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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uoregon.edu!usenet.coe.montana.edu!bsd.coe.montana.edu!nate From: nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu (Nate Williams) Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: Dual/Quad Pentium servers Date: 21 Sep 1994 00:53:23 GMT Organization: Montana State University, Bozeman Montana Lines: 41 Message-ID: <35o063$298@pdq.coe.montana.edu> References: <Robert-CCN.jrfq@sacbbx.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 153.90.192.29 In article <Robert-CCN.jrfq@sacbbx.com>, Robert Du Gaue <Robert-CCN@sacbbx.com> wrote: >I've been looking for a nice server machine recently and I'd like to >stay with an intel machine. I've seen ALR's 4 CPU pentium advertisement >as well as a couple of dual CPUS (Compaq, etc...) which according to the >ads look to be very nice servers. > >My question is this. When adding a second, 3rd, or 4th CPU what kind of >speed increase would I expect with each addition under FreeBSD. None whatsoever. >And most >importantly, does FreeBSD take advantage of multi CPU boards? Nope. >Is there something >special I need to do in order to use the multi-CPU systems or will >FreeBSD 'see' the additional processors and start using them for >additional processing power? Nope. You can start with FreeBSD 2.0 and write all the SMP code to make FreeBSD a multi-processing O.S. :-) It is a non-trivial task to make the kernel SMP aware, and this kind of work (although warranted) would not benefit as many folks as would other fixes/features. But, if someone is willing to bite the bullet we're always willing to integrate good code into FreeBSD for these kind of features. However, don't expect it anytime in the near future from FreeBSD. (I suspect it will be a long time coming for any of the free unices, as very few commercial O.S.'s do it, and not many of them do it well) Nate -- nate@bsd.coe.montana.edu | FreeBSD core member and all around tech. nate@cs.montana.edu | weenie. work #: (406) 994-4836 | home #: (406) 586-0579 | Available for contract/otherwise work.