CAD Computers - Dual Processors

I am aware that CAD and engineering software must be specifically written for multi-threading to take full advantage of dual CPUs, but the following is interesting nonetheless. Intel is the market leader with the Pentium 4, and AMD is the challenger with their Athlon MPs:

<<Real differences, however, become apparent in motherboard cost. Even one of the higher-end ASUS A7M266-D 760MPX boards will only run you a bit over $200, and Tyan's Tiger 760MP is even cheaper. Most bare-bones Pentium 4 Xeon motherboards cost $400 to $500, with deluxe models reaching well over $800. Even for premium-priced workstations, this can add a lot to the bottom line, and makes the P4 Xeon mostly a nonstarter for performance-hungry buyers who are tempted to try a dual-CPU desktop. On the other hand, basic 760MPX system costs are close to those of high-end uniprocessing platforms.>>

Full article is at:

http://hardware.earthweb.com/main/article/0,,12108_978161_,00.html Received on Sat Feb 23 23:09:00 2002