dual processor or dual core processor

[david walsh]

I'm running a 1.6 ghz processor and feel the need for a faster speed. I'm running premiere pro and have been considering dual processors, but I don't really know what the advantages are.

I was reading a comparison chart on the apple web site relating their dual 2.7 ghz processors to a pentium 4 (and a few others)

http://www.apple.com/au/powermac/performance/

This got me side tracked to a new machine and perhaps going apple, but I'd really prefer not to go that route if possible.

The charts are interesting but never gave any comparisons to performances of a single and dual processor of the same type. I had initially thought that it would just be double, but have been told that this may not be the case. Can anyone tell me what sort of rendering bonuses I would get from using a dual processor over a single of the same type and size, or any other bonuses, or even drawbacks.

Is there any advantage to using a dual core processor rather than dual processors or vice versa? I realise that the software has to be specifically wrote to use dual processors (as Premire is) is this the same for dual core processors? and finally can two dual core processors be put in a dual processor motherboard and if so would it be of great advantage over either a single dual core processor or standard dual processors.

I've been pulling my hair out searching the web for the last few days and picking up the odd bit of information here and there. I can't find anywhere that simlifies it or answers it all in the way the charts in the apple link do for me. They fulfill apples purpose for sure (they had me considering a new machnie) but they are pretty much incomplete for what I would like to know.

If anyone can clear it up for me or even point me to somewhere that makes it clear it would be much apreciated.

David.

[Nick Niehaus]

First off, never trust benchmarks and performance charts from a product's manufacturer. They'll distort them to make themselves look better.

Can anyone tell me what sort of rendering bonuses I would get from using a dual processor over a single of the same type and size, or any other bonuses, or even drawbacks

The performance isn't quite going to be double, but you will notice huge boosts in rendering and such. Also, having two processors will enable you to do a lot of multitasking; for example, burning a DVD and rendering a video at the same time, with no slow down.

I realise that the software has to be specifically wrote to use dual processors (as Premire is) is this the same for dual core processors?

Yes.

and finally can two dual core processors be put in a dual processor motherboard and if so would it be of great advantage over either a single dual core processor or standard dual processors.

Yes. Intel even has a dual-core processor with Hyper Threading, giving you 4 effective processors in a single chip.

[Mike Thorpe]

David -

Dual core processors are two processors on one chip. It's not like hyperthreading where you have two logical CPUs. Dual core and Dual CPUs are essentially the same thing. For example, windows and all the software intended for Dual CPUs will see a dual core CPU as two CPUs.

There are no boards out at the moment which will enable you to use two dual core chips.

Although the Athlon 64 single cores aren't as good at video encoding as their p4 equivalents, the dual core athlons apparently outperform the dual core P4s.

Yes, for video encoding, you WILL get better performance with two cores, but there aren't really any other mainstream apps that take advantage of two cores.

However, don't totally discount Apple. Although like Nick says - don't trust their marketing spiel about how much better they are than a wintel equivalent, a lot of people in the industry will not even consider using something else.

[david walsh]

Thank you both for the information it has been very helpful.

I've also been pointed towards Boxx computers by a friend; to the Boxx 7400 in particlar, it runs "Dual AMD Opteron™ dual-core processors". From reading http://www.boxxtech.com/products/7400.asp it doesn't seem to say what type of board it has (unless I'm missing something) so I'm assuming it isn't available in anyway other than buying ready built directly from them.

I'm still looking in hope of stumbling accross it somewhere, if I do I'll add it here in case anyone fancies it.

David.

[CMS_Edit]

We've just upgraded our other machine to a P4 3.2D 830 (Dual core) and we have been testing it against my 2.8 dual xeon nocona...

The dual xeon destroys the 3.2 dual core in every processor benchmark test... (It does have 4gb ram compared to the 3.2's 2gb but on the processor test memory isnt touched)

In the real world IE rendering timelines etc the dual nocona wins again hands down...

With the xeons being hyperthreading they show up as 4 Processors!!! its beautiful watching them all working in task manager when exporting etc.

So For pure processing power Id go for the xeons, but the mobo will be slightly more expensive, also theres only a few xeon mobos with AGP I have the asus ncch-dl which is wicked...

Also dont forget to budget for a 24 pin SSI powersupply... (Mine was £165 jesus was that a shock after forking out for the rest of it! ) but have come down now around £70 I think)

I hope that helps, feel free to ask if you want any more info.