XP Pro vs. Dual Processors

[Guest]

I've searched and searched and not found the answer to these questions...so
here goes.

In less than two weeks, I should receive a computer running two AMD Opteron
280 dual core CPUs, running XP Pro w/SP2. 2GB of DDR RAM will be installed,
although the MOBO will support 4GB with XP. The computor vendor claims that
any RAM above 2GB will be wasted (but then I wonder why the MOBO manufacturer
would say that you can install 4GB when using XP Pro).

My assumption is (since I can't find a definitive answer!) that Task Manager
will recognize and display data for both CPUs.

Now for the questions:

Is there a way that I can configure the processing load that each CPU
handles, or is that something that will automatically be handled by XP?

Since it appears XP Pro can handle 4 GB of memory, but only allocate 2GB per
32 bit process (3GB with a boot.ini switch), is it possible to allocate 2GB
to one 32 bit process and 2GB to another 32 bit process if they are being run
concurrently?

TIA for any assistance!

 

[R. McCarty]

Your hardware & memory requirements sounds more like a Server
setup than a desktop. You might be better served by using Windows
Server 2003 to get the type of operation you're describing.

 

[Saucy Lemon]

I've searched and searched and not found the answer to these
questions...so here goes.

In less than two weeks, I should receive a computer running two AMD
Opteron 280 dual core CPUs, running XP Pro w/SP2. 2GB of DDR RAM will
be installed, although the MOBO will support 4GB with XP. The
computor vendor claims that any RAM above 2GB will be wasted (but
then I wonder why the MOBO manufacturer would say that you can
install 4GB when using XP Pro).

My assumption is (since I can't find a definitive answer!) that Task
Manager will recognize and display data for both CPUs.

Now for the questions:

Is there a way that I can configure the processing load that each CPU
handles, or is that something that will automatically be handled by
XP?

Since it appears XP Pro can handle 4 GB of memory, but only allocate
2GB per 32 bit process (3GB with a boot.ini switch), is it possible
to allocate 2GB to one 32 bit process and 2GB to another 32 bit
process if they are being run concurrently?

TIA for any assistance!

Yes. You can manually set a process's affinity to a CPU using Task Manager.
However, Task Manager's "functionality" is limited and every time you start
an app you have to re-assign it. Tom's Hardware developed a utility that
provides a bit more functionality making such assignments hold over the
entire session etc. -- watch the URL wrap:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/05/28/getting_more_bang_out_of_your_dual_processing_buck/

You might join the forums there and discuss it before using it or email them
etc. etc.

 

[Guest]

I am trying to avoid using Windows Server 2003 since I'm not sure all the
programs that I use will be compatible with it. I will be doing video
processing using Adobe Premeire and some other processing intensive
applications.

Any answers to the questions I asked?

 

[R. McCarty]

Load balancing is more a function of the application's threading and not
something you can allocate between CPUs. I do a fair amount of intense
multimedia and I don't have any issues with a Intel 3.0 Gigabyte CPU &
2.0 Gigabytes of RAM. Disk or Mass Storage is going to be more of a
"Bottleneck" than CPU loading and memory. I used to use SCSI, but
finally decided that SATA is a much better desktop solution. I have two
separate physical drives, so I can allocate the workload across the two
of them. I believe XP uses the total VM (Virtual Memory) as a single
Pool and not allocated against each physical CPU. For detailed operation
info like that you'd probably need to visit some type of developer forum
where someone might offer you more help.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Since it appears XP Pro can handle 4 GB of memory, but only allocate 2GB per
32 bit process

Apples and oranges, I think. 4GB is the maximum physical RAM that
(32-bit)WinXP can handle. Indeed, it's the maximum amount that 32-bit
hardware can address.

The 2GB per process limit (is that documented anywhere?) is virtual
memory available to the process. Any process can allocate as much as
it needs up to that limit. Whether, at any particular time, any page
of that VM resides in physical RAM or on the disk is up to the OS. It
decides based on what programs are running, which are actually being
used and which are in the background not doing much, and a couple of
zillion other considerations.

If you've got 20 different processes running, bits of each one's VM
may be in physical RAM, other parts of each one's VM may be on the
disk (and much simply isn't yet allocated and so is nowhere).