adding a 2nd processor

[Bash]

Hey all,
I've got a Supermicro P6DBU (dual BX) mobo. Right now I'm running a single P3-600 Cumine slot 1. I've started to use Adobe Premiere quite a bit recently and it's slow as hell despite the Pinnacle DV500 "Real Time" video editing card I bought for $900. Anyway, I want to add another P3-600 to my board. This seems crazy, but at one point I heard that you had to be careful to match processors in dual boards--i.e. plugging in another random P3-600 cumine might not work.

Personally, I'd expect any old P3-600 with 256k cache would do fine. Am I right or is there more to it?

-Bash

[Arcadian]

Originally posted by Bash:
Hey all,
I've got a Supermicro P6DBU (dual BX) mobo. Right now I'm running a single P3-600 Cumine slot 1. I've started to use Adobe Premiere quite a bit recently and it's slow as hell despite the Pinnacle DV500 "Real Time" video editing card I bought for $900. Anyway, I want to add another P3-600 to my board. This seems crazy, but at one point I heard that you had to be careful to match processors in dual boards--i.e. plugging in another random P3-600 cumine might not work.

Personally, I'd expect any old P3-600 with 256k cache would do fine. Am I right or is there more to it?

-Bash

You are correct that any Pentium III 600MHz CPU with 256KB cache will work fine. What would not work is if you put in an 800MHz Pentium III or something else with a different speed grade.

[Fred]

Just make sure your running Windows NT, or 2000. 95-98 won't utilze the 2nd processor.

Fred

[Bash]

Originally posted by Fred:
Just make sure your running Windows NT, or 2000. 95-98 won't utilze the 2nd processor.

Fred

Yup, I'm formatting 98 and installing 2k.

-Bash

[Un4given]

Originally posted by Arcadian:
You are correct that any Pentium III 600MHz CPU with 256KB cache will work fine. What would not work is if you put in an 800MHz Pentium III or something else with a different speed grade.

That's not completely accurate. Although another CuMine will likely work, it is always recommended that your CPU's are the same stepping when running SMP.

[Arcadian]

Originally posted by Un4given:
That's not completely accurate. Although another CuMine will likely work, it is always recommended that your CPU's are the same stepping when running SMP.

Well, I should have said that an 800MHz Pentium III running SMP with a 600MHz Pentium III would not be supported. On some platforms it may run, but I cannot see a real improvement, because as far as the OS is concerned, there are two equal processors in the system, and it will distribute tasks accordingly. So, even if you could get it to work, the 600MHz processor would be a bottleneck.

[Cougar]

You need two the same speed always. What Un4given meant when he said:

That's not completely accurate. Although another CuMine will likely work, it is always recommended that your CPU's are the same stepping when running SMP.

was that the CPU version (known as stepping) matters as well as the actual speed. For example, buying a CPU now will possibly have a different core version than the earlier one and it is possible that it will not work.

If you want to be sure, buy 2 new processors from the same place at the same time and sell the old one. Or, if you can arrange it, send 1 of the new ones back if your old one works with it.

------------------
_________________________
Celery is yummy, especially when overclocked 68%