dual processors and linux 1773

Roy L. Fuchs

I don't have nice, convenient cite to give you. But if you read the various AMD platform docs on AMD's website, multiple sockets are only mentioned in the Socket 940 documentation. The Socket 940 is used on the Opteron 2xx and 8xx chips. The Athlon X2 chips use Socket 939 and I haven't seen anything from AMD mentioning multiple Socket 939s.

(I've heard rumours about possible future systems with two of AMD's new "AM2" sockets which would allow running two of the newest generation of Athlon X2s. But at this point, those are just rumours of possible future products. I don't know anything about the reliability of that info.)

Also look at AMD's past: the "Althon MP" chips were the only SMP-certified Athlons AMD made, and they were discontinued approximately when the Opterons were first introduced. So for the last couple of years their single core Athlons were for single processor systems and their single core Opterons were for multi-processor systems. I see no reason why dual core would suddenly erase that distinction.

(It probably all boils down to marketing: cheap Athlons for cheap single socket systems, a price premium for SMP capable Opterons. It's a lot like Intel's marketing of P4s for single socket systems and Xeons for multi-socket systems.)