From: Johann Koenig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Yesterday 23:18:56 >On Tuesday February 24 at 11:31pm >>Jeff Elkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >>I've been in discussions with a client about doing some numerical > >>modeling once I get back from deployment. This may very well >>>turn > >>out to be a major portion of my science work. > >> > >>To that end, I'm curious about what you know about >>>multi-processor > >>Linux boxes. I'm interested in trying up yo four processors > >>(probably start with a dual proccessor, but eventually add up to > >>four). I suspect there are quad processor MB out there. > >> > >>I know Debian handles this right out of the box, but how hard is >>>it > >>to compile for the additional processors? Have you ever priced >>>this > >>sort of machine? I'm curious about how much I'm talking about. > >> > >> > >I'm researching this for a currently deployed naval officer (a > >meteorologist) who's internet connection is a bit chancy...he's > >somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. Any info or links > >appreciated... > <snip> >For the kernel, I'm pretty used to compiling myself, so it wasn't >too >much harder. The only relevant change (I remember, that is) was to >enable SMP and limit the number of processors to 2, only because >they >said it bloats the kernel a little bit for each extra you compile >in. > >That being said, I belive Debian has smp versions of some of the >kernels >readily available from apt-get, with a name similar to >kernel-image-$VERSION-$ARCH-smp. > <snip> >Of course, now that I've got a dual proc system, I will never go >back. >I'm currently waiting for the AMD Opterons to go down in price, >because >I've pretty much decided that my next box will be at least a dualie, >a >quad mobo if I can afford it. > <snip> >The ultimate in SMP is, of course, Sun Computers. Hundreds of CPUs, >Hundreds of Gigs of RAM, Hundreds of thousands of dollars. >I'd say your best bet is to find something on ebay, then check out >http://google.com and http://google.com/linux and see what other >people >say about it. >-- >-johann koenig <snip> You need to ask yourself just what kind of numerical modeling are you going to do? What programs are you going to use, will they be able to use both cpu's? Also what about cost, under some situations it might be cheaper to get a single cpu box, dedicate it to just one program. If you have a single cpu running at say 3 gig's, it might be faster than a dual running at say 1.5 gigs. A good site to go see would be http://www.2cpu.com look through the forums, read up on some motherboards, post a few questions in the proper forum. They will be helpful, and point you in the right direction. What most people forget about dual systems, is it takes a bigger case, better power supply, and at times different memory. It could be a considerable cost for a little or no speed increase, over a single cpu system. In fact sometimes you could build two systems for the cost of a single dual system. So you really need to know exactly what you will gain if you go to dual systems. I for one agree with Johann I love my dual system, but it is no speed demon. But it does have the silky power on demand that is nice. You can find good deals, on dual systems, a lot of people are selling their dual Athlon machines. Being that as prices are good right now you might just buy new, that way you will get the warranty. Most Athlon MP motherboards that are for sale are pretty good, for example Tyan does not sell their Tiger 2460 anymore, which has 5 volt problems, and happens to be the one I own. So it is safe to buy Athlon MP motherboards. Their are a few motherboards that use Intel chips for good prices as well. Its all just a matter of how much you want to spend. Rthoreau -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
