Dual Core to Quad Core Upgrade

[Rodrigo]

Hello,

I'm thinking about upgrading (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...nd&Pagesize=50) my Pentium Dual CPU E2200 to either an E6800 Dual-Core or a Core 2 Quad Q8400. Supposing that I got the quad-core processor, what (if anything) would I need to do in order to get Prime95 to find and use the two additional processors?

I can't imagine that it would simply recognize the four cores the next time I launched the program... or would it? I'm thinking that I'd have to "retire" the PC from GIMPS before performing the upgrade, and then re-register it afterward.

Care when withdrawing the computer from GIMPS would be necessary, as I have three other PCs working on the project, so it wouldn't be a simple matter of quitting GIMPS and then signing up again.

If anybody has experience with this, let me know -- thanks!

Unrelated question: Which CPU would be more productive from a GIMPS standpoint, the E6800 at 3.33 GHz with a 2MB L2 cache, or the Core 2 Duo E7500 at 2.93 Ghz with a 3MB L2 cache? How about for other applications (say, loading large MS Office files)?

Rodrigo

[Brain]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo

I can't imagine that it would simply recognize the four cores the next time I launched the program... or would it?

As far as my experience goes it will. Be aware that PrimeNet will detect changed hardware under the same machine id and will create two distinct entries in wep page "CPUs" which will have to be mergered manually. But it will work.
If you don't want to merge you will have to do it the way you suggested (maybe the more tidy way).

[Ken_g6]

Make sure your motherboard can support both the FSB (1333) and voltage (<=1.31v, I believe) of a Q8400 before buying one.

I also see you're looking at a faster dual-core. Have you tried overclocking your current one via the FSB?

[Rodrigo]

Originally Posted by Brain

As far as my experience goes it will. Be aware that PrimeNet will detect changed hardware under the same machine id and will create two distinct entries in wep page "CPUs" which will have to be mergered manually. But it will work.
If you don't want to merge you will have to do it the way you suggested (maybe the more tidy way).

Brain,

It's good to know that the main part (recognizing the extra cores) will happen automatically. I can handle the manual merging of the listings.

Thanks very much!

Rodrigo

[Rodrigo]

Originally Posted by Ken_g6

Make sure your motherboard can support both the FSB (1333) and voltage (<=1.31v, I believe) of a Q8400 before buying one.

I also see you're looking at a faster dual-core. Have you tried overclocking your current one via the FSB?

Ken,

Looking at the specifications (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...=3766893#N1567), I'm confident that the motherboard can support the 1333 FSB speed. But I'm not sure how to check the voltage information. How do I do that?

The specs page says it can take up to a Q6600, but I've been told that this is probably just because HP hasn't updated the page in years. FWIW, it also says that it can handle a Core 2 Quad Q9xxx, so maybe that covers the voltage issue?

Abuot overclocking, it's something I've thought about but haven't looked into. Instead of pushing the CPU to its limits, I think I'd rather put in a chip that's designed to go faster comfortably.

Thanks for the tips!

Rodrigo

[Mr. P-1]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo

I can't imagine that it would simply recognize the four cores the next time I launched the program... or would it?

If it doesn't, you can change them manually choosing the 'Worker windows' option in the test menu, or if you're using mprime, its 'Worker threads'.

[Rodrigo]

Originally Posted by Mr. P-1

If it doesn't, you can change them manually choosing the 'Worker windows' option in the test menu, or if you're using mprime, its 'Worker threads'.

Hmm, that's interesting! This should take care of it.

Rodrigo