2 processors in one pc?

[-DVD-]

Is it possible to have two pentium 4 3.0 processors in one pc, making its speed 6.0Ghz, is there enough space on one motherboard to accomodate this?

[bugster]

AFAIK, the regular Pentium 4 processor does not support multi-processor operation. You need the Xeon version which is a lot more expensive. You also need a dual processor motherboard. Again, much more expensive than normal. Also, most (if not all) Dual Xeon boards need registered Memory, again more expensive.

So yes, you can have two processors in one box, if you have the money. And No, it doesn't perform like a single 6.0Ghz processor. If your application is not designed to take advantage of multiple processors (and most consumer level apps are not) then you will not see any benefit except when running multiple applications at the same time.

[808smokey]

Yup bugsters right... Intel needs Xeon's $$$ I would try AMD there cheaper and don't need all the "fancy" crap. They use regular RAM. Mobo's are a little more expensive but not too bad. You might be better off getting a slightly older MP board one that's a pair of 1.5-2 gigers. Just my .02¢

[-DVD-]

Cheers guys. A friend of mine told me that he was planning on running two P4's and I was curious as to whether it would have the effect of a 6Ghz processor. Could you reccomend a decent setup for a gaming pc in the range of €1000 ($1200)?

[Solarjetman]

A friend of mine told me that he was planning on running two P4's and I was curious as to whether it would have the effect of a 6Ghz processor.

Well, if the program supports multiple processors you can generally expect around 150%-170% or so performace with dual CPUs, never twice as fast. That is not possible. But the actual number varies greatly on the program

Could you reccomend a decent setup for a gaming pc in the range of €1000 ($1200)?

As I said above (along with bugster), if you are making a gamming rig, make sure the video game supports dual cpus, most do not, otherwise you will see zero improvement in performance over a single cpu.

[galactica]

you could always pull the "switch" and get a dual processor machine where the OS and most of the apps are dual processor native

But that would require something you probably wont do

[rallynavvie]

That's the draw of HT processors, you can multi-task or you can have one fast single CPU. That's nice and all but I'd take my true dual over my 3.06 HT at work anyday. Most games require more GPU power than CPU power these days anyway.

I absolutely love dual machines. The ability to do a couple things at once without bogging the system is great. Just the other day I was ripping MP3s while doing editing in Audition, pretty much each app was assigned to a different CPU. But if you don't multi-task that much it's not that great. I know TMPGEnc screams on my system as compared to my old single P4 but it takes advantage of both processors at once. Premiere and After Effects will use both as well, but when running both at the same time they seem to each take one for their use.

If you want an entry-level system just get a Tyan Tiger like I have. I don't think they make the 2460 anymore but the 2466 is pretty much the same and doesn't cost too much. AthlonMP processors are quite a bit more expensive than their XP counterparts, but 1900s are the best deal. You could also experiment by getting a couple XP 2500 Bartons and using the mod (there's a shim-like thing out there that does this) to make them MPs and use those. ECC RAM is optional.