I'd tend to agree with Fastball. Your comment about needing special software to use them is correct. You need to use either an SMP kernel in Linux (easy to find), Windows NT, Windows 2000, or WinXP Professional. WinXP home edition, and 9x/ME do NOT have multiprocessor support. And even then you need programs to utilize them. NT/XP will speed up some, but the true power of multiprocessors is not realized until you use appropriately-designed programs.
The main reasons for dual processors are:
-compiling programs: most compilers out there for Windows and Linux know how to utilize multiple processors for REAL performance increases, but if you are making only 100-200 line programs, its not really worth it.
-creating graphics: 3d rendering programs for the most part know how to use SMP. They DO need it in practically every instance. If this is what you are doing, it is definitely worth it.
-servers: serving up a lot of 'net traffic? How about keeping a Q3 server up 24/7? How about both? This is another application of SMP if done right.
One thing you do NOT need SMP for is games. I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that MOST games cannot use multiple processors to very much advantage. If you are looking for better performance in games, get the latest and greatest graphics board out there. It will give you a better performance gain almost guaranteed.
And as for WHICH graphics board is best, I don't think this guy wants this thread turning into THAT debate.
Hope this helps you
Erioll
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