slow dual procs or one fast one?

[Krusty]

This wonderful new section brought this question to mind. What would be better? A single processor or dual processors that add up to the same Mhz?

The reason I'm asking this is because my girlfriend built a dual p3 800Mhz system a little over a year ago. Just last month, I built her brother an Athlon XP 1700+ system (or was it 1800+?). So which system would perform better with applications that benefit from dual processors (lightwave, 3dSMax, photoshop)?

I just thought it would be good to hear a "professional" opinion on what would do these tasks better.

In the future, I may even have an official answer, since they are both going to be messing with 3d Studio Max right now. I might just be able to get them to do the same render on both systems and see which one performs faster. Oh, and does anyone know if the video card used affects render times?

BTW, this is NOT and AMD vs Intel thread. It just happens to have AMD and Intel referenced

 

[DarkArctic]

I'd have to say to go with the XP 1700+. That processor could probably even run circles aroung that dually 800 even in 3ds max, Photoshop and other SMP apps.

-DarkArctic

 

[DarkArctic]

Whoops, forgot a question.
No, renders are done completely by the CPU.

-DarkArctic

 

[diehrd]

My money is with the dual rig. because you are running dual a dual threaded app.

One other point even if the Dual loses I promiss you the single will not allow you to game as you render.And considering this point I think by default the Single loses cause you have a usless system as it renders......

 

[skip]

Dual system are MUCH smoother while doing multiple tasks. Benchmark wise, the XP1700 would be faster except if they were SMP benchmarks.

It all depends on what you want from the system. Dual systems are NOT twice as fast as a single processor. But, you can do twice as much on it before slowing down.

 

[DarkArctic]

You have to take into account that the Athlon rig has that extra RAM bandwidth from DDR. While the dual P3 has only SD. I'm not positively sure on the outcome but I still stick with the Athlon.

-DarkArctic

 

[cack01]

I feel that a which is better is a tricky question. I dual cpu is like a car with tons of horse power, but not the gearing or transmition to take advantage of it. Personally I feel that my dual rig can out performs much more smoothly than many of the semi new cpu. But I personally know game wise I feel it probably won't out perform a p4 1.8 or higher and it won't beat an xp 1700+. But it can outperform them if there are multiple programs being run. I can still have a full 1.2 ghz cpu dedicated to a game, while the other one works on the os, burning a cd, or playing mp3s. While a xp 1700+ may only be able to devote 700 or so mhz to the game while running the same apps.
So it all boils down to what you need or want. If you are only going to be doing games or benchmarks are important to you, just get the xp. Realistically the dual will only be good for video editing or demanding multiple tasks. Its up to you to decide, there is no right answer, b/c in the end its what is right for you.

Personally I love my dual its smooth no matter what I do, and its still fast enough to run any game there is. I would only give it up for a northwood 2.0Ghz or higher.
Remember overall a PIII is better then a P4 its just the memory that makes the difference. But there are now some DDR dual boards for PIIIs.

any questions just ask. Its like a dream come true that there is now a SMP forum.

 

[IFMU]

First off, thank you skip!~! This will seriouslly help me with deciding if/how/when Im doing a duallie rig...

Second off, sorry off subject, but um... cack01, I have to agree with you sig, Love the TVcard, I have the same, works great And as far as the video, have you been spying on me? I just sold that card. It was my only decent video card for the past 2 years... Now Im running a GF2 onboard... lol...

Third off ~ Let us know once you actually do a few things on there... I would like to know the results myself.!~!

 

[tainice]

PIII cannot take the advanage of a DDR...why oh why?

 

[Krusty]

~ Let us know once you actually do a few things on there... I would like to know the results myself.!~!

If I can get the chance to do the comparison, it will be within a month (maybe 2) because her brother will be bringing the computer back from school a couple of weekends to work on his project.

 

[DSTA]

IMO, render speed wise the Athlon will easily beat the dual P3, at least with Max.

How smooth it will be during the editing phase (working with textures, modelling etc.) is hard to say and depends a lot on Vid card performance obviously. All things equal, I think the P3 will "feel" faster in that department (hard to bench though...).

Don't expect mucho from lightwave on the Athlon. Newtek's latest stuff runs unoptimised on AMD CPUs.

As to Photoshop, the Athlon will mop the floor with the dual P3.

 

[Strangelove]

If I can get the chance to do the comparison, it will be within a month (maybe 2) because her brother will be bringing the computer back from school a couple of weekends to work on his project.

Get Cinema 4D from http://www.maxon.net/ that will help you get an idea of the differences. It's one of the few real SMP benchmark tools