AMD systems...

1. Get a case with good airflow. Two CPU's means twice as much heat generation and twice as much case airflow to get rid of it. The Antec SLK3700AMB is an EXCELLENT case. It has 1-120mm intake and 1-120mm exhaust. You can run low speed, low noise 120mm fans and get great airflow with little noise. Also, the case has rubber mounts for the hard drives. This reduces hard drive noise.

2. Get good heatsinks and fans for those CPU's. I recommend the Thermalright SLK-800's or SK-7's, paired with Panaflo L1A 80mm fans. This combo is quiet and very effective.

3. Memory. Dual AMD boards require Registered memory if you ever want to use more than two sticks. My recommendation is Samsung Registered ECC PC2700. It's overkill, but it's cheaper than Crucial Registered ECC PC2100 and it works great. You can overclock it and run fast timings. Dual Opteron boards (if you want one someday) REQUIRE Registered ECC PC2700. If you buy it now, you can reuse it later.

4. Power Supply. Dual AMD systems require a lot of good quality juice. You will NEED at least a 450 watt PSU and 500 watts isn't a bad idea. From the noise standpoint, stay away from Enermax and Vantec, they are noisy. I have heard good things about TTGI and Forton. I have yet to get a 500+ watt PSU that I thought was quiet, so I always remove the fans and replace them with quieter ones.

For lots of good info, check 2cpu.com and, my favorite, the SMP forum at overclockers.com

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/forumd...?s=&forumid=68

[Barhab]

Thanks for the info! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
But .. I already have an Intel P4 1.8 ghz (400 mhz FSB). Ideally I would get another 1.8 ghz + a dual motherboard with Intel chipset. Any advice?

[cmcquistion]

The P4 isn't SMP capable. Only the P4 Xeon is, and it is VERY expensive. It is a different chip and there is no way to run a standard P4 in a dual.

You may want to consider AMD, though. Consider the following:

The PDI533 (one of the cheapest Xeon boards) is $290 (cheapest price) and each 2.0 (533, 512k) Xeon is $234 each (cheapest price.) That means $758 for JUST the MB and CPU's. Alternatively, you could get 2.0 (400, 512k) Xeons for $173 each, dropping your total price down to $636.

The MSI K7D Master, on the other hand, is $176 (cheapest price) and two XP1700 T-breds (which will overclock to 2 GHz+) are just $90 for BOTH, or $176 for dual XP2500 Bartons. That comes out to $266 for MB and CPU's (for T-breds) or $352 for MB and CPU's (Bartons.) (The T-breds are a better value. The Bartons don't overclock any better than the XP1700's.)

Either way, that is MUCH cheaper than the Xeon system.

[Chris Cavell]

There are a few dual P4 boards on the market. Just take a look in the latest Tiger Direct catalog. Whether or not they are compatible with PT, no one knows...yet. HyperThreading is intel's version of SMP, and all P4 chips at 3gHz are HT capable, and all 800MHz FSB P4's at any clock speed are HT capable.

[cmcquistion]

There is a difference between HT and SMP. Intel has a true SMP line, under the name of "Xeon". Those are the chips that you can run in a dual. You can NOT run standard P4's in a dual, period.

There are HT-enabled P4's, however, which run as single CPU's, but act like two virtual CPU's. This isn't as good as a dual-CPU system, though, because you now have one 3 GHz CPU, acting like two 1.5 GHz CPU's. With two Xeons, you have two 2.0, 2.4, etc CPU's acting like two 2.0, 2.4, etc CPU's. Your total processing power goes up. With HT, you total processing power stays the same (or usually goes down), but you have the side effect of better multitasking, due to the CPU usage being split between two virtual processors.

To make things even more confusing, Intel also has HT-enable Xeons, so two of those can act like 4 virtual CPU's. Of course, Intel also has CPU's with FSB of 400, 533, and 800. They have CPU's with 256k cache, 512k cache, and 1 MB cache. Oh, they've got P4m and Pentium M CPU, now, too, although they're only available in laptops, so far.

By the way, don't ever buy anything from TigerDirect. They are one of the worst computer suppliers in the world, trust me. For a really good computer-parts vendor, go to www.newegg.com. They are one of the very best there is.

To find out which online resellers are good and which are bad, go to www.resellerratings.com.

Here is a link to TigerDirect's user ratings and here is a link to Newegg's user ratings. Big difference.

[Chris Cavell]

Just to let you know, I don't buy from tigerdirect, just using their latest ad to point out the existence of dual cpu mobo's billed as accepting standard P4's. It may be wrong.

I personally prefer computergate to NewEgg.

[cmcquistion]

Just to let you know, I don't buy from tigerdirect, just using their latest ad to point out the existence of dual cpu mobo's billed as accepting standard P4's. It may be wrong.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Well, TigerDirect is a less-than-honest company, but it is probably just an issue of incomplete product description. There is the P4 and there is the P4 Xeon. The P4 Xeon is dual-capable. The "P4" without the Xeon label, is not.

[Matt Whritenour]

I was looking at dual-CPU system to build and after looking at them twice its not even worth it. I was looking at the Pentium Xeons and the Frontside Bus only goes up to 533, when the P43.0 gighz chip i was looking at runs at 800mhz frontside bus. Then i just heard today that they now have 1.2 gighz frontside bus... but i havent gone and checked them out yet.