Dual proc. boards

[Guest]

I'm wanting to build a new confuzer and I was thinking about a dual processor board. I'm wanting to use it as a server and games machine. I know it WILL cost more but would it be a superior setup to use in place of a single processor board performing both functions at the same time? Thanks to all in advance, Rick.

 

[jclw]

I've spent many long hours looking at dual processor boards... and I've yet to buy one...

As far as I can tell there are currently three main chipsets that support dual (Intel) processors:

VIA VT82C694X (North) / VT82C686B (South):
I've heard bad things about VIA chipsets and Intel chips, and I have had enough frustration with an AMD chip and a VIA chipset so this chipset didn't really interest me. There have been problems (graphics slowdowns) reported on boards with the VT82C686B as well. If anyone has a board based on this chipset I'd be interested to hear some opinions. The most popular dual VIA board is the Abit VP6 I think.

Intel 440BX:
I have a single processor board based on the BX chipset and I love it. The disadvantage is that the BX chipset only runs at 100MHz 'tho it is highly overclockable. The most popular dual BX board appears to be the Abit BP6.

SeverWorks ServerSet III LE:
This appears to be a "real" server chipset as all the board I've found that all the boards with this chipset have integrated Adaptec SCSI, ATI Rage graphics, and Intel ethernet which tends to make them rather $$$. As many companies like Intel, HP, Compaq, and Dell use this chipset it's probably a good one. This chipset does not support AGP (but it does support 2 64bit/66MHz PCI slots) so it wouldn't be that great for 3D games. The Asus CUR-DLS is a good example of a board with this chipset.

I've never been able to justify the higher cost of a dual board. You didn't say what kind of server you want to run but as an example I use a 486-100 as a print server and I have friends that run a web server off a Pentium-120. You don't need much processing power unless your server is running programs for other people. It might be cheaper buying a single processor computer for your games and getting an older cheaper computer to use as your server.

- JW