Recommended MotherBoard for Dual PIII CPU's

[p3200tmz]

Good day to all;

I am looking to build another machine to handle my graphic chores, but be warned I am on an extremely tight budget. I will be using this machine to batch process large(up to 100MB each) graphic files, while also using it to upload files to off-site storage, and etc.

I want a dual processor machine so that I can set one CPU to a batch process while using the other to edit html files, ftp to off-site storage, and etc.

I want a motherboard that will handle up to 2GB of RAM, since these operations are very memory intensive and since I have little money to spend on this machine, I would rather be able to afford to run 2GB of SD-RAM than 512MB of DDR-RAM, since even though SD-RAM is at 100MHz is slow it is still much faster than reading and writing to HDD when you run out of RAM.

I am looking to use 2 - 1GHz PIII or Xeon processors, I really do not care whether they are Slot 1 or Socket 370. I need this to fit into an ATX Form Factor.

I am not opposed to an Athlon set-up, but would prefer Intel CPU and Board, since it is basically plug and play. Stability is king here, and reliablility is all important.

I am open to all suggestions and advice.

Thank you

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: p3200tmz
Good day to all;

I am looking to build another machine to handle my graphic chores, but be warned I am on an extremely tight budget. I will be using this machine to batch process large(up to 100MB each) graphic files, while also using it to upload files to off-site storage, and etc.

I want a dual processor machine so that I can set one CPU to a batch process while using the other to edit html files, ftp to off-site storage, and etc.

With the advent of multitasking this is no longer required. You can simply lower the rendering process's priority and no longer have to worry about this.

I want a motherboard that will handle up to 2GB of RAM, since these operations are very memory intensive and since I have little money to spend on this machine, I would rather be able to afford to run 2GB of SD-RAM than 512MB of DDR-RAM, since even though SD-RAM is at 100MHz is slow it is still much faster than reading and writing to HDD when you run out of RAM.

Given that DDR RAM is so much cheaper now than SDRAM PC100, this seems an odd statement to make.

I am looking to use 2 - 1GHz PIII or Xeon processors, I really do not care whether they are Slot 1 or Socket 370. I need this to fit into an ATX Form Factor.

I am not opposed to an Athlon set-up, but would prefer Intel CPU and Board, since it is basically plug and play. Stability is king here, and reliablility is all important.
I am open to all suggestions and advice.
Thank you

An ECS K7xyz plus AMD XP2500+ is available at Fry's all day long for $80-ish and will do exactly what you want - far faster and as reliably than any dual Intel P3 CPU setup. I suggest buying one of those. It would also be far cheaper, easier to set up, better supported, and easier to upgrade or replace. You would also be able to find RAM much more easily.