Multitasking processor

GJGJR12 · 07-03-2003, 12:28 PM

since i somewhat of a multi tasker and always having things open simultaneously (ex: right now i have 4 bit torrents, aim, winamp, this page, another page, norton, and spybot running) my XP 2000+ just can't take this kind of abuse... it runs sooooo slow. What would be a good multitasking processor? does the P4 with Hyperthreading do anything for multitaskers? i also have 512mb of ram, should i ahve more?

sm8000 · 07-03-2003, 12:34 PM

A P4 with HT would be a good choice, provided you're running Windows XP or 2000. Ever considered a SCSI hard drive or two?

GJGJR12 · 07-03-2003, 12:46 PM

ha ya i have until my wallet heard about it!

causticVapor · 07-03-2003, 01:04 PM

HT helps with multitasking - it can deliver enormous boosts when previewing images in PP, for instance.

Photoshop helps, though you'll see less of a gain overall.

Dual athlon systems are fast and cheap, but I wish there were ones that supported more than 266FSB.

I'd wait for opteron prices to go down or somebody to release an MP chipset for Athlon 64.

GJGJR12 · 07-03-2003, 01:17 PM

ya sounds nice but i don't ahve an image developers budget... when i built this system i was thinking of going dual XP 1600+ but i wasn't too sure how that would go. would that have been a multitasking set up?

sm8000 · 07-03-2003, 02:33 PM

It would work, you have to slightly modify the CPUs though, and you're still limited to the Athlon MP series chipsets.

GJGJR12 · 07-03-2003, 03:13 PM

what do u mean by modify?

sm8000 · 07-03-2003, 03:41 PM

Something physical on the chip like the pencil trick, can't quite remember what it is, but it allows XP Athlons to act like MP Athlons (to be SMP capable).

sm8000 · 07-03-2003, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GJGJR12
ha ya i have until my wallet heard about it!

You can get a free SCSI card when you order an IBM 18 or 36 GB SCSI hard drive (15,000 rpm!) from www.hypermicro.com. Just use code SR-Z15 and also order a cable and terminator. $230ish, probably cheaper than a P4 3.066 w/HT.

***Midknyte*** · 07-03-2003, 04:10 PM

sounds like you just need to tune up your system. dual cpu wouldn't help unless the software was specifically written for smp.

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

RamonGTP · 07-03-2003, 10:05 PM

I don't think a processor upgrade is really the answer... I have a 1900+ in one of my boxes that does more than that with no problems. Web pages don't take up any processor power unless they have some animation in them, AIM MIGHT take up like 1 percent, and thats when you're actually chatting, if you're just logged on, all it does is use up memory, winamp even when playing music also takes up very little CPU resources, norton by itself doesn't take up any CPU cycles unless you're actually running one of the tests, I don't know what bit torrents are so I won't comment on that one... I agree with the above statement that you just need to tune up the system a bit. Defrag maybe, or possibly a memory upgrade?

GJGJR12 · 07-03-2003, 10:10 PM

bit torrents are serious downloads that constantly ping all over the place to try and find people, very cpu hungry... everything else works fine but those are definetly cpu and memory hungry, u wouldn't understand unless u knew what they were

stix_kua · 07-05-2003, 12:33 AM

I think you have a bottleneck elsewhere...Look into things like hard drive fragmentation, lack of RAM, RAM bandwidth, RAM speeds, RAM, and more RAM. There are tons of things you could do to help and upgrading CPU is not alway the cheapest or best way...build upon what you have now...

GJGJR12 · 07-05-2003, 08:21 AM

well i do have SD ram, never thought that would hold me back that much.... I'll have to check it out

stix_kua · 07-05-2003, 03:38 PM

SD will hold you back, DDR is the way to go and soon, DDR2 will be the road to high speed data transfer