Dual Processors and WinXP

[raley136]

Just curious to know if WinXP Home Edition supports dual processors? Can't seem to find any info on it anywhere.

Also, wondering if Intel's warning about using Celerons in dual processor configurations is hot air or an actual disabling of the feature. Did they actually disable dual processor functionality, or is it just a warning on the box to get you to pay 3 times as much for a P3 or P4?

Thanks for the help,

 

[Nothinman]

You need Pro or higher for SMP, and Pro only support 2 CPUs.

Celerons can run in SMP, I had a BP6 and it works fine. Also remember P4s don't do SMP and I havn't seen any hacks to make it work, if you want official SMP anymore it's P3s or Xeons.

 

[raley136]

Awesome, okay, I am actually running a BP6 with a single Celeron 500 that I want to upgrade, but the multiplier only goes up to 8 on the board, so I'm thinking of going dual, just wondering if I can go with 2 Celeron 800's or if I have to shell out for the P3's. Any thoughts/suggestions? I don't really wanna spend the cash on a new motherboard right now.

 

[decep]

Sorry, the fastest Celeron you can do SMP with on a BP6 is 533Mhz (the last Celeron-A). The Coppermine celerons will not work in SMP on a BP6; you can at least still use one, though.

 

[Rand]

<< Awesome, okay, I am actually running a BP6 with a single Celeron 500 that I want to upgrade, but the multiplier only goes up to 8 on the board, so I'm thinking of going dual, just wondering if I can go with 2 Celeron 800's or if I have to shell out for the P3's. Any thoughts/suggestions? I don't really wanna spend the cash on a new motherboard right now. >>




Only the classic PPGA Covington and Mendocino core Celeron processors will operate in SMP. The FCPGA and FCPGA2 Coppermine and Tualatin core Celeron processors will not work in a dual processor configuration at all.

ALL Celeron 800MHz processors are based on the Coppermine core and are not capable of SMP functionality.
The Celeron 500MHz is still based on the older Mendocino core hpwever, and will work perfectly fine in SMP mode albeit it is not supported by Intel.

The Celeron 533MHz is the last Celeron based upon the Mendocino core, it should be noted however that there are also some Coppermine based Celeron 533's available, so not all 533 Celeron's are SMP Capable.

 

[HOOSDAMAN]

Sorry for my ignorance, and I posted another question concerning Dual-Proc. What is SMP? I have 2 PIII 800EB's running.
Thanks for your time.

 

[raley136]

If I remember right, SMP means Sequential Multi-Processor, which is the method of operating more than one processor. Dual-Processor is running two, so it's SMP. Anybody wanna elaborate/correct me?

 

[Nothinman]

SMP stands for Symmetrical MultiProcessing and it is the use of 2 or more of the same speed CPUs.

 

[HOOSDAMAN]

One more question. I had a single processor in my MB and then added a second, same speed and everything. Everything runs fine, but I did not notice a huge speed increase. This may be dumb, but how do I know, or tell if my XP is utilizing the 2 procs? It just does not seem like it is a lot faster.
Thanks for tolerating my ignorance.

 

[bozo1]

XP Pro (not Home) should detect the 2nd processor and install the required stuff for it. You can check by going into the computer section of Device Manager - it should show up as a multiprocessor system.

As far as not seeing much of a speed bump - what are you doing? You aren't going to see much of anything unless you are running apps that are SMP aware of which very few are. You will see a small bump in everyday tasks as XP will offload some stuff to the 2nd CPU but the bump, in my opinion, is so small as to really not be noticed.

 

[HOOSDAMAN]

Thanks bozo for the info.