Dual cpu's

[Davy]

I'm planning to buy myself a performant dual cpu machine, but will i also
gain performance outside 3d studio? i've heard of symmetric and parallel
multi processing, what does NT support?

Davy

[Jvcleave]

nt supports symmetric processing and the extra benefit of a second cpu allows
you to let one processor work on one program while the second works on another.

[Davy]

so i can't let them both do rendering, what's the use of a second cpu then?
having an ultra-fast startmenu even when rendering?

i hope i'm wrong =)

Davy

Jvcleave wrote in message <19990224212859...@ng-fx1.aol.com>...

[BRI]

Both CPU's will be used to do SMP enabled tasks. Yes rendering in MAX is one
of these tasks that will use both CPU's. The multi-tasking benefit is better
then a super fast start menu! You can run multiple programs or multiple
instances of the same program and not get the performance hit you would on a
single CPU system due to fighting over processor time. Say you want to run a
blur on two images at the same time, dual CPU's will do it twice as fast.
Whether you should have two images in one instance or two separate instances
of the program for each, I don't know. It may depend on the program. Just to
be sure you know, you must be running NT to use multi processors, 95/98
won't even see the second.

Later from L.A.,
Brian

Davy wrote in message <7b31rg$4k0$1...@trex.antw.online.be>...

[Davy]

are you saying it is possible to balance the load by assigning a task to a
cpu?

[BRI]

You can assign processes to both and either/or CPU(s) in the NT task
manager. It is very simple to do. You can also assign a priority level so
certain processes get more CPU time during multi-tasking. Most of the time,
you just let NT sort it out for you. The example I made of running a blur
filter on two images doesn't require any tinkering. Try it with two
documents in the same program instance (ie. one Photo Shop or PhotoPaint
icon on the taskbar) and again with one instance for each image (two PS or
PP icons on the taskbar). You see if one way is faster and that is all you
need to do. I am not a programmer, but I figure it depends on how well the
app is threaded.

To run SMP enabled apps on both processors, all you need to do is make sure
it is enabled in the programs options. The two SMP render programs I've used
knew they were on a dual CPU box and checked that option during
installation. The program and NT take care of getting the work to each CPU.
You can make Task Manager display a graph for each to see how much each is
getting used.
Later from L.A.,
Brian

Davy wrote in message <7b3kgf$dvk$1...@trex.antw.online.be>...

[jvcl...@gmail.com]

On Thursday, February 25, 1999 3:00:00 AM UTC-5, Jvcleave wrote:
> nt supports symmetric processing and the extra benefit of a second cpu allows
> you to let one processor work on one program while the second works on another.

I will kill you