Are there any dual socket A motherboards out there?

[tsantsa]

I have two comps, both with Athlon XP 1800+ (same exact chip). I was about to upgrade one of the comps, but then I don't want the cpu's to go to waste, so I was wondering if there is a mobo with dual socket A. Anyone know? And would it be worth the effort?

[glockjs]

unless you are running a server or using high end pro programs for something like video editing dual cpu setups are useless

[tsantsa]

I was going to use it for my dvd burning box, reencoding with CCE and whatnot in batch mode.

[reboot]

In order to use dual Athlon's, you'd need the MP version of the chip. The XP's you cannot (AFAIK) run dual, at least the older version you have.

[glockjs]

well if you really would want to....

http://tyan.com/products/html/athlon.html

[reboot]

[glockjs]

what does it say in the blue bar above that? what socket do u think xp-m's use? :P

[reboot]

I know that. If you're willing to try it, go ahead, but dual XP's of the 1800+ vintage (palomino or t-bird/thunderbird? core) won't work.

[glockjs]

my bad. you're right. has something to do with smp. tsantsa you cant run dual with the cpu's u have at all

[tsantsa]

oh well...now i gotta figure something else to do with them!

[glockjs]

well if you have 2 working boxes why not just sell them for a few hundred each?

[tsantsa]

Hell, I dunno if they would be worth that much!

[glockjs]

people will. trust me. look in your local paper or just ads.

[rallynavvie]

unless you are running a server or using high end pro programs for something like video editing dual cpu setups are useless

I don't know about that, they game pretty well too :P

You can use those XP 1800s in any dual Socket A board. You either need to do a mod to the chip itself to make it mulitplier unlocked:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/column/20011124/

Or look for a thing called the XP-TMC by Upgradeware. It's a socket that goes between the mainboard socket and your XP CPU to do that same mod without actually changing your processor. I think they're still around for sale somewhere.

My recommendation would be that Tyan 2466. You can get them on eBay for reasonable prices and it's a solid board. Beware of the 2460 like mine, it has one major issue with its power connector that will ruin your day someday.

In case you go the XP-M route they do make fantastic Athlon MPs as they draw less power than an MP.

[glockjs]

interesting stuff. so it can be done but it just takes a little modding lol

[tsantsa]

If I do this, am I under the impression that they won't help me in doing 6 pass CCE re-encodes of dvd's?

I don't really game on my pc and I don't do huge editing deals either...

May not be worth the effort, except for the challenge, that is!

[rallynavvie]

If CCE supports SMP then it will work almost as good as twice one of those CPUs, more like a 1.7-1.8x increase with SMP. I don't use CCE but I'm guessing it is SMP aware.

[tsantsa]

Uh, what does SMP stand for?

EDIT: Is is Symmetric Multi-Processing?

[rallynavvie]

Yeah. Programs have to be written to utilize both processors otherwise they'll only see one at a time. This isn't a bad thing though since you can run two non-SMP apps at the same time without any noticeable slowdown. Very nice feature if you do a lot of multi-tasking.

TMGPEnc is SMP-aware FWIW.

[Solarjetman]

Uh, what does SMP stand for?

Sexy Male Prostitutes

Just kiddling, you are correct, its Symmetric Multiprocessing

[tsantsa]

I went to CCE's homepage and I can't find anything about it...Anyone know if CCE is SMP aware?

[rallynavvie]

http://www.cinemacraft.com/eng/cpu.html

Yes, it's SMP aware.

[tsantsa]

lol, i didnt I looked at all the stats but for some reason, cpu and SMP didnt click in my mind, so I didnt click the link!

Thanks, rally.