I'm going to be using windows 2000 and Redhat Linux as my OS's on my new computer. I'm just curious... does an application have to be written to take advantage of dual processors or not? I read that it does. If that's the case is apache, perl, and anything else that runs on linux written for dual processors since most hosting companies use dual processors?

I'm considering these 2 systems:

Compaq SP750 Dual Intel Pentium III Xeon 933MHz, Full-featured Intel 840 chipset with 133-MHz front side bus, dual memory channels, dual-peer PCI buses, and 64-bit PCI 512MB 800-MHz ECC RDRAM on 4-slot memory board, High-performance 18.2-GB Ultra3 SCSI 10,000 rpm Hard Drive

AMD Athlon XP 1900+ Processor, 512MB PC2100 DDR RAM, 80GB ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive, ATI Radeon 7000 Pro Video w/64MB

Those are some of the specs.. which would be good for a power user? (home computer.)

The Athlon would be faster....


Either of those is sick, in comparison to my P2 300.

Originally posted by aragon
I'm going to be using windows 2000 and Redhat Linux as my OS's on my new computer. I'm just curious... does an application have to be written to take advantage of dual processors or not? I read that it does. If that's the case is apache, perl, and anything else that runs on linux written for dual processors since most hosting companies use dual processors?


Well, yes and no.

To put it simply, a dual processor systems are able to run two processes simultanously. So whether or not the application is written to take dual processing advantage, it still benefits from dual processor system, since more processes can be run at the same time.

However, for an application to be able to utilize that two processor by itself, it need to be written specifically for multi processor. For example, a processor intensive program like 3D image renderer to take advantage of the more processing power available, it must be written specifically for SMP system, so it will be able to do its task faster.

The Athlon would be more suitable for a home computer, and indeed quicker.

It may be beneficial to get an additional 512Mb of RAM before the prices become extortionate again...

Regards
Matt