Do they make dual chip multi-core processor computers these days?

[yoda313]

I know awhile back you could get a computer with two processors before multicore processors were the norm.

Do they make DUAL PROCESSORS with MULTICORE processors? So in effect you would have two physical multicore chips on the motherboard. Is that doable? Is it feasible?

So in a sense you could have a twelve core processor then right? A motherboard with TWO six core processors. Is that available? Would it truly be that powerful? Is there anything that could utilize that power in the home arena?

I guess a quick trip to tigerdirect or newegg would answer this question for me but I thought I'd check here first.

Edit - I checked both sites and I couldn't really see anything. I may not be looking at the right thing. I saw the amd phenom 2 x6 and the core i7 (which one is intels six core chip? They have one don't they?).

Also note I'm not ready to buy a new computer yet so this is just curious speculation on my part.

[olyteddy]

A lot of server mobos have multiple processors.

[yoda313]

A lot of server mobos have multiple processors.

Thanks.

Are those convertible to a home environment? Could you take one of those and slap plain old win7 on it? Would it act as a "regular" computer in most regards? Or are they hardwired to be different from a regular computer?

[deadrats]

i was actually thinking of putting together such a system, you can get parts at micro center, but it's going to cost you:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388606

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388582

this would be a 12 core 24 thread beast.

as far as OS support even Vista would fully support it, Win 7 and 8 easily and i'd even bet money that XP 64 would use all the cores.

only thing is that unless you're running very specific highly threaded cpu bound workloads you won't get the benefit you might be expecting. even for most web hosting workloads you usually get much better performance going with a hard ware raid card and a workstation class NIC than using 2 multicore chips, or for most 3d rendering needs a workstation class card is a much better choice.

i would argue that for most users it's never a good idea to build with the top of the line hardware, intel's chips jump in performance so much from one generation to the next that the $1000+ motherboard/cpu(s) combo you just put together will be smoked in most circumstances by the $400 motherboard/chip combo that will be available in the next 6-9 months from the same companies.

in fact after intel reported that the 6 core ivy bridge E class cpu's won't be available until the middle of next year most tech analysts are wondering if intel should even bother releasing such a chip as that is also the time frame for Haswell which is expected to be a monster of a chip (kind of what sandy bridge was to it's predecessors).

[yoda313]

Thanks for the info deadrats. This was more hypothetical stuff that I was curious about. I don't have any intentions of trying it. But its nice to know it should work.

[Slipster]

only thing is that unless you're running very specific highly threaded cpu bound workloads you won't get the benefit you might be expecting.

You can also run into trouble with certain multithreaded apps where each thread reserves 'X' amount of RAM. 'X' multiplied by 12 can soon exceed the amount of system RAM you have available leading to unexpected halts or crashes. From reading the developer's mailing list for x264, this has certainly happened to at least one person running a system like the one you propose.

I can't recall the exact details now as I read it a few weeks ago, but the only fix (besides installing obscene amounts of RAM) was to limit the number of threads to less than the number of CPU cores the system had, and that kind of defeats the object of having so many in the first place. I guess the moral of the story is to do your research first before parting with any cash.

[yoda313]

limit the number of threads to less than the number of CPU cores the system had, and that kind of defeats the object of having so many in the first place.

Not necessarily. It could still be benificial if this throttling still has higher capacity than any other system you could get your hands on. But it would kinda suck to not get the full power out of it.

(besides installing obscene amounts of RAM)

But I guess a few terabytes of ram could solve the problem