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Dual PIII 1.2, or single p4 2.4ghz?

B

bolsen

Senior member
I am pricing together a system right now and am thinking about what combination to use.

Now, I know that each processor you add is only a 50% increase in speed, but the dual systems always seem to be faster than a single processor.

Oh, and (2) 1.2's is the same price as a 2.4.

This whole process would be a lot easier if dual p4 (non-xeon) were available!!!
 
A p4-2.4b is now under $200 due to the pricecuts.

A dual tualatin 1.26 (especially with 512K Cache) will probably oust a P4 under data serving environments given a proper chipset, but p4's will perform better given regular tasks [office/gaming/science/gfx].
 
Most programs do not take full advantage of SMP... Thus resulting in lower than expected performance...

I would say that in almost all situations and tasks the P4 2.4Ghz would dominate...



 
Server or SMP aware applications would be the reason to own a SMP setup. If you plan on photo, video, or sound editing---> multiprocesser. If it will be general use, gameing, etc. single CPU better, plus you get a significantly faster processor.
 
Originally posted by: Jmmsbnd007
Dual P3s! Using 2k/XP Pro or another SMP aware OS, pretty much EVERYTHING will be sped up, except for some minor things which may slow down minimally because of SMP overhead. Trust me, it's worth it.
Click to expand...

I have a friend with dual pentium pro 200's and it was easily as fast (if not faster) than my pII 400.

Argh... decisions...
 
I'd definitely take the single P4, especially in light of the DDR/RDRAM memory bandwidth advantage. Those dual P3s will choke on SDRAM.
 
If he goes Dual PIII's, Intel OR840 motherboards are selling for cheap right now off Ebay ($50-75). The 840 chipset uses dual RDRAM channels, just like the 850 chipset for the P4. The only caveat is the mobo only accepts 133fsb Slot 1 CPU's.
 
I'm fairly certain that P3s can't really take advantage of the extra memory bandwidth provided over PC133 SDRAM.
 
In dual mode, p3's more than saturate SDR SDRam bandwidth, in dual mode, they can use the extra bandwidth due to the shared bus. OR840 will be a very nice choice, the p3 will perform even better with low latency PC1066 RDRam if you can get it to that. Another choice would be a ServerWorks based chipset that uses DDR or Dual Channel SDR.
 
The 2.4 GHz P4 on a 533 MHz fsb will blow away the dual PIII 1.2 GHz computer in virtually every program that is commonly used. Plus, looking at the processors only, the price will be cheaper for the P4:

Today's pricewatch prices:
2.53 GHz P4: $240 shipped
2.4 GHz P4: $199 shipped
1.2 GHz P3: 2*$112 = $224 shipped

Thus the price of dual P3s is closer to the price of a 2.53 GHz P4 than the price of a 2.4 GHz P4. The P4 route also gives you more room for upgrading in the future.

I use dual machines daily (specifically dual 450 MHz PII and dual 1.7 GHz Xeon) and I'd rather use a single 2.4 GHz P4 on 533 MHz fsb than the dual 1.2 GHz PIII since the P4 would win in all the dual capable programs that I use.

It is sad that the P4 Xeon prices are temporarilly high - in the last year the P4 Xeon has averaged about $25 higher than the equivalent P4 (making it silly to ever want dual P4s when dual P4 Xeons cost about the same). However, the P4 chips just got a huge price cut, and it shows in the prices on pricewatch. The P4 Xeons got a smaller but still significant price cut and not a single price has changed on pricewatch. The 533 MHz fsb Xeons are due any day now and I think Intel is waiting for those for a massive price cut on the remaining Xeons. I'm patiently waiting to see 2.4 GHz Xeons on the 533 MHz fsb for roughly $225 - hopefully I won't have to wait longer than a month. Plus there are rumors of new low cost Xeon motherboards due soon.
 
The decision needs to be based on what you are going to use the computer for. The P4 will provide higher performance for tasks that most people use their systems for such as gaming, music listening, internet browsing, etc. Extremely heavy multi-tasking under an SMP capable OS will yield great performance benefits. However, I don't know how much greater the performance would be compared to a 2.4GHz P4. For most people, a single processor system just makes more sense. The average power user simply cannot take advantage of SMP like a server or professional machine. I suggest going with the P4. If you get the right motheboard, you will have a nice upgrade path as well.
 
I've got a dual PIII setup 2x933/133's on an OR840 and I love it. The OR840 is super stable. Not one crash. Ever. The Dual setup also adds stability and you CAN take advantage of the Rambus with this system.

The drawback to the OR840 is that the slot 1 CPU's max out at 1000/100 speed. You can buy Powerleap adapters to get a Dual 1.4 tuallie setup to run and it does it very well. But the adapter/CPU price gets pretty steep.

I'd say it's a toss-up but I went for the Duallie and I have nothing but praise for it.
ripthesystem
 
ripthesystem, have you ever tried 100fsb CPU's with it? Intel's website said that only 133fsb CPU's can be used. I currently have this board and two 1.26ghz Tuallies (512k cache, not the regular 256k). I got two version 2.0 Powerleap adapters from a friend who bought it in Taiwan ($25 each, so just $50 for the two🙂) and everything works like clockwork. Right now, I took it down since I'm waiting for a second SCSI drive plus adapter (SCSI RAID 0) but it seems like the additional cache and pre-fetch thing with the Tuallies does seem to like the additional bandwidth.

As for the OR840, my friend has an extra one lying around that he's willing to sell for $50 shipped. If somebody is interested, give me a holler.
 
so jealous.. never run anything other than 133's on it. perhaps I was mistaken about the 100fsb chips .. C'est la vie. I would love to run Tuallie's on this. But the Powerleap price here is outrageous for me. if I could get them for what you did--- damn!!!

ripthesystem
 
Yup, the Powerleap adapters are like $50 here (not including shipping) in the U.S. so its pretty prohibitive. The Tuallie's (1.26ghz, 512k) can be had for around $100-140 over at Ebay, even lower if you get lucky (I've seen one go for $75). The 1.4's are a different story since everybody seems to be looking out for them. They can go as high as over $200🙁.
 
looks like I'm stuck an 933 then.. unless a miracle happens or I eventually wait for P5's or something 😉

Is there a cheap(er) online place to find the Powerleap online?
thx
ripthesystem
 
have you guys tried modding the tualatin to work in 440bx/815/820/840 boads?

I was thinking about doing it on my 440BX with some electrical tape and a wire.
 
Just go with the single P4, unless you have any specific tasks in mind that you know are gonna benefit from dual CPU's.
But I can't think of many programs that would scale good enough to make dual P3's faster than a single P4, the vast majority of user application out there aren't SMP optimized at all, and of those that are, very few will scale good enough to put the dual P3's above the P4.
 
another bene of the P4 system is future upgradeablitiy (assuming you get a mobo that will handle the new P4 voltage)

 
Is there a cheap(er) online place to find the Powerleap online?

I'm afraid not.

Dexvx, I've considered modding a Slotket but I just don't have the time ( in other words, lazy😉). Also, I don't think its a 100% with all slotkets; it may work with some name brands such as the MSI slotkets but not work for other, more generic ones. Also, older slot 1 mobos don't even support voltages below 2.0 volts (the Tuallies are 1.425-1.55, they have weird voltage that goes by .025v intervals).

As for the original poster, a single P4 2.4 is the wiser choice since the technology is newer and you have more headroom for future upgrades. It wll run faster in most situations unless your needs specifies a duallie setup.
 
If it's gonna be for a server then use the dual 1.2's, if you're just gonna use it for gaming/web surfing/word processing, go with the p4 2.4....
 
Originally posted by: bolsen
Originally posted by: Jmmsbnd007
Dual P3s! Using 2k/XP Pro or another SMP aware OS, pretty much EVERYTHING will be sped up, except for some minor things which may slow down minimally because of SMP overhead. Trust me, it's worth it.
Click to expand...

I have a friend with dual pentium pro 200's and it was easily as fast (if not faster) than my pII 400.

Argh... decisions...
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind is that Pentium Pro's had full speed on-die cache whereas the PII was hampered by it's off-die fractional speed cache.

Unless you have a good reason to want/need SMP, stick with the single CPU system.

I sold my dual 1800+ system to build an OC'd P4, I haven't regretted it yet.

Viper GTS
 
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