Two Xeons 2.8 MHz vs. one 3.06 but with 1MB L2 cash

[supplier]

Hey all,

please give me your opinions witch way is to go in upgrading my dual CPU capable dell precision 650 workstation. For around $750 i can install two 2.8MHz Xeon CPUs 512kB L2 cash each or one 3.06MHz with 1MB L2 cash and put it in HT mode (all working on 533MHz FBS). Any ideas what would be better/faster for video rendering/processing?

i'm guessing with two CPUs it makes no sense to enable HT as XP can't handle 4 CPUs efficently.

thanks all.

P.S.
Guys, i didn't make myself clear. these xeons can work in Hyper-Threading mode (as two virtual CPUs). IMHO 3.06MHz in HT mode makes two virtual 3.06MHz giving total 2 x 3.06 = 6.12MHz with 1MB cash, and two real 2.8 MHz give 5.6MHz with 2 x 512 kB = 1MB cash. But still two real CPUs at 2.8 GHz might be faster than two virtual at 3.06MHz On other hand cash sizes are equal. Also 2.8 cost $340 each and 3.06 cost $760 So....should i go for $80 savings and two real CPUs or not? what would you do?

[[Neo770]]

The dual CPU's will be better for what you want to do by quiet a bit. The extra cache wont make up for that much.

[supplier]

Thanks, i've got the pretty same answer from dell's forum

[NDC]

i'm guessing with two CPUs it makes no sense to enable HT as XP can't handle 4 CPUs efficently.

Actually, when you enable HT with dual processors, there are actually only two TRUE processors. The two other processors you see are logical processors. XP Pro will show and use 4 processors total without any problems...

As you can see below, two Xeon 2.4Ghz 533Mhz with HT shows 2 processors + logical processors (HT) in use under Windows XP Pro which is only capable of two processors only. I have MCM2 running in the background when I took this screenshot.

BTW - Motocross Madness 2 is not even SMP coded...

[supplier]

Thanks all

[SpookyEddy]

IMHO 3.06MHz in HT mode makes two virtual 3.06MHz giving total 2 x 3.06 = 6.12MHz with 1MB cash

The performance increase you gain from running an HT enabled rig is going to be heavily dependant on the combination of applications you run and their ability to make use of multi-threading. I suspect that saying one HT enabled CPU is equal to a double in clock speed is going to be wildly optimistic, but then I am not a CPU guru so YMMV

Regards

ed

[Xtreeme]

"I suspect that saying one HT enabled CPU is equal to a double in clock speed is going to be wildly optimistic, but then I am not a CPU guru so YMMV "

Your 110% correct.

[vass0922]

Check with the video editing software vendor, If they support HT ....should greatly help your performance... otherwise I wouldn't bother for that price *shrug*