dual processor

[phani]

hi.
is there any advantage if i buy a dual processor system with windows xp?
how many applications are SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) aware?
or is it better to buy a dual-core processor?
any help is appreciated.
thanx...

 

[Leythos]

hi.
is there any advantage if i buy a dual processor system with windows xp?
how many applications are SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) aware?
or is it better to buy a dual-core processor?
any help is appreciated.
thanx...

I find that a Dual system is more responsive and permits be to do many
tasks without the lag/delay normally experienced by Single CPU or
HyperThreaded systems with a single CPU.

It's not double the speed or performance, but it sure feels nice when
you can use a dual CPU system that's been setup properly.

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

is there any advantage if i buy a dual processor system with windows xp?

That depends. In contrast to WinXP Pro, WinXP Home doesn't take
advantage of the second physical processor.

or is it better to buy a dual-core processor?

Read this article first:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=896256

 

[Guest]

The article you referenced does not say the Win XP home doesn't take
advantage of dual processors. It does say that SP2 needs to be installed in
either XP Pro or XP home.

 

[Guest]

I have the Pentium D 820 (2.8 GHz dual processor). For most tasks, it has the
same performance as a P4 2.8 GHz single processor. But if you are actively
running two programs (such as a virus scanner and word processing
simultaneously, each application will tend to run a full speed.

I suspect that later generations of dual processors will perform better,
especially when more applications are optimised for them. Currently there are
few applications that take advantage of dual processors. The lack of dual
processor aware development tools is part of the problem.

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

The article you referenced does not say the Win XP home doesn't take
advantage of dual processors. It does say that SP2 needs to be
installed in either XP Pro or XP home.

"Windows XP and Hyper-Threading" (excerpt)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810231/en-us

| Windows XP Home
| Note: Windows XP Home can use a maximum of one (1) physical processor.
| However, because Hyper-Threading is supported, the operating system
| takes advantage of the second (virtual) processor.