Why Go Nuts Over MP?

[GTaudiophile]

I just don't get it. In all the benches I've seen, the performance gain of a dual-processor setup over a single-processor setup is marginal at best. So, why go nuts over AMD's 760MP chipset? Do all of you want dual CPUs just to say you have them? Does the performance gain now justify the added cost? Will a AMD 760MP setup, using WinXP or Win2K, allow you to double your FPS in future games like DoomIII? What am I missing here?

BTW, here's Tom's look at the 760MP.

Q3A: 640x480@16 with Win2K
AthlonMP 1.2 Dual (AMD 760MP) - 250.3 fps
Xeon 4 1.7 Dual (i860) - 265.9 fps
Athlon 1.2 (AMD 760) - 187.3 fps

Q3A NV15: 640x480@16 with Win2K
AthlonMP 1.2 Dual (AMD 760MP) - 68.6 fps
Xeon 4 1.7 Dual (i860) - 67.9 fps
Athlon 1.2 (AMD 760) - 44.2 fps

 

[tontod]

Yeah, the gain is minimal at best unless you're heavy into things like photoshop or video editing. Not to mention its noisier because of the extra fan and makes your room hotter. I've discovered that with my bp6 and dual celeron setup.

 

[Jason Clark]

GT, the gain is much more than marginal in heavy load server type situations. These platforms aren't built for the gamer. The gamer is one of the smallest parts of the market. Servers, workstations that's what MP is targeted at.

 

[davidsnot]

System response is MUCH better with win2k, and a bunch of apps running. I think I'll have a hard time going back to a single.

 

[AMDPwred]

The gamers rock!

(Sorry, just has to add that)

 

[Bozo Galora]

Good grief Charley Brown, is that ZUNI I see slumming in the Hardware Forum - with an OPINION yet!!!!!!!!!

Am I hallucinating?

(Obviously, the forums are now autonomous/self running, and a cut in pay is probably in order)

 

[Remedy]

Why do ppl always think when go dual you get a gabillion extra frames? Dual is not for gaming and never will be, Most ppl who use dual actually have WORK to do not play q3 and have bragging rights. If you multitask then it is more than a gain with a dual system. If you want to play games get Uniprocessor box and stick win9x. Dual is for work not play.

 

[ToBeMe]

Survey Says!
The #1 reason is: Because as far as AMD goes at least, it's new!
The #2 reason is: Because Hardware costs have dropped!
The #3 reason is: Because of the performance gains!

Seriously........most people won't/can't use the performance gains attained by MP, so more less #1 & #2 are where most people doing it fit!

 

[Jason Clark]

Hi Bozo . Yeah sometimes I actually have a few seconds during a day to chat .

 

[bigbootydaddy]

<< Dual is not for gaming and never will be, Most ppl who use dual actually have WORK to do not play q3 and have bragging rights >>



i play q3 and brag on my dual p3.

trust us, once you go dual, you will NEVER go back. cant wait for the mp to drop.

 

[ragiepew]

Tom compares the (2) athlons MP v. (2) xeon in Q3A and UT.... what a complete waste of time... I mean, the performance benefits you get from such tests are minimal at best (as stated above). Read Anands and Aces reviews, they are much more complete and reflect the environment they are intended to run in. Anands tests the MP's in a server environment as well as a workstation environment. Aces tests w/ 3d modeling and other workstation type applications. There you will see up to a 80% increase in speed... thats quite a lot. Anywho, Q3A/UT/ or any other games need not be tested on such high end systems, IMHO. Zuni hit it right on the nail.

 

[ndee]

Q3A supports SMP and benefits a lot of 2 CPUs. Of course not 100% faster, but for the real-hardcore gamers, every frame is worth a couple hundred $$$

 

[Remedy]

You also need a GF chipset to take advantage of Multithreads in Q3 so should everyone who uses a dual system run out and get Nvidia card? I don't even think doom3 is Multithread although i could be wrong. Nascar4 is supposly MT but who knows(i'll never in my life consider nascar good), also the whole conception of Multithreading q3 was to handle the AI along with loading the balance of system task in order to get a steady rate of frames in performance. Now that the P4 is here(and q3 likes the FSB so much) there is no need to have an SMP system just q3 and bragging rights, time to use it for its intentions. IMO

 

[SCSIRAID]

I have a 2way and the benefit I see is that the system is more 'responsive' expecially when running multiple apps. I agree the 'benchmarkable' differences may not be exceptional (or invisible unless you have a multithreading workload). My perception is that the &quot;User Interface&quot; UI appears as it is running on 'its own system'. I love it! As far as true thruput a typical home user is unlikely to get even close to the potential of 1 processor let alone 2 unless you are gaming (note I said typical!!!)

 

[ElFenix]

sorry, i'm a seti nut, so i'm having a really hard time deciding

 

[Moohooya]

It is a catch 22 situation. Programmers will not invest the time to make a games performance increase with a dual processor if no gamers have dual boxes. If the games dont support it, the gamers will spend their money else where. Then Micro$hit further confound the issue by having crappy several crappy OS that don't handle multiple CPUs.

AMD enters the stage.

Here we finally have a solution that might be cheap enough for more of the gamers to decide to spend that extra couple of hundred if there is a decent OS that works with all their games, and does not cost and arm and a leg to upgrade to. Once this happens the games will start using it.

Most real world problems can be broken down into seperate tasks. Take a game. One thread/cpu can be doing all the rendering. Another thread/cpu handling the sound, feedback from the user, other players, game logic and rules etc. Fairly simple, but won't double you frame rate. Might give you a 30% frame rate increase. If more work can be moved the the idle cpu, you'll get more improvements. Few computer languages are designed for multiple processors. This makes writting good multithreaded apps much harder. As SMP desktops become more common you'll see more and more software take advantage of it.

 

[vash]

Two is better than one.

It works with nearly everything in life and it works with computers. If you plan on running an OS that supports SMP, why not use it? With an SMP rig of my own, my system works just fine and I have piece of mind that I can throw tons of stuff at it and it won't crash because of my stable OS.

Games like Quake3 are the beginning of more developers developing games under an NT compatable OS which supports SMP. Since SMP is supported in Quake3, all games based on this engine will support it and I'm sure Doom3 will as well. There is a limit to the amount of FPS that can be visible, but you can always crank up more for the video, more monsters and bigger levels to bring the system down to its knees.

With SMP, you can crank up just a bit more..

vash

 

[Bozo Galora]

There is only one instance that I know of where two is actually much better than one:

The Shark has two penises.

All your other arguments are a just a big stretch (ummm)