Dual Processors

[Zero]

O.k.

I've got some questions maybe you guys can answer about dual processors. 1'st of all, CNC Software does not support dual processor machines right? Now after reading some past threads, I think there are a few of you out there that are running 2 procs right? Does everything run o.k.?

 

I have also heard that you can assign apps to individual procs. So is it possible to have 2 sessions of mastercam open, each running off their own processor? Does this make a difference in the speed that which mastercam will crunch numbers? Or am I just spinning my wheels with 2 procs because MC can't really use the resources available?

 

Also, is there hope for support from CNC in the near future for dual procs?

 

Thanks for your replies in advanced

 

 

[ 05-29-2002, 11:59 AM: Message edited by: Zero ]

[Zero]

oh yeah, 1 more thing. Anybody running an Intel XEON processor out there? What's the real difference (besides price) between the P4 and the XEON relevant to MC processing time?

 

[ 05-29-2002, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: Zero ]

[Bullines]

quote:

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CNC Software does not support dual processor machines right?

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Mastercam software itself does not recognize the number of CPUs on a system and allocate workloads accordingly.

 

quote:

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I have also heard that you can assign apps to individual procs. So is it possible to have 2 sessions of mastercam open, each running off their own processor?

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Yes, you can set what is known as affinity (which CPU to use) in the Processes tab in Windows Task Manager in Windows NT/2000/XP.

 

quote:

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Does this make a difference in the speed that which mastercam will crunch numbers?

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Yes and no. Keep in mind there are many other factors affecting performance such as other running processes, memory use, etc. In short, a dual-CPU system will surely give a performance boost of some sort.

[RandyN]

Xeon has the secondary cache on the chip, so all caching functions are much faster.

[Lucky]

I am running on a dual 1.7Ghz Xeon machine with Win2K. I often run two instances of Mastercam with one processor assigned to each. No problems. Each instance of Mastercam will need RAM so have plenty. maybe 512mb to 1gig.

[bryan.davis]

the use of dual machines depends entirely on how you work, if you just run one package (ie masterCAM) and nothing else on your machine, and dont see any value in running mastercam twice then dont botehr, use the cash for a top notch graphics card, better procesor, more memory.

 

If however, you tend to do a lot of multi tasking, and may have a CAD package and MasterCAM running similtaneously then they are great, especially if you find a lot of your jobs are slow to process, and you would rather do something constructive than sit and watch the screen whil it crunches the latest toolpath