Dual Vs. Single Processor System

  • Thread starter Thread starter Darren Harris
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Darren Harris

Can anyone tell me if there are any benefits in having a Dual
Processor system as opposed to a single processor system for any
non-server computing environments?

And if so, would a system incorporating two 450mhz processors have any
advantages over a system that uses a single 900mhz processor?(All
other factors taken into consideration).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
 
Can anyone tell me if there are any benefits in having a Dual
Processor system as opposed to a single processor system for any
non-server computing environments?

And if so, would a system incorporating two 450mhz processors have any
advantages over a system that uses a single 900mhz processor?(All
other factors taken into consideration).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.
Click to expand...

"Non-server computing environment" is about as vague as it gets. The
specific uses of the system, applications and application versions as
well as operating system version have to be considered. Those things
matter more than anything else. The "average" PC user would benefit
more from a 900MHz single CPU than dual 450MHz. Actually the average
user would benefit more from the 900MHz CPU than dual 600MHz CPUs too,
but if you run very demanding jobs in the background (not office or
other tasks that sit idle just fine) and have SMP-supportive OS it
begins to make more sense, but only when comparing dual CPUs of nearly
the same individual speed as the single CPU.

In general it only makes sense to buy/build a dual CPU system if you
already knew you'd be running an environment that'll benefit from it.

This topic generally invokes lots of redundant posts by people who
were duped into paying hundreds more for dual CPUs then insisting they
get better performance, when no benchmarks will bear that out, not
even real-world use benchmarks UNLESS as i mentioned above, you have
both the multi-threaded high-end applications and/or OS support and
multiple high-demand applications running simultaneously.

Always consider the most demanding and most frequently performed,
specific tasks on the system, what those particular uses cause to be
the bottleneck, and that's where to put the extra $$$ into the system.


Dave
 
Can anyone tell me if there are any benefits in having a Dual
Processor system as opposed to a single processor system for any
non-server computing environments?
Click to expand...

It depends much on what you do with that system.
And if so, would a system incorporating two 450mhz processors have
any advantages over a system that uses a single 900mhz
processor?(All other factors taken into consideration).
Click to expand...

It's really not that simple--clock speed and performance are not
additive like that--and clock speed is a red herring when comparing
chips of different architectures and cache sizes, througputs, and
motherboards--a lot of things factor into the performance equation.

That said, though, it's likely that the single 900MHz processor-based
system is going to beat the snot out of a dated dual 450 system for
the typical browsing and word processing user because such apps don't
leverage multiple processors well, and the 900MHz system is likely
going to have a faster memory and i/o subsystem in addition to a
processor that's a generation newer, etc etc.

However, I'm certain someone could find an application or create a
benchmark under which the dual 450 system would outperform it.

If you could share the motivation for your question and some specifics
(are we talking Intel or AMD chips, or PowerPC?...how much memory in
each, what OS and apps will they be running), perhaps a better answer
could be given.

Best Regards,
 
Darren said:
Can anyone tell me if there are any benefits in having a Dual
Processor system as opposed to a single processor system for any
non-server computing environments?

And if so, would a system incorporating two 450mhz processors have any
advantages over a system that uses a single 900mhz processor?(All
other factors taken into consideration).
Click to expand...

No.

A dual 450 would be better than a single 500, similar to a single 550 and
have less power than a single 600. (Roughly).

That being said it's a very personal thing. The above relates to
computational power, i.e. how long it takes to get a task done, and is very
OS-dependant. However users of dual-processor machines invariably say that
they are more responsive to use, that you can multi-task on them better etc.
etc.

There is no way in the world that a dual 450 would have any advantages over
a single 900 that could be demonstrated on any benchmark. In fact it would
get very badly beaten. However, that being said, if raw processing power
isn't an issue, there are certain people who would rather have a dually than
a single as you can set it doing one task and still have it responsive
enough to use to, say surf the web.
 
Most software applications are NOT written to take advantage of
multi-processing. So the 900MHz CPU would be faster in almost all
instances.
 
DaveW said:
Most software applications are NOT written to take advantage of
multi-processing. So the 900MHz CPU would be faster in almost all
instances.
Click to expand...

I guess that sums it up for the most part.

I asked the question because I had an opportunity to get a dual 450
mobo/processor combination, and I am tired of system lag when doing
things even as simple as shutting down.(Perhaps I should invest in a
good anti-spyware app).

Anyway, thanks a lot.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New york.
 
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