[nflug] Hardware questions

[David J. Andruczyk]

--- Jason O'Bara <obarajt at verizon.net> wrote:

> I was looking at a new Dell machine for home, and a few of the specs 
> made me wonder:
> 
> 1) A dual-core processor is seen under Linux as two physical ones,
> correct?

Yes

> 2) Hyper-threading only works in Window$, correct?

NO,  Linux supports hyperthreading, so if you have a dual core CPU with
HT, (I think they exist)  It would show up  as four CPU's on linux and
windows (only in windows if it's licensed for 4).  Linux is aware of
HT's limitations (it's not the same a dual core chip) more so than
windows and from what I've seen performs better wiht HT than windows.

> 3) is there any difference between these two video cards? Dell sees
> it 
> as a $281 difference. I am not much of a gamer these days, and I just
> 
> want something decent.
> 
> 128MB PCIe x16 ATI FireGL V3100, Dual Monitor VGA or DVI/VGA Capable
> 
> 128MB PCIe x16 nVidia Quadro FX 1400, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA Capable

Nvidia support is FAR better under linux that ATI.  That card is pretty
much overkill though,  any grade nvidia card will work fine if you're
not a gamer.  I've got an (ancient by today's standards) Geforce FX5200
128MB and I paid $40.00 for it on ebay. and it screams,  even when I do
occasionally play a game (usually the older descent3).  I'd say steer
for an nvidia if possible.



Dave J. Andruczyk

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________________
nflug mailing list
nflug at nflug.org
http://www.nflug.org/mailman/listinfo/nflug