A sweet board!! for P3 owners!

[Benssax]

Here it is


http://www.harddrive.com/page_loader.shtml?http&&&63.86.201.5/cgi-bin/itemdy15.pl?keyword=MB3+IWL+DVD266URN&UID=

Review

http://www.sudhian.com/docs.cfm/id/87.sud

It uses DDR Ram and you can use 1 cpu on it if you want:)

[Disk11]

Too bad p3s are so expensive still. Could the 256k celerons run dual? I dont think the P3 runs too well with DDR because the bandwidth of the P3 is about 1/2 of the DDR266. Until the board and p3s get cheeper, it would be better to mod XPs into MPs. Interesting though.

[deadkenny]

I think that dual PIII's should be able to take advantage of the extra memory bandwidth of DDR. Interesting question about running the Tualatin based Celerons in dual mode. Of course the T-Celerons don't 'officially' support SMP. But then that doesn't necessarily mean it won't work. Bottom line though, I agree that an AMD solution will offer way more performance per dollar than a PIII system.

[Peter M]

No they don't. Intel's dual processor SMP has both processors on one single CPU bus, meaning they have to share the bus bandwidth. Hence, twin P-III don't go beyond 133 MHz SDR bandwidth.

[deadkenny]

Originally posted by Peter Missel
No they don't. Intel's dual processor SMP has both processors on one single CPU bus, meaning they have to share the bus bandwidth. Hence, twin P-III don't go beyond 133 MHz SDR bandwidth.

The board in question is a Via chipset. Is the restriction you mention related to Intel chipsets or all SMP using Intel processors? Just seeking to clarify your statement "Intel's dual processor SMP..."

[Benssax]

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=000003&p=16


Look at these benchmarks the Dual p3 board is killing
single cpu boards.:t

[sm8000]

bump-bump-bump!

I'm showing this board to a friend of mine whose needs it may well suit, but I'd like to know if the RAID chip is software or hardware RAID? Thanks.

[Disk11]

I have no idea about this board's RAID card. If you are looking for a dual p3 board, look for a Acorp 6A815EPD. I am running one currently (not in dual though, maybe soon:D ), and it has worked great. Can also be found fairly cheeply too.

[BipolarBill]

All IDE RAID is software.

[sm8000]

Seriously? There is no such thing as a RAID card that does 'hardware RAID' for IDE drives? I had no idea....huh! :eek:

[BipolarBill]

Well, some might say that 3Ware's stuff is hardware, but Peter Missel and our old friend Otheos would argue the point.

The cheap stuff is definitely software and that means all Highpoint and Promise controllers.

[Peter M]

Originally posted by deadkenny


The board in question is a Via chipset. Is the restriction you mention related to Intel chipsets or all SMP using Intel processors? Just seeking to clarify your statement "Intel's dual processor SMP..."

All of them. Even P4 uses that approach.

[$1500-P4 gamer]

Originally posted by Peter Missel


All of them. Even P4 uses that approach.

Yes but not the same limit on P4 as it eats all the mem bandwidth ya got. So dual DDR or Rdram is even more appropriate!:eek:

[Cee-W]

If you are looking for a dual p3 board, look for a Acorp 6A815EPD. I am running one currently (not in dual

Here are a couple of links

6a815epd (http://www.rbreb13.com/Reviews/ACorp_6A815EPD/acorp_6a815epd.html)

6a815epd (http://www.x-j-nine.com/acorp.htm)

6a815epd (http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=1522)

I am running this board as my workstation for now. It will end up as my file server sooner or later. It is as stable as can be, and I got it for $49.00 plus shipping.

Specs:

Dual P-III 933 @ 980 (140x7)
512 pc-150 (2-5/7-2-2)
AHA-2940u
3Com905TX
GF ti-500
Crystal 4 channel snd

[causticVapor]

Highpoint and Promise can't be all software. It would make either the CPU or array perform like... a dog...

We all know how blazing fast PIO mode is.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong. :confused: :confused:

[BipolarBill]

Put it this way - they offload a lot of work to the CPU where SCSI controllers do it themselves.

[Rugor]

Yeah Intel only runs one out from the Northbridge, so both processors have to share it. It's a bus rather than a point-to-point connection.

It doesn't matter who makes the chipset, Intel set the interface for PIII and you have to match it.

It's a little off-topic, but I'd love to see something like Intel's new Centrino in desktops. PIII style architecture, with P4's quad-pumped FSB and SSE2, plus the added attraction of 1MB of L2 cache. That would be enough to make my drooling shift from AMD to Intel. The higher bus speeds would also make it more useful than PIII in a multi-processor configuration.

[causticVapor]

To me, it seems like a big-time bottleneck when both CPUs are effectively allocated PC66 bandwidth under full load/transfer. And that is in the best scenario! :eek: In asymmetrical conditions, one of the CPUs would be given the very short end of the stick. :(