Has there ever been dual cpu Pentium 4's?

[TechBoyJK]

I was talking with a coworker and we started to wonder if there has ever been a dual cpu p4 system developed. I have never seen one and neither has he. I know there was dualP3's, but it seems like only single P4's and then dual+ xeons. whats up?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Nope, just Xeon P4s. Though CEO-Shawn of CyberWingz claimed he'd be using them in his next server upgrade

 

[Noriaki]

The new CPU just called Xeon, is the SMP P4.

P3 had P3 Xeon, P4 just has Xeon with no P4 prefix for some reason.

The Xeon is a P4 core with a big pile of L2 cache.

If memory serves I don't believe the standard P4s are SMP capable, the Xeon has a slightly different Pinout which allows for SMP.

 

[dullard]

No incentive. In the P3 days you could get a P3 for $200 (each) or a P3 Xeon for $1000 (each). The performance for most programs was the same. Both worked fine in dual setups - which would you choose? Of course the P3 was the better option. So motherboard manufacturers made motherboards for dual P3s.

Now comes the P4. You can get a P4 for $200 (each) and the equivalent Xeon for $225 (each). Do you see the difference from the days of the P3? There isn't a money incentive for people to make workarounds (especially since Intel made the P4 chip itself difficult to go dual). The extra hardware needed for this (if possible) would cost more than the price of just using the Xeons. No one in their right mind will want that.

Note: in the last few months the P4 has declined in price a bit faster than the Xeon - so it is no longer just a $25 difference. But for the first year it was right at $25.