Question What uses are there for dual CPU systems?

[jamesdsimone]

Any reason to have 2 CPU's? I'm sure there are specialty applications that can use both CPU's like engineering or financial or high end video processing but any other reason to get one?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

For virtually all standard consumer uses, no, there really isn't.

Rendering and scientific applications? Yes.

 

[gdansk]

If you do rendering or dozens of VMs and containers? Minmaxing. Used 2P server boards have been able to offer more MT throughput per $. Though I haven't looked at eBay prices lately.

Can't think of another reason in the era when 56/64/96 core processors are marketed to prosumers. 1 CPU is now more than enough.

 

[StefanR5R]

• consolidation of 2 nodes into 1
• up to twice the memory bandwidth per node
• higher possible memory capacity per node (depends on mainboard layout of course)
• potentially wider I/O per node (depends on how much of the I/O gets "lost" to inter-socket comms)

Many years ago, when I built my own first two 2P home computers, I ran workloads on them which were similar to classic CFD (computational fluid dynamics) which desires memory bandwidth. I even planned to combine them into an Infiniband cluster but in the end did not get to this point. Edit: Before I had these 2P computers, I ran the same workload on an Ethernet cluster of desktop computers, so a good deal of aggregate memory bandwidth was already there, but the communications overhead was a real drag. It goes without saying that consolidating one simulation instance onto a single host gave it a real boost.

Later I continued to build 2P home computers although the workloads which I then ran on them (Distributed Computing) would work on Ethernet linked 1P nodes just as well. But I preferred to have twice the throughput per operating system instance.

When I built my first (and so far only) SP5 computer, I went back to 1P because none of the available air coolers convinced me, such that I preferred one water-cooled 320...400 W socket per node over two air-cooled 150...220 W sockets per node.

 

[jamesdsimone]

If you do rendering or dozens of VMs and containers? Minmaxing. Used 2P server boards have been able to offer more MT throughput per $. Though I haven't looked at eBay prices lately.

Can't think of another reason in the era when 56/64/96 core processors are marketed to prosumers. 1 CPU is now more than enough.

Asking because they are cheap and kind of cool. If only I had some weather patterns to analyze. I haven't looked a lot but I assume they come with bigger power supplies. I think the Dell T7820 come with a 1400w. You can run just one CPU from what I have read.