Single 2Ghz P4 or dual 1Ghz PIII for server

[TechBoyJK]

Question,

Givin an environment where the application can utilize dual cpus, what would you rather have, a single P4 2Ghz or a dual P3 1Ghz machine? Why one over the other?

 

[Futher]

Both are pretty much the same, but since it's going to be a server, and I assume you want to minimize the risk of hardware problems, I'd go with the single 2 ghz. Just my view on it.

 

[dullard]

For programs that utilize dual CPUs well, you'd expect a 30% to 70% boost on average (depending on the program and what you are doing with it). Since I don't know your exact useage, I'd guess right around a 40% boost is probably what you'd likely see. So what would you rather have a 2 GHz P4 or a 1.4 GHz P3? The P4 isn't as efficient per clock as the P3 but I think for most uses a 2 GHz P4 is faster than a 1.4 GHz P3.

 

[dexvx]

Depends on what kind of P4. Willamette, Northwood, or Xeons.

If its the Xeons, i'd go for it. If its the willamettes, I'd choose the dual P3. If its the Northwood, its a tossup.

 

[afzan]

also depends if they are coppermine p3, or tualatins..

 

[dguy6789]

the 2ghz p4 hands down, 1 2ghz cpu will make less heat then 2 1 ghz cpus. also , 2 cpus are for multi threading, so if there was 2 threads, and it takes a 1 ghz cpu 5seconds to do it, it would take 5 seconds for it to do 2 threads becasuse it has 2 cpus. with 1 it would be alot slower, however, the p4 is twice as fast so, it does 1 thread in 2.5 seconds right after another of 2.5 seconds, so each can do the same at most. but what if there is only 1 thread, it will take the dual 5 seconds to do it becuase on a single thread of data, a dual uses 50% of each cpu. but if it were the same single thread in a p4, would be in 2.5 seconds. So getthe p4, it is faster in single threaded things, and both are even in multi threaded. hope this is not to complicated for ya.

 

[tweeve2002]

get a P4 with hyperthreading then it is one CPU but acts like 2

 

[Intelman07]

Originally posted by: tweeve2002
get a P4 with hyperthreading then it is one CPU but acts like 2

I would get a p4 with hyperthreading.

 

[Sunner]

Well, I can see a few benefits to the P3's.
For one thing, dual capable boards tend to be more oriented towards the high end, hence of higher quality, this is of course dependant on the more specific details of the platforms you're considdering.
Another good thing about dual CPU's is that is some program goes berserk on the box, it might big down the CPU, but if you have two, the other CPU will still be free to do whatever it's supposed to do(unless the "main" program is the one that's going berserk of course).
As for power consumption, if the P3's are Tualatins, it will likely be lower, IIRC the Tualatin P3 has a power consumption at around 20-25 watts at 1.4 GHz, should be a moot point though, unless you're trying to build yourself a blade or something.

But in the end, you've given far too little information about what the box will be used for?
CPU intensive stuff?
A database?
Webserver?

Most servers tend to be more bound by disk throughput and/or RAM.

 

[jimmyl930]

Originally posted by: afzan
also depends if they are coppermine p3, or tualatins..

What's the difference between those two?

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: jimmyl930

Originally posted by: afzan
also depends if they are coppermine p3, or tualatins..

What's the difference between those two?

.18 vs .13

Some Tualatins have 512 KB of L2 cache.
They're also cooler than the Coppermines.