dual processor motherboards (opteron)

[Empty_5oul]

i need to know about dual processor motherboards i forget exactly who has them but plz reply if you know anything :

1). What is the speed increase like from 1 CPU to 2 CPU - is it worth it ?
2). What are best processors for doing this - skt 940 opteron ??
3). What processor speed would be good for quick response and allowing multiple machines to connect and view large databases (maximum 8 at one time) ??
4). What sort of price is good for the processor required?
5). What motherboards are best / fastest?

[AMDave]

1). What is the speed increase like from 1 CPU to 2 CPU - is it worth it ?

The benfits are not immediate, but if you are willing to push yourself and learn about SMP and multi-threading you can reap some excellent benefits. here's a couple of starter links
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/SMP-HOWTO.html
http://www.2cpu.com/daedalus/article_archive.php
Of course, many proprietary software tools are designed to take advantage of SMP when available. You should consider this when choosing your software, probably before you start thinking about the operating system and the hardware.

2). What are best processors for doing this - skt 940 opteron ??

that really depends on the load that you are going to throw at it and how much you can afford as well as the ongoing availablility of support and parts. a 940-800 series would be a good place to start and work downwards if necessary.

3). What processor speed would be good for quick response and allowing multiple machines to connect and view large databases (maximum 8 at one time) ??

You are really looking at some I/O processing loads here. You want to make sure that you have sufficient I/O bandwidth to service the data requests and transmissions. Maybe even dedicate 1 Gigabit card as outgoing only and another as incoming only. If you need to increase the number of cards you need to make sure that your mobo has enough slots for future expansion. If your SMP system is to be doing HTML presentation server side then you may even want to consider splitting the servicing roles - ie 1 database server + 1 HTTP/s server

4). What sort of price is good for the processor required?

as above, depends on the necessity and the budget..once you know how much you can spend check out the brand suppliers, the local support shops and the web. That will give you a good cross section. If having parts sent in, make sure that your support contractor will support the equipment being purchased. If you are on a shoestring and you are the only support, make sure that you know all the details of the manufacturer's warranties & try to buy new.

5). What motherboards are best / fastest?

When you start getting into service delivery servers, you need to start thinking about reliability and support. So the "bleeding edge" is no place to be. You want to be just behind it if you can., safe in the knowledge that the replacement parts for all components of your system are available and not far away. Here's a recent system build that one group did...
http://www.hardwareguys.com/guides/smp-amd.html

There are a lot of things to consider. Just write them down with your thoughts, and then start backing them up or disproving them with some facts from a bit of research. I recommend finding an example of someone doing the same thing and try to take advantage of any learnings they have already gone through. Also, don't forget that there are similar pre-built package solutions (with support contracts) out there that you could use for your baselines (eg IBM, HP, Compaq, etc...)

I like the look and sound of these:
http://www-132.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=-840&storeId=1&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73&categoryId=2588412
or these for a rack...
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantdl145/index.html
(of course Compaq is now HP.)

[Empty_5oul]

thx dave ill go through it and find some more info, then tell you the end result.