the new duals

EarlyFirst · Post by **EarlyFirst** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:10 pm

I'm not 1000% sure my info is fact, so if you know different say so.

If your looking/drooling over the new rash of Dual board's here is something to keep in mind..

memory, No, not how much you have .. but how much is shared between the 2cpu's.

One of biggest problems with dual XEONS is the fact it's a shared memory architecture. IE: the second CPU must wait till the first CPU has finnished before it can access it..
Add HT to the mix and some programs are hurt not helped by this.

Now if your looking at Opterons you will want to to get the correct configuration.

your looking for a 4+4memory config..
IE each CPU has it's own bank of 4sticks...

so far the list is this
TYAN -S2885
IWill -DK8X
and a sample NVIDIA (NForce pro) board no numer...

till later
PT

darkrezin · Post by **darkrezin** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:19 pm

Thanks a lot for your input Paul..

I assume you've tested Creamware hardware on these boards?

peace

EarlyFirst · Post by **EarlyFirst** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 12:30 pm

No sorry,
I have not tried any of these..

unless your a reseller or went to Computex 2003, I doubt many people have.

anyway I'm looking to try the TYAN as the Dual Thunder is a very solid board.

just alittle update that TYAN board is between $570-$670 USD

PT

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: EarlyFirst on 2003-09-30 14:07 ]</font>

valis · Post by **valis** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 5:01 pm

Got an older dual Xeon here. I use logic so it doesn't even touch more than 1 cpu (technically 50% load balanced across both cpus) but my SFP interface is mighty responsive.

eliam · Post by **eliam** » Tue Sep 30, 2003 11:26 pm

how are the reverbs coming? Sorry, I couldn't resist...

BingoTheClowno · Post by **BingoTheClowno** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 6:33 pm

I do own a dual Xeon motherboard (http://www.supermicro.com/product/mothe ... P4DC6+.htm) with two Xeons at 2.8MHz and I'm not sure how the memory is shared between the two CPUs, all I know is that it is pretty fast. The manufacturer claims that the data transfer between CPU and memory can reach 3.2GBt/second (at 400MHz FSB).
Do you have a link to that information?

valis · Post by **valis** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:09 am

Technically he's correct they do share access to the same memory pool, there's also issues with cache contention etc.

Quite a bit of info here:
http://arstechnica.com/cpu/index.html

BingoTheClowno · Post by **BingoTheClowno** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 2:26 pm

Cache contention can happen also on P4 with HyperThreading enabled.

I am reading about the chipset used in my MB, Intel 860, found in this PDF although it doesn't mean much to me:

http://www.intel.com/design/chipsets/da ... 071301.pdf

but apparently (page 17) both CPUs are connected to the MCH (Memory Controller Hub) which in turn interfaces, through two Rambus channels, the main memory.

EddieK · Post by **EddieK** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 1:51 pm

Have not tried a dual yet, but I just got the P4 3.2EE. It was a lot of $, but it is damn fast. A lot of things improved...with a BIG Logic session, and a BIG SFP project, Logic is quite happy when I drag things around in SFP. Before, Logic would sometimes choke in this situation. Also, waveform draws are considerably faster. Also, Soundforge processing (Bit depth, resample) is about 30% faster.

The most interesting thing is a subjective sonic improvement. Th same big mixes sound clearer, and the top end is sweeter. I've noticed this with all major CPU upgrades. I'm not sure why this would be, but I've confirmed it with many independent listeners.

Also, those of you running Stylus, Trilogy, etc. will be VERY happy!