Multiple CPU's Help

[A]

I know this is might not be the right forum to post this message, but
I could not find the correct one.

I have 3 in memory ActiveX exe's. One of them creates
in-memory XML recordsets which are used by the other two. When they
run with a large load (which means that the first exe creates a large
number of XML recordsets) they slow down. Due to this the entire
system slows down. I know this is happening because they are CPU
intensive. Unfortunately this case occurs quite frequently. So here is
the set of questions that I have, which I was hoping somebody would
answer

1] Will adding another CPU help the performance. I know I am not going
to get a drastic change in performance and a lot of it depends on how
the code is written. But still is this option worth considering?

2] I am using Windows 2000 SP 2. If I do have multiple CPU's, does the
OS handle the scheduling and the message passing between the exe's..
or do I have to handle it ?

I would really appreciate it if somebody can shed light on this topic.
Also if someone can tell me where I could get more help regarding this
matter.

Thanks
AJ

 

[William W. Plummer]

A second CPU will not improve the performance of single-thread applications
that we typically run. There will be an inperceptible increase in interrupt
service, processing net messages, etc. If you are running a multiple user
timesharing system, you'll see an improvement. However, all the studies I
have read over many years going back even before Gordon Bell's "VAX Computer
Design" show an incrase of 1.6x for 2 CPUs.

 

[A]

William:

Thanks for the follow up. I agree with you about the fact that
multiple processors might not help a single threaded application and
might add other delays. But in my case I have three single threaded
applications that communicate with each other. Do you think having
multiple processors will help?

Also how to I decided between increasing the RAM and adding another
processors. I can use Windows 2000's performance monitor, but I dont
know what parameters to monitor. Can you throw light on this as well.

Thanks for all your help

A