Dual Pentium Pro with Linux

[divergex]

Hello folks, I have a question.

I am going to install Suse Linux 8 Personal on an old Intergraph Pentium Pro 200 (dual capable) system with 64MB of RAM. I have used Linux on this box before with no hardware problems, so I'm pretty comfortable with things. My question is, would it make any sense to add a second PPro 200 CPU? I have found them as cheap as $15, so I'm wondering if the second CPU would add enough performance to make sense.

Thanks!

 

[DeschutesCore]

For running SETi and calcs, yes, think of them as mini PII's

DC

 

[vash]

SMP never hurts a *nix machine. For $15, can't go wrong. Heck, I wouldn't mind getting a 4way PPro for uber cheap.

vash

 

[Lvis]

Wouldn't want ya to waste $15... but don't the two cpu's have to be of the same stepping, in order to work together? Someone will know the answer to this, I'm sure.

 

[DeschutesCore]

Yes, they do have to have a matching stepping. Most listing for PPro's will include stepping info.

DC

 

[Fun Guy]

No, they don't necessarily have to be the same stepping, or even the same speed for that matter.

Back when I was leaning toward a dual PPro, I searched and researched and found that some people were actually getting one 166Mhz chip and one 200Mhz chip and running them together successfully (not saying it was working well or efficiently, but I would check it out thoroughly before insisting on it same stepping). Look on Google Newsgroup Search using Boolean operators to find out more (i.e. "pentium pro" stepping same dual speed different)

Also, don't forget that there are two cache sizes, 256KB and 512KB, don't have to tell you which is better. Only the 166Mhz and 200Mhz chips have 512KB available. Read more here: PPro Specs