Very Computer

Anyone know of a multiple processor motherboard for either Intel or AMD
processors that supports more than 2 processors?

Thanks in advance!

-JBJ-

While not a direct answer, it looks like AMD is going to be looking to
having multiple processor boards available that support both the Hammer
(K8) and Athlon (K7) on the same board.

I wouldn't be surprised to see an extension to having two Hammers (which
I understand are fairly easy to set up in a MP environment from the
board building POV) and an Athlon.... that would be a sweet setup.  :-)

A four-chip board is going to cost a pretty penny, no matter how you
look at it.

Rob

Tyan Thunder GC-HE, http://www.tyan.com/products/html/thundergche.html
Supermicro P4QH6, http://www.supermicro.com/PRODUCT/MotherBoards/GC_HE/P4QH6.htm

--
        Markku Kolkka

Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 18:27:08 -0600

Quote:> Anyone know of a multiple processor motherboard for either Intel or AMD
> processors that supports more than 2 processors?

quad (or more!) pentium pro boards can be found on ebay - try a search
for ALR for example. Quad xeon boards are also possible.

Good luck,
Jurriaan
--
Satan: "Welcome to hell - Here's your DoubleSpaced 386SX and windows"
GNU/Linux 2.5.38 SMP/ReiserFS 2x1380 bogomips load av: 4.46 1.96 0.74

Not just the cpu and motherboard cost.  The board is going to be
big... real big.  It's going to require power, probably multiple
power supplies in some cases.  As such, it's going to cost you
a pretty penny just to keep it turned on, not too mention the
amount of heat produced.  And you'll probably have to put it into
a monster case which also expends $$$'s.

Of course, you are undoubtably talking about a data center (where
noise levels are not that big of a deal).

You can probably forget about an AGP slot... though someone might
make a board with that... but I doubt it.  Definitely a server
niche market for these at the moment.

The ones i have seen are not all to large and fit in a normal case, power
supply is normally a single but most boards need at least a 450 watt PSU,
with extra power lines and special plugs, yes priecy.

Quote:

> Of course, you are undoubtably talking about a data center (where noise
> levels are not that big of a deal).

> You can probably forget about an AGP slot... though someone might make a
> board with that... but I doubt it.  Definitely a server niche market for
> these at the moment.

No, mopst all bopards i have seen have an onboard agp video and an agp
slot.
One thing you did not mention is the Registered memory that most dual
boards need, the price is astonomical.

http://tyan.com/products/html/thunderk7x.html

One board i have seen and handled is to be found at the above URL, it
costs here in Holland around the 700 Euro, (just the Mobo that is).

PS 150 Euro.
Memory More that one Euro per Mb.
Price of processors is not really much more than ordanary CPU's.

So before you have it up and running around the 1500 Euro mark.
Thats ex, monitor..

--
Regards Richard

http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/

        What do you mean?  Athlons and Hammers don't even share the
same bus, so how and why would you put them on the same board?
        It does look like AMD will be able to produce 4-way Hammer
boards at a much lower cost than an equivalent Pentium board.  4-way
SMP Northbridges are hard to make, and Hammers don't need them.

-Mark Langsdorf

I'm not a CE... so I really don't understand the Hows or Whys of it...

But one AMD PDF-Slideshow document that has made its way to their
website had a neat little slide (#12, IIRC) that displayed a ASMP
diagram featuring a Hammer and Athlon on the same board.

The text said something to the effect of this setup would allow
what you are *doing* to take advantage of the Hammer's vast speed
improvements while letting the 'background' stuff run on the Athlon.

A hammer and an Athlon would be cheaper than two hammers, I think.

I dunno how they plan on doing it, just that that slideshow stated they
did plan on doing just that.  :-)

Quote:>    It does look like AMD will be able to produce 4-way Hammer
> boards at a much lower cost than an equivalent Pentium board.  4-way
> SMP Northbridges are hard to make, and Hammers don't need them.

I heard they were going to be able to produce 8-way SMP setups without
too much of a hassle.  The Hammer's improved architecture makes it quite
easy to make multiple-processor boards.

It'll be interesting to see how all of this effects the market once some
of these chips actually start making their way in to the real world.

Rob

        Do you have a URL for this document?  I'm really curious.

Quote:> The text said something to the effect of this setup would allow
> what you are *doing* to take advantage of the Hammer's vast speed
> improvements while letting the 'background' stuff run on the Athlon.

        I wonder if they meant a K8 Opteron and a K8 Athlon?  The
desktop hammers are supposed to marketed under the Athlon brand, and
they use the exact same bus interface as the server (Sledge/Opteron)
Hammers.  That kind of system would make a lot of sense.

Quote:>>       It does look like AMD will be able to produce 4-way Hammer
>> boards at a much lower cost than an equivalent Pentium board.  4-way
>> SMP Northbridges are hard to make, and Hammers don't need them.
> I heard they were going to be able to produce 8-way SMP setups without
> too much of a hassle.  The Hammer's improved architecture makes it quite
> easy to make multiple-processor boards.

        They say that 8 way systems are possible, but I don't think
AMD has committed to making them.  It's a niche market, after all.

-Mark Langsdorf