Advice for rackmount dual processor system.

[gavspav]

Hi,

does anyone fancy giving me their ten cents worth?

I am intending to build a rackmount pc to run my interactive
installations which I take out on the road. (www.boredbrand.com)

I am thinking of a dual processor system as I often run two or three
cpu intensive applications at the same time eg. realtime video
processing + audio looping with effects.

Most software I use probably does not have dual processor support
written into it. Will I still get the benefits if I run several apps at
once?

Also is there anything I need to know about cooling specific to using a
dual processor set up in a rackmount case?

Can anyone recommend a good board/processor combination. I will want to
use fairly good graphics card though I'm not really a gamer. I need at
least dual monitor support.

Also good audio capability though these days that is practically
standard.

Also important is alot of connectivity options.

What is my budget? 600 to 800 pounds (english) including the case.

Thanks Alot to anyone who fancies helping,

Gav

 

[Marc Hulsebosch]

Hi,

does anyone fancy giving me their ten cents worth?

I am intending to build a rackmount pc to run my interactive
installations which I take out on the road. (www.boredbrand.com)

I am thinking of a dual processor system as I often run two or three
cpu intensive applications at the same time eg. realtime video
processing + audio looping with effects.

Most software I use probably does not have dual processor support
written into it. Will I still get the benefits if I run several apps at
once?

Also is there anything I need to know about cooling specific to using a
dual processor set up in a rackmount case?

Can anyone recommend a good board/processor combination. I will want to
use fairly good graphics card though I'm not really a gamer. I need at
least dual monitor support.

Also good audio capability though these days that is practically
standard.

Also important is alot of connectivity options.

What is my budget? 600 to 800 pounds (english) including the case.

Thanks Alot to anyone who fancies helping,

Gav

With the new generation of AMD processors: the X2, you don't need a dual
processor board, and you only need to buy one processor (they are a bit
more expensive though). I would buy one of those, and a socket 939
board. Try to look for an Ati X200 chipset, because it has a very good
integrated graphics card. You need to get a new cooler as the boxed one
may not fit in a rackmount (of course that depends on how big the
rackmount case will be.

Marc

Marc

 

[carlofbrigg]

im runnin a AMD x2 4400 + dual core and its excelent

running it on an ASUS A8N-SLi premium board no problems at all with 32
or 64 bit windows XP also runs great in Linux (fedora core 3.0)

Had been told to expect problems running an ATI X850 graphics card on
an N-force board but its a dream to use and great for multitasking

 

[gavspav]

Hmm.

But as I understand it a dual core processor will only run faster with
software designed to utilize it whereas two processors will speed
things up when multi-tasking.

Maybe this isn't true. I don't know?

Gav

 

[Marc Hulsebosch]

That isn't true. Both a dual processor and a dual core setup have the
same result: two cores. Each of those cores will be able to run its own
tasks. There are a few differences: Intel seems to have some problems
getting enough data to its processors, so there can be a difference
there, and there is a big difference in price: you only have to buy one
processor, and a cheaper motherboard.

Marc

 

[rhys]

Hi,

does anyone fancy giving me their ten cents worth?

I am intending to build a rackmount pc to run my interactive
installations which I take out on the road. (www.boredbrand.com)

I am thinking of a dual processor system as I often run two or three
cpu intensive applications at the same time eg. realtime video
processing + audio looping with effects.

Most software I use probably does not have dual processor support
written into it. Will I still get the benefits if I run several apps at
once?

Not necessarily. The point of having multiple processors and a
multiple processor-aware OS is to separate ongoing tasks as
effectively as possible. Many graphics applications (Photoshop,
InDesign) are MP-optimized, which means essentially that you can use
two slower processors and still get better performance than one faster
(read "more expensive/hotter") one, because the processing threads and
executions can be handed off.

R