Combining the power of two computers

[supadupafly67]

Hi everybody,

I don't know if what i want to do is even possible since i have not found anything on it so far, so i decided to ask here. I have 2 systems, a desktop and an inspiron notebook. My desktop i use mostly for gaming but it's getting long in the tooth. What i want to do is combine the processing power of the desktop and the laptop... I want to harness the power of both systems simultaneously to be able to run games faster. These are my specs:

Desktop: Athlon 64 3200+ @2.2ghz, geforce 7900gs(256mb)[550/1450], 2gb ram, 80gb hd

laptop: dell inspiron 9300: 1.73ghz single core pentium M, 512mb ram, geforce go 6800, 60gb hd

Is there any way to combine the two systems to run a single application on a single monitor, so that basically i could have a poor mans dual core and "semi" sli system ?

Any input would be appreciated...thanks

 

[footballrunner800]

its possible to do that. If there was some program out there that would do that, you would need some kind of special connection to connect both. (usb or ethernet would not have enough bandwidth).

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: supadupafly67
Hi everybody,

I don't know if what i want to do is even possible since i have not found anything on it so far, so i decided to ask here. I have 2 systems, a desktop and an inspiron notebook. My desktop i use mostly for gaming but it's getting long in the tooth. What i want to do is combine the processing power of the desktop and the laptop... I want to harness the power of both systems simultaneously to be able to run games faster. These are my specs:

Desktop: Athlon 64 3200+ @2.2ghz, geforce 7900gs(256mb)[550/1450], 2gb ram, 80gb hd

laptop: dell inspiron 9300: 1.73ghz single core pentium M, 512mb ram, geforce go 6800, 60gb hd

Is there any way to combine the two systems to run a single application on a single monitor, so that basically i could have a poor mans dual core and "semi" sli system ?

Any input would be appreciated...thanks

Not with less time effort and money required than just straight up buying a new PC and graphics card. What you want is a beowulf cluster but getting windows to do this, and put it together for games? Won't work at all. Especially seeing as most games are still single-threaded, you're SOL.

 

[supadupafly67]

Thanks alot for the advice guys. I hear u about upgrading is just that funds are a bit tight right now, but i'll be upgrading as soon as i can. How does an E8400 and a radeon 4870 sound?

 

[0roo0roo]

lol yes its not possible at this point.
the things run on such cluster computers are pretty far from games.
its rendering and scientific research problems that can be broken up into pieces and don't have to worry about real time.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: supadupafly67
Thanks alot for the advice guys. I hear u about upgrading is just that funds are a bit tight right now, but i'll be upgrading as soon as i can. How does an E8400 and a radeon 4870 sound?

ATI 4850 graphics card $150 AR http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814125224
Gigabyte P43 DS3L motherboard $95 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128347
G.Skill 4GB DDR2-1000 (because it's really cheap and for extra headroom if you overclock a lot) $55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231152
Intel E2200 CPU (great overclocker) $80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116063
Xigmatec Rifle 120mm cooler $28 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835233003
Western Digital Caviar 640GB $85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136218
Antec Three Hundred case $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129042

$553

 

[Fox5]

Ethernet could do it.

Streammygame.com allows you to do streaming HD video of your games (and controls) to a remote computer. Ethernet should be fast enough to handle it, though you'd need gigabit ethernet for the higher resolutions.

 

[videogames101]

Ethernet is fine for that, especially cat6, plenty, and I mean PLENTY of bandwidth.

 

[Roguestar]

Originally posted by: Fox5
Ethernet could do it.

Streammygame.com allows you to do streaming HD video of your games (and controls) to a remote computer. Ethernet should be fast enough to handle it, though you'd need gigabit ethernet for the higher resolutions.

Yeah but that's not really what he asked for, though. OP wants a way to interconnect his computers in order to essentially run games across both, and collate back onto an external monitor, which as mentioned before is basically impossible with games on windows.

 

[0roo0roo]

or on any platform.

remember sony promised this with the ps3
the "cell" processor in your toaster will combine with the ps3 to render awesome gaming experience!

 

[Roguestar]

I knew my toaster was looking at me funny, almost like it thought it could run things better than I could...

 

[supadupafly67]

U hit the nail on the head roguestar, but unfortunately it obviously seems like its impossible. I've been doing some more research and i came across something from Lucid multi-gpu solution posted at anandtech. I'm not a very technical person and honestly after the reading the article i still didn't quite know how exactly the thing is implemented... I mean does it have an adapter to plug into a pci-e port on your motherboard?... will i need an additional power supply?... they don't have any numbers yet but it would have been nice to see how it stacks up against traditional crossfire/sli setups

P.S... thanks so much for all the input

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: supadupafly67
U hit the nail on the head roguestar, but unfortunately it obviously seems like its impossible. I've been doing some more research and i came across something from Lucid multi-gpu solution posted at anandtech. I'm not a very technical person and honestly after the reading the article i still didn't quite know how exactly the thing is implemented... I mean does it have an adapter to plug into a pci-e port on your motherboard?... will i need an additional power supply?... they don't have any numbers yet but it would have been nice to see how it stacks up against traditional crossfire/sli setups

P.S... thanks so much for all the input

It would be a chip directly integrated into the motherboard allowing for multiple gpus to be used like sli or crossfire.

BTW, the best solution is just to make a beefy desktop and stream video over gigabit ethernet (or MAYBE wireless 802.11N) to a laptop. Laptops are so far behind the power of desktops that you really wouldn't gain much from combining the power of both.

 

[JackMDS]

Any solution that needs investment of money on your old system is a waste, unless yu buy a new Video card that can be use later in future upgrade.

If your life and income depends on Gaming then you are in a Bind.

Otherwise it is just a computer Game.

 

[supadupafly67]

i hear u... oh well i guess i gotta bite the bullet and jump on the upgrade bandwagon. Like i posted before i was thinking about an E8400 and a radeon 4870. I was also thinking about waiting for Core i7 (Nehalem) but that won't come out in time for far cry 2

Thanks everyone for all the help and advice, i'm a newbie to forums in general but i'll definitely be around... cheers