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AMD

Dual Athlons Released 106

Posted by Hemos from the more-speed-then-light dept.
Malk-a-mite was one of the first to e-mail about the announcement from AMD concerning their demonstration of a Dual Athlon workstation. It is using their "AMD-760 MP chipset, and next-generation Double Data Rate (DDR) memory. "Update: 10/11 06:26 PM by H : My mistake. This was a dupe article - the older story went up yesterday - Microprocessor Forum.
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Dual Athlons Released More

Dual Athlons Released

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  • It would be a good upgrade from my dual-celeron... ;)
  • I think it'll still be Q1 2k1 before the little guy gets his hands on one...
  • I wonder how long until someone uses the chipset to produce a motherboard...

    ...and can it scale to quad and higher processors?

  • It's out now what (Score:5)

    by cluge ( 114877 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:02AM (#714703) Homepage
    As with all chip manufacturers these days I'll believe it when I can order it myself. I remember the first high end PIII's. Impossible to get, but strangley reviewers had copies to compare against Athlons.

    As with all articles of thsi nature, take it with a grain of salt. I don't expect to see such machine available to any "REAL" people on the street until Dec-Jan time frame. Thats at the earliest.

  • Do the editors actually read /. (Score:4)

    by mach-5 ( 73873 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:03AM (#714704) Homepage
    Maybe the editors should actually read their own site/a&g t;. [slashdot.org]
  • I am in some metaphysical state over this.

    I don't know what, but definately something.. special...

    Excuse me, I need a tissue.

    [serious moment]
    Any word on the sort of pricing and raw POWER out of these babies?

    I can't wait to try Q3A on this.. this.. behemoth of x86 archetecture.
    [/serious moment]
  • With this evolution, does anyone think that a quad athlon is in the works any time soon?
  • Forward looking statements in this release include the risk that AMD will be not successfully introduce a commercially available multiprocessing solution and that such solution may not be accepted by the market.

    So, AMD still isn't making any gaurantees.

  • ... the first link on this story [slashdot.org]?

  • Now if only.. (Score:3)

    by MikeFM ( 12491 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:04AM (#714709) Homepage Journal
    But I wanted a quad! Really though, if they can do a dual how hard is it for them to add more processors? Anyone know? Would the Linux kernel currently handle SMP w/ AMD or do we hafta wait for an updated kernel?
  • Dual Athlons have <I>not</I> been released. A demonstration motherboard was displayed at the Microprocessor Forum 2000. They're close, but nothing has been released yet.
    <BR><BR>
    Mind you, I'm drolling waiting for these things :)<BR><BR>
    Dave<BR>
    'Round the firewall,
    Out the modem,
    Through the router,
    Down the wire,

  • Arg! (Score:4)

    by dbarclay10 ( 70443 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:06AM (#714711)
    Dual Athlons have not been released. A demonstration motherboard was displayed at the Microprocessor Forum 2000. They're close, but nothing has been released yet.

    Mind you, I'm drolling waiting for these things :)

    Dave

    'Round the firewall,
    Out the modem,
    Through the router,
    Down the wire,

  • They haven't been released yet (Score:5)

    by none2222 ( 161746 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:06AM (#714712)
    Only demonstrated. Read the press release [amd.com].
  • the high end PIII's are from Intel. Intel still cant produce crap when it comes to processers above 800mhz but my local computer shop has the 1.1 ghz t-bird in.

    But yes, i dont expect to see these boards till jan, feb timeframe. Companies like A-Bit and ASUS still need to design the motherboards.

    Sanchi
  • When has a business ever failed to bring to market a product held up by IP suits? (Possibly, but not very often) The position many, including Micron and AMD are taking is that Rambux IP claims are based upon patents which 1) are invalid 2) do not apply. AMD is challenged because the 760 set communicates with the DDR SDRAM, which Rambux contends if a product communicates using the exclusive protocol for required of their IP then that manufacturer owes them. Pretty tenuous, but when all you are is an IP firm, you hire a lot of sharks and begin to think like one.


    --
    Chief Frog Inspector

  • I love the net! (Score:4)

    by Nate Fox ( 1271 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:10AM (#714715)
    The great thing about the internet is the speed at which news travels! For instance: I read about this yesterday! Even though SlashDot.Org is a quality news site, I dont think its quite as good as the site that posted this same story yesterday [slashdot.org]. I think I'm going to stick to that other news site for more up-to-the-second news stories.

    [sorry, the sarcasm key was stuck]

    -----
    If Bill Gates had a nickel for every time Windows crashed...
  • Yeah, cluster 10 of them.
    Call it a DecAthlon.

    Oh. Apparently the Olympics® have finished.

    ps Does it run Linux?

  • Compatibilty? (Score:3)

    by Malc ( 1751 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:12AM (#714717)
    Will the current MP OSes run correctly and unchanged on this system?

    I see in my BIOS that I can choose between MPS 1.1 and MPS 1.4. Does this refer to a hardware API that a MP OS utilises? If so, is the AMD product compatible with this, or the OSes have to be modified to handle some other standard (I thought I had heard AMD was doing things the same way as Alpha's).

  • What specs are they using to run SMP? (Score:3)

    by bconway ( 63464 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:13AM (#714718) Homepage
    The last time I checked, the MPS 1.1 and 1.4 specifications were owned by Intel and that was one of the many things keeping AMD from producing dual systems. While there was an effort underway known as OpenSMP, it never really saw the light of day. Were they forced into a licensing agreement? I'm really curious about some of the underlying issues on this one.
  • Correct me if im wrong, but this was with the AMD 760-MP chipset.
    Does anyone know what VIA's planes for SMP are? I know that the KT266 should be out soon.

    Sanchi

    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • Yes it will run linux. AMD is quite commited to keeping us happy.

    Linux kernel developers even have simulations of AMDs next generation 64 bit CPU so that when it is released linux will be ready for it. woohoo!

    having said that, it won't run linux until it's actually on the market, but that's beside the point :)

    btw, does one need special athlons for SMP, or are all athlons SMP compliant?

  • Interesting (Score:3)

    by Fervent ( 178271 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:16AM (#714721)
    Anyone catch this part of the press release?

    Cautionary Statement
    This release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words such as "plans," "expects," "believes," "anticipates" or "intends." Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Forward looking statements in this release include the risk that AMD will be not successfully introduce a commercially available multiprocessing solution and that such solution may not be accepted by the market. We urge investors to review in detail the risks and uncertainties in the Company's filings with the United States Securities Exchange Commission.

  • Companies like A-Bit and ASUS should have a board ready by Jan, Feb of 01

    and the Mustang supposaly can scale to 8 (i think) processers. But I would be very supriesed if AMD or VIA made a chipset for the it.

    AMD probaly will make a run for the servers with the Sledgehammer OTOH with quad boards

    Sanchi
    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • The duality (i'm assuming you mean # of processors) is based on a preemptive v86 mode, one chip handles bridges between devices, and the other caches commands (usually)

  • I'm running a pretty old box, and I'm looking for an upgrade for it. I'm just wondering if the new chipset will support the Duron too.

    If not, what would be the reason?

    If it does, this will probably be one of the best things to come out since the Abit BP6 w/ dual Celery's. I mean it would still be cheap (or at least fairly priced), and you'd also get great performance.

  • I dont think that AMD will try a quad this early in the game. This will only be the 3 chipset they have ever made.

    Now with the Sledehammer I see AMD making a run at the backoffice with quad+ boards

    Sanchi
    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • It was demonstrated wit a Windows software. Does it support Linux?

  • Du-Athlon and the Olympics (Score:5)

    by dmahurin ( 2128 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:22AM (#714727)
    From Segfault:
    http://www.segfault.org/story.phtml?mode=2&id=39d1 03ec-039558a0

    Dear Answer Guy,
     I thought about buying an Athlon, but now my TV screams all the time about some Bi-Athlon and even Tri-Athlon. Is that just a vaporware or should I wait to buy such a beast?
    -Ox Ford from Ohio

    Dear Ox Ford,
     Olympic Fever has struck the airwaves! Unknown to most people, the Athlon is the official microprocessor of the 2000 Olympic Games. To better suit Olympians, AMD came out with a Bi-Athlon and Tri-Athlon. These are actually multiprocessor units that have many advantages over their single-processor sibling. First, the processor speeds have been doubled, allowing the CPU to use time-sharing more efficiently (time-sharing is sometimes called "cycling," which is also an Olympic event). Processes can be re-prioritized in hardware, allowing certain applications to get a greater time share which causes it to run faster (also called "sprinting," which is an Olympic sport). Also, think of the Athlon as a unicycle, the Bi-Athlon as a bicycle, and the Tri-Athlon as a tricycle. The Bi-Athlon and the Tri-Athlon are much better at handling an unbalanced load, namely because they have more wheels. All of these things make the Athlon family the number one choice among Olympic athletes.

  • YES IT WILL!!!
    AMD has no plans to cripple the duron like Intel crippeled the cellery.

    Now will you beable to OC you 900mhz Duron to 1.1ghz? who knows. I still have to see a locked processer from AMD even tho they said that after week 54, all processers will be locked. (my local computer store just got a shipment of 750s week 60 and none were locked)

    Sanchi
    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • That's pretty much standard for any public company. The basic idea (as I read it) is:

    If you buy stock in this company because you read we'd make product X, and we didn't actually make product X, or product X was a dismal flop, or product X killed 100 people in a real bad explosion and our stock drops to 30 cents per share, don't say we didn't warn you.
  • Wouldn't it be more appropriate to ask if Linux supports dual athlons?
  • Every US company that has publicly traded stock is required to put that on all press releases, AFAICT... it's nothing ominous. I guess the SEC got sick of people wanting to sue when company X said that 'the next version of their product would be a world leader' and it tanked.

  • Dual Athlon GOOOOOOOOD!

    (Locked clock multiplier BAAAAAAAAD!)

    I have been so looking forward to the opportunity to get me some dual AMD action... I hope it won't be too long before they're on the market.

    -TBHiX-

  • Standard legalese verbage, I'd say. Yes it does mention the possibility of AMD never haveing "a commerically available multiprocessing solution" but I'd hardly call that part of the fine print something to worry about.

    ----
  • I think that they licened the EV6 SMP protocol from Compaq just like the bus. Now someone more knowlegable about OS's will have to answer if you will need a new kernel or not.

    Sanchi
    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • SMP is generally seen as the realm of the high-end workstation or the server. Vendors generally dump their SMP resources in that direction because they offer higher margins than low-end systems and the demand exits at the high end for SMP. Your mom doesn't know about or doesn't care about SMP-enabled MS Word.

    The downside is that basically high performance but low-market-end stuff doesn't get SMP. Celeron is probably a fluke because it uses the PII core. Was the Duron even designed with SMP in mind?

  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the existing kernel use iMPS (Intel Multi-Processor Specification) for SMP stuffs? I don't see anywhere on the AMD site where they specify that they used the existing standard instead of just scribbling up one of their own. So, the big question becomes one of how they managed SMP stuffs, which would answer the above question about kernel compatability.
  • Have you seen a locked processer? I though that all AMD processers after week 54 were to be locked. But my local compuer store got a bunch of duron 750 in (week 60+) and none were locked

    Snachi
    ddr good, smp good, rambus bad, RAMBUS BAD
  • I submitted this story yesterday and it was rejected. Then it gets posted today. wtf?! Weird......

    Geek Boy -- dreaming of Dual 1.5ghz

  • ah ha! (Score:5)

    by Frac ( 27516 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:36AM (#714740)
    "Malk-a-mite was one of the first to e-mail about the announcement from AMD..."

    Folks, now you know what to do if you want your news submitted. It's easy to get rejected on the submission queue, but apparently if you e-mail [mailto] an editor, even redundant articles [slashdot.org] will get posted!

    Do keep in mind though that e-mails [mailto] from a large group of people might cause too much junk in the mailbox [mailto], but if e-mail [mailto] is a good way to punish redundant posts [slashdot.org] or get higher priority than in a submission queue, by all means e-mail [mailto] is the way to go!

  • It really is quite funny that I have adjusted to slashdot's port of the English language.
    Yes, "DEMONSTRATED" == "RELEASED"
    Idiots.
  • Seems entirely droll...

    I'll be quite happy to not bother drooling about this for another six months while AMD shakes out any bugs in implementations of mobos, memory interfaces, and distribution. And they should be "less than spectacularly expensive" by that point too...

  • OT (Score:1)

    by jonnythan ( 79727 )
    I wonder how much lower his user # is than yours ;)
  • The discalimer at the bottom is tagged onto all press realses about future products. Its a legal thing, more for investors than consumers. It is possible something can happen that will scuttle the project, including flying monkeys from space beating all thier engineers into commas. Gotta be leagally prepared for anything.
  • That statemen really doesn't mean anything. It's basically your standard disclaimer that *all* companies use when issuing a press release about products in developement. It's not meant to say, "Oh, by the way, we're talking ou of our ass, and none of this might actualy happen, and if it does, it could take 3 years." What it means, is that they are simply covering their butts, legally, so if unplanned and unexpected problems occur, they can't be held legally liable for it. If you search through press releases from any big company in which future or developemental products are mentioned, you'll see this exact same disclaimer.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • It would be interesting to plot the rate of duplicate posting against the net worth of the /. founders, the share price of VA Linux, &c. I'm curious if we'd see any kind of correlation.

    I'm in love with Slavoj Zizek,

    www.endofhistory.com [endofhistory.com]

  • Info on upcoming Athlon chipsets (Score:4)

    by JungleBoy ( 7578 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @07:59AM (#714748)
    This link [tomshardware.com] to Toms Hardware has some info about the upcoming athlon chipsets. It looks like Via's SMP/DDR chipset (KX266) should be out by then end of the year.

    Of course, I think I'll wait for the second itteration of these chipsets. By then they will have most of the kinks worked out, and the platform optimized. Also, by then the Athlon will be much faster per dollar.
    --
    "You never know when some crazed rodent with cold feet
    might be running loose in your pants."
  • The athlon itself and the EV6 bus can scale to 15 processors, just like the alpha it's based on.
  • They didn't just "scribble one up" of their own. The SMP standard they are using comes from the EV6 Bus protocal (same as the alpha) that they liscensed from compaq.

    The short answer to your question, is no, the iSMP stuff won't work... however the alphaSMP stuff is already there, and shouldn't require too too much porting to x86 for the athlon.

    Yes, you will need a new kernel that doesn't currently exist.
  • And I can just imagine the commercial playing "Hungry like the Wolf"....
  • This is really embarrassing... repeat posting have been happening on almost a daily basis for the past few weeks. What the hell is going on it Andover? Is it such a chore for a /. editor to actually read /. before hitting "Submit"??

    Also, anyone else notice that trolling/flamebaiting has gotten really bad lately? Especially the clever AC who launching personal attacks against active posters (maybe its Signal 11...) I'd hate to adjust my threshold to +2, but it looks like there isn't much choice anymore, since moderation sure as shit doesn't seem to be making a difference.

    rant mode off... for now

    ----

  • Dual Chips (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Hmm dual chips in a consumer computer. Why didn't Apple do that earlier, wait they did. Face it Apple continues to lead in innovations. PC manufacturers just follow.
  • Both the celeron and the duron are "dress down" versons of their bigger brothers (P2 and athlon respectively.)

    The athlon supports smp, the duron supports smp. The p2 supports smp, the celeron supports smp... except, intel attempted to hobble the celeron by attempting to remove it's smp support. The main reasons were marketing reasons, not even vaguely technical, and are rather obvious.

    -t

  • It doesn't matter much... (Score:3)

    by slothbait ( 2922 ) on Wednesday October 11, 2000 @08:15AM (#714755)
    Yes, this is based on the AMD chipset. AMD makes reference chipsets, and others (presently VIA) will make derivatives to supply the market. This is a sort of division of labor: AMD does (most) of the design, and VIA does (most) of the production.

    It's not like VIA is competing with AMD. AMD designs reference chipsets because their processors (which are what they are really interested in selling) are unusable without. AMD can't make much money on selling chipsets, so they'd just as soon that somebody else take up that business. But somebody has to design the thing before it can be produced, and AMD foots the bill for that.

    --Lenny
  • This kind of boiler plate is required by the SEC for all public companies on press releases like this.

    Kent
  • All athlon based chips (athlons, thunderbirds, durons, whatever) are SMP capable.
  • I can't find the press release at the moment, but I think Via stated they're going to push off their SMP Athlon chipset until sometime Q1 or Q2 next year, instead focusing their attention on DDR SDRAM PIII chipsets (since Intel won't be doing those...or at least they claim they won't) as well as their P4 chipsets (which they licensed the rights to produce).
  • Thunderbirds and Durons are "locked" in the sense that their L1 bridges are cut (nothing to do with L1 cache, just the name of a few traces on the top of the chip). You can reconnect these and "unlock" your processor.

    There's been no proof that anyone has processors with the infamous "missing pins" that are supposed to be the final locking solution if you believe rumors. AMD has never stated they will do this either.

  • Re:What specs are they using to run SMP? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Kind of... EV6 SMP support is in there, just for Aplha chips. I slight modm will enable it for x85 class CPU's.

  • Yeah, considering it's their trademark and all..

    OK seriously, check out CPU ScoreCard [cpuscorecard.com] to see the greatest value: an athlon. Whoot whoot!

  • Did anyone say "Beowulf?"
  • quad (by the time its released) duron 900 OCed to 1.1ghz.
    droollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll. ack have to clean up keyboard. drool is makghing ists hardsg tos typesk.

    Snacih
  • I've been reading /. for 6 months now and I still have no idea how they rate posts. This post was rated 5,informative. Why? Especially when others have been saying the same thing for the last few days and only getting 2's and 3's. But too the real topic. This is something that I have been waiting for. Now that I will actually be able to build a non-Intel SMP X86 box, I will be very happy indeed.
  • It can happen, Apple Did use "Born to be Wild," and in the process made me physically ill. But that was motion sickness at watching a slick hunk of plastic run around the screen. Damn that Chiat Day!
  • All I can say to that is, "hook me up with a Dec-Athlon, dude!"

    Though, I suppose that could be misinterpreted as an Athlon from Digital.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • The North Bridge that they use has a bus to each processor, so the current chipset will only handle two CPUs. I've heard rumor (but nothing from AMD themselves) that they will continue to work on chipsets to handle more processors. I suspect the reality of the situation is that IF they sell a lot of the dual processor chipsets, THEN they'll put development dollars into more complex chipsets.
  • Stimpy: Oh Joy Ren, now the Dual Celeron board we bought with 256MB PC133 RAM, is f**ckin' OBSOLETE!

    Ren: Dammit Stimpy, you eeediot! Now we can't buy another PrOn Server until the Quantum Processors are released. You couldn't have waited could you, COULD YOU!
  • More speed THEN light? Shouldn't that be "the more speed THAN light" dept.
    Just my pet peeve on Slashdot.
  • Shall we?
    I summitted this article yesterday, before the original [slashdot.org].
    Then I see it was rejected. OK, fine.
    Then about 2 hours later I see the same article that I got rejected on got posted.
    Then, I mention this in the articles discussion, and get flamed on.
    Then I come to /. the next day to find that the aritcle had been posted again.
    *Slap*
    On top of all that the duplicate article has a title that is not even accurate!


    --
  • Now it will change from "My AMD AtHl0n 1.3gHz 0WnZ!" to "My dUaL AMD AtHl0n 1.3gHz 0Wn... oh damnit, now I have to go change the kernel!"
  • Exactly. Otherwise, what? 2 GHz Pentium 4's would be considered "released". After all, intel did demo such a chip...
  • This was posted yesterday and there is sht article. People called me a moron when I submitted a post that was a few days old about the release of 2.2.17. If you look on kernel notes thought 2.2.17 is not stated as being the lateste release. This was none obvious that it was the latest release at the time. This article is still on the main slashdot page. Needless to say suckdot did not post my story, nor hyave they posted any of my stories, about palm pilots. Well here is yesterdays story. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/10/201025 3&mode=thread

    On another note here are some other story lines that I submitted that were rejected.
    Meet Prody Parrot, this was rather cool it is a talking parrot / assistant for windows and the software is supposed to come with SB live cards.

    I don't want a lot, I just want it all!
    Flame away, I have a hose!

  • How do you find the time to read at that level? At +3, I find that, even just reading a small fraction of articles, I can spend 1-2hr/day just reading slashdot... The only tme I read down at that level is when I've got mod points, and even then, I try to only do it on young posts, with under about 100 posts.
  • I have a lot of free time :)

    ----
  • Don't assume. I don't even remember where I heard it, but I know it wasn't from /usr/games/fortune. I will pour hot wax all over my person and drill a hole through my melon until I suffer the most dire of brain pains. My apologies to the big guy with the mustache, may he rest in peace.
  • Come on, have a sense of humor and moderate the parent up. It's funny, and on-topic... imagine that!

    ---

  • But will they make a board for my Slot-A 700Mhz Athlon?

    Socket seems to be the wave of the future, but it would be nice if they would at least support the "older" slot cpus. I'd love to buy one.

    -Nastard-

  • The reason it's taken so long to get a dual
    processor Athlon and no larger configurations
    have appeared is that the Athlon's FSB makes it
    difficult to do.

    Unlike the intel processors, the Athlon connects
    to the Northbridge via a point-to-point connection
    (i.e. not really a "bus" at all). The interface
    is named (inacurately) the "Socket 2000 bus" or
    "S2K bus" for short.

    The problems with S2K for SMP are several:
    1) The Northbridge has to have a complete set of
    data and address signals for each processer.
    This is a lot of pins; especially if you're
    talking about more than 2 proccessors.
    2) Even if you had the pins, the drivers for S2K
    need to be quite powerful (~50 mA per signal to
    ground). So you need to add a lot more ground
    pins to handle the current and the power
    dissipated by the drivers starts to be a
    problem.
    3) The biggest issue is the manner in which SMP
    cache coherency is managed. Because there is
    no shared bus, the northbridge must "probe"
    all of the other processors whenever one of
    them changes the state of a cache line (read,
    write, evict, etc.). Now, the bandwidth of the
    interface used to probe an Athlon is equal to
    that of its output address bus. So, a dual
    processor system is relatively easily handled
    by sending all of the addresses issued by one
    processor to the other. Going beyond two
    processors with this scheme fails due to
    poll bandwidth limitations. Adding I/O
    bandwith to the mix only makes things worse.

    Problems #1 and #2 above are solvable by brute
    force (e.g. big packages, multiple chips, heatsinks, etc.).

    Problem #3 is much harder to solve. The only way
    I know to do it is have the Northbridge maintain a
    separate set cache tags that duplicates the tags
    in all of the processors. That way, a processor
    needs only be probed when the state of a cache
    line that it actually holds is changed. It's
    doable but makes for a very large chip that's
    difficult to verify. That's how Hotrail was
    implementing their 8-way Athlon server chipset.
    It's a real shame that they decided to drop it.

    I suspect that part of Hotrail's decision was
    based on AMD releasing their plans for
    Sledgehammer and the "LDT" bus (which has many
    advantages over S2K).
  • Personally I was curious about that myself...because I used the queue like a good /. poster should.

    Also the first thing I did on reading the press release was search the old stories for "AMD" + "dual"
    No story on it yet.... so I sent it in.

    Silly me I should have thrown SMP into the search.

    Malk-a-mite

  • Multiple processor machines will not become commonplace. Maybe CPUs will have more parallelism built into them, but 2 separate CPUs is not a cost effective solution to be considered commonplace.
  • Yea, having a chipset that isn't made by VIA will be nice.

    The VIA chipsets are very flaky.
  • The term, 'Quad' means 'four' so what you're asking for is a four CPU computer. At this time, the machine you describe is impossible. In the future this may be impossible as well, or it may not be possible, only time will tell.

    One promising sign is that the grey ape has emerged from his rocky den and is eying the new ferel female. We hope that copulation will ensue, and that a multi-CPU banana will be the result, and therefore this historical dialectical process will come to know itself and realize its idea. We believe that freedom is the idea of spirit and that spirit is reason in and for itself. The means for this realization, or cunning of reason, is the passions of the ape as both as an nCPU machine and as object of history, and its form is the state of the process (running, sleeping, blocked, zombie.) The N CPU machine is a moment in the development of the N+1 CPU machine, and for each such moment, as for all, thee owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the setting of the sun.

  • Isn't an N CPU machine usually a precursor to an N * 2 CPU machine?
  • Does anyone else ever get the feeling that Hemos doesn't actually read slashdot anymore he just posts stories. He has an amazing tendency to post stories that were just posted yesterday! [slashdot.org] This isn't the first time either.
  • GFY

    It is not my 'spelling' or use of html tags.

    suckdot hates my posts it is that simple!!

    If you submit an article you have to preview.

    Again I say -> GFY

    I don't want a lot, I just want it all!
    Flame away, I have a hose!

  • OK, I'll bite.

    Please tell me exactly why you deem a 4-CPU computer to be "impossible" at this time?

    However, before you answer, you may like to ponder the impossibility that is the 64-CPU Sun StarFire, a computer which has 64 CPUs and exists today (indeed, as done for a while), as but one example to prove you wrong.
  • Did you read my entire post? I think I explained myself more than adequately.
  • Logical positivism has been sucessfully debunked, so that we may now proudly build N+1 CPU systems if we care to. That we continue to build N CPU systems, where N is an even (or very high prime) number, is simply an artifact of of the nomothetical nature of the aforementioned epistemology. This tendency (or structure) has been exposed ad nausim by first-post structuralists as a result of a fascistic control by CPU manufacturers of computer makers designed to sell more CPUs, in much the same way bread and hotdog manufacturers conspire to sell more hotdogs or buns by packaging eight hotdogs together but only six buns.
  • Man! Why does everyone yell whenever Beowulf is mentioned? To me, it seems like a good idea to plug Beowulf any chance one can get. If enough people mention Beowulf, maybe some AOL lovin', Mac OS usin' lamers will get it through their heads and build multiple Linux boxes and install Beowulf. I'm not saying Beowulf is gonna bring about world peace or anything like that. I do think it would be a better place if everyone had about 10 486's running Beowulf. Those that don't want to hear about Beowulf should go and read MacWeek where they don't ever mention Beowulf.
  • Yeah they want to make them more stable and have worked out all of the kinks! And no you don't know when a rodent will jump down your pants!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • well ... many are going to want to campare the P4 that's released with the fastest P!!!s and Athlons available.

    I do have a feeling that setting up a dual Athlon box will be more affordable that the P4 rig. P4 has the massive heat sink, special power supply and *intel pricing*. The dual Athlon may also need a special power supply ... hope the need for that deminishes as AMD get their beasts to work on lower voltages.

    It would be interesting to see which is the badbay of the block. I do beleive that the dual Athlon well be the badboy when it comes to bang for the buck.

    then again ... we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out. I like the AMD pricing now ... but believe that it won't stay this way forever ... they are slowly getting the acceptance they deserve and if demand exceeds supply, there will be no downward pressure on their prices (especially as they tread into clockspeed areas where the P!!! are getting burnt).

  • What? 0;Troll?
    I'd rather see 2;Funny.
    The story *was* the same as another one posted on the same day. Where are the news here?
    And an anal-retentive moderator tells me I'm a Troll? Do you have a clue about what troll means?
    I just can't believe it.
    I *demand* meta-moderation



    ____________________
  • That message was from a license plate. On it, it said in big green letters, KEEP OFF THE GRASS. In between the words, it said "Drink Schlitz Beer."
  • Yes, I read your entire post.

    You said that a quad-CPU machine is impossible today, and then proceeded to give absolutely no reasons to back up your invalid claim.

    Therefore, I ask you again - why do you believe quad-CPU machines are impossible today, given that they already exist?
  • Perhaps this will help you understand. The problem with multi CPU boxes is similar to a toolshed full of tangerines. Adding a tangerine to a toolshed (N+1 T) does not increase the tangerineness of the conjuncture, it simply increases the tangerine count. Similarly, augmenting CPU numerosity does not have a corresponding effect on the flavor or juicyness of a given N CPU entity, it simply decreases space left for rakes and potting soil. Get it?

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