Okay computer guys, here's we go. I've never dealt with a dual-cpu system before, thus my question(s):


Me and two friends are getting a place together. What we want is a game server that will double as a media center. Here's the scenario we're thinking:

The computer is hosting a game online, pretty much 24/7/365. Person X comes in and wants to watch a DVD, watch/RECORD TV, or play on the XBox or PS2. Can this be accomplished?

My knowledge about dual-processing systems is limited and I am curious if it's possible to allocate certain apps to run on a given processor. Like this:

Computer Game runs on Processor 1
All other functions run on Processor 2
Both at the same time

More:

We also want to have remote access for the system from our individual computers. Thus a wifi network has been called into play, and I assume XP Pro for each PC other than the media/game center.

Finally,

To accomplish this goal we were thinking a computer with these general specs:

Dual-cpu motherboard
Two AMD Opteron's
ATI All-in-Wonder video card
Healthy dose or RAM
Good sound card for surround-sound setup
Windows Media Center w/remote

Am I accurate in the WMC OS? Or should it be XP Pro?

That's all the complexities I can think of right now. More later if they come up. Thanks in advance guys!!

 

The dual processors don't function as separate systems. Both run at the same time to process whatever applications are in progress. Furthermore, you cannot specify an application to run on one processor or the other, the processors work together. There is an advantage in processing multiple commands simultaneously, as in a server.

 

you could use remote desktop to control the server remotely.

 

I know Windows won't do what you want, and I still don't know enough about Linux to know wether you could schedule process to specific processors (without a lot of custom coding on your part). This is an area where it will pay to get the fastest processor you can, and MORE IMPORTANTLY more memory, I'd say several gig. Especially with how Windows leaks memory.

 

Windows doesn't really leak memory, it just consumes a lot of it.

But the others are right, you can't, on a windows machine anyway, assign hard resources like that to a given process. That's the operating system's job.

Remote desktop would be a good idea, but keep in mind that unless you get a server license, you can only have one person at a time using the PC, whether they're in front of it or not.

Computers are cheap enough these days that you could put two systems together and have much better results. Windows isn't a very good multiprocessor OS, so gameplay is going to impact other stuff no matter how much memory or how many CPUs you have.

 

Leak is probably not the proper term, I was thinking of Windows running and when a process is shut down the memory doesn't get released. I tried to explain that to a friend of mine once, who kept complaining about his business computers, as he was too lazy to EVER shut them down. It cost him an arm and a leg (multiple times) in recovery fees.

 

i would recomend 2 systems rather than a dual system... the two processors do work as one, and you need more expensive hardware to make these work

Matt

 

Good point, I forgot a lot of these require registered memory!