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Building an Upgradable Dual Processor System
AntMan asks: "OK. I am building a new system for myself. Now checking on pricewatch.com I noticed that Dual processor motherboards can be had for under $100.
My budget was $800 tops. But on doing some research I realized that I
could build a 866 Mhz dual Celeron system in that much with change
left over. But when I looked on Anandtech, Aceshardware, and tomshardware, I found very few reviews/guides for building dual processor systems. Additionally I wanted to build a system, in which I can put in a couple of cheap 433MHz celerons PPGAs, and hopefully upgrade to a couple of 1GHz PIIIs when the price is right (in about a year or so). So my question is ... Is this possible? And what MB would people recommend?"
I've seen many upgradabout systems. I've never seen anyone upgrade one. Tommorows technology makes it into the mobotherboard rather quickly, and you turn out to want that.
Besides, how do you know what will come. A guy at church keeps complaining to me that he bought a PII-233, and the motherboard is documented to go up to 500mhz. He can't do it though, because when they released the chips faster then 300 intel changed the rules slightly. (I'm not sure if it is voltage, bus speed or something else)
I would say that you are best off buying a good system now, and putting a network card in it. When you buy the greater system in a few years everything will change. (Maybe it will be athalon, or maybe the successer) with a simple network you have either a comptuer in the living room and the den, or at least a comptuer for good head to head gaming when friends come over.
That aside, I bought a dual ppro a couple years ago, and the only thing that makes me consider replacing it is the fan noise. And I in fact followed my philsophy, the 386 the ppro replaced is still running in a closet somewhere - it still has my USR courior modem and I got email last night) Granted it can't do much by todays standard, but if I'm ever in that closet I have a terminal.
I was in the mood to upgrade in November. After serious consideration, I got an Abit BP6 w/ two Celeron 366's (as opposed to an Athlon). I'm now running it overclocked to 550 MHz.
:-).
:-)
Besides the aforementioned stuff, I also got 128 MB of PC100 and an IBM 13 GB Ultra66 drive for about $600 with priority shipping. I had a spare case, and most of the rest got cannibalized from the old system and other spare parts (who doesn't have spare 3.5 floppy drives laying around
I've been very satisfied with its performance - although, if it makes any difference, this was an upgrade from a P233, so just about anything new would seem good. I expect it will last me for quite a while, or at least until the other LUG guys upgrade.
In defense of the BP6 in the face of the Celeron's future, there are (supposedly) other chip makers coming out with PPGA processors, at least some of which should work with it. If they work out, the BP6 should clock up to at least the lower end of the spectrum for these new chips.
It will surely be better to get a MB now that works well for your Celerons (66MHz FSB, PC66 SDRAM) and save any money you can. then dump the lot and buy a new MB and memory when you buy your new processors. By then you will want 133 or 166 MHz FSB (or something) or you might want to go the Athlon route, and who knows what memory will do.
Get what you need now and plan on replacing it all -- you'll get a better system for little more money
You're in a bit of a quandary. First, the 370 pin PPGA socket for Celeron processors is not compatible with the FC-PGA Pentium III coppermines. Abit is releasing a SlotKet III which supposedly will fit both PPGA Celerons and Coppermines in a Slot1 motherboard, but regressing to Slot1 seems a bit pointless ATM considering where everything is headed. I would tell you to wait a few months for FC-PGA Celerons to be released and buy a compatible motherboard, but unfortunately Intel is disabling SMP on the new edition Celerons. If you really have your heart set on upgrading, I suppose you could get a good Slot1 SMP motherboard and slocket Celeron 370PPGAs for now and see what happens with the FC-PGA->Slot1 converters. Otherwise, hey, motherboards are cheap, and for the price of 2 P3-1Ghz chips you could probably score a couple of P3-950s and a shiny new mobo with all the bells and whistles. In other words, I wouldn't get my heart set on upgrading, which is increasingly looking to be an antiquated concept.
--
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
I am running a BP6 with celerons overclocked to 550, and am happy with it. Unfortunately, it has been more or less decided that the BP6 will not be ably to run Pentium !!!s. The hardwae is incompatible, so your only real solution is a Slot 1 motherboard. While they will (supposedly) have adapter cards to run the new socket P!!!, don's rely on compatibility.
I would recommend the BP6 for now, and get a board built for the socket P!!!s later. It will be inexpensive now, ant the money you saved now will get you better hardware later.
Right now intel's in a big transition, heck, even the Celerons will be updated to run (officially) on a 100 MHz bus sometime. You may just want to take a wait-and-see approach.
-Smitty
± 29 dB
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
sorry about the tpyo, the link is this.
---- I made the Kessel Run in under 11 parsecs.
I think that Tyan is the only manufacturer so far that is coming out with a dual processor board. It will apparently be called the dolphin, this according to www.slota.com/motherboards.
Tyan itself is, as usual, saying nothing about it at all. Release date is listed as '00, so it may be december for all slota.com knows...
What you want to do is very possible. I had the same situation.
I bought one CPU to start out with and built up my system, knowing that I didnt want to replace my mobo. I have the Microstar 6120, its a dual slot1 mobo with onboard adaptec scsi. I bought it 3 years ago (phew) right when the BX chipset came out. It is relatively inexpensive in its class and is rock solid. It has bus speeds Auto/100/112/133 so it can take all sorts of cpus. I have been running on dual PII-450s recently. My friend is using a Shuttle 649A with a P3 and that motherboard (imho) is not as stable. My system has been runing rock solid using the Microstar. Specs here, and a great price
I bought my cpus from Step-Thermodynamics which I have absolutely nothing to complain about. The coolers on those are simply the best. They add a ton to the stablity and performance (I got the 400-450 step).
Good luck in finding what you need
-Chris
I've built a lot of computer systems and my advice to you is to forget about the dual processors and go for SCSI. Unless you're going for hardcore processing power (which normal users generally aren't; except for gamers, of course), stick with one 433 celeron and drop some extra cash on SCSI. You can get a card for about $140 plus a small hard drive (2GB) for $100. You may want to check ebay for an even better deal. Believe me, the difference between using IDE for your main drive vs. SCSI is unbelievable! It's definitely worth the extra cash!
- Just say no to integrated components
- Fast RAM, Fast Bus
- Balance cost with upgradability
Good luck with the building.Integrated or on-board components, such as video, ethernet, and sound are Bad Things (tm). You may be tossing the main board in about a year, you don't want to lose half of your "cards" with it. As far as I can tell, the PCI spec will be in force much longer than any processor bus/slot spec.
If you can, get faster RAM or a motherboard that supports faster bus speeds. 133mHz RAM (PC-133) will work on 66, 100, and upcoming 133mHz boards. When you upgrade, that'll be one less component to throw away.
Think (for each individual component) if it will cost you more to fend off obselence by paying more, or to simply buy a new SuperMegaDevice 2002 to replace your 2000 model. Celeron processors (which you seemed decided on) are a good example - they're amazingly cheap, with almost little or no performance penalty. You can buy four or five for the price of one high-powered Pentium III chip, and the PIII may only last you 2-3 more months.