I have a Digital Celebris GL-2 computer, which has a dual processor capability, although it only has one PII 266Mhz processor at the moment. I am thinking about fitting another processor to increase the speed of my computer. I am of the understanding that the second processor must be the same speed as the first one. Is this correct ??? Is it also true that both processors must have the same OEM (S-spec) code ??? For example, the OEM code on my 266Mhz processor is SL265. Should the second processor have SL265 on it too ??? I refer to "stepping" problems which I don't really understand. Also, the motherboard (main logic board) is a Digital M1 board. Is a PII 266Mhz processor the fastest processor that the motherboard can handle ??? (I want to make my PC as fast as possible so I would like to have two 400Mhz processors for example. I don't mind getting rid of my current PII 266 processor !!). (If it's helpful, the processor fits into a slot 1 socket). I currently use Windows 98 O/S which I know cannot detect more than one processor. However, I am planning to install Windows 2000 O/S soon so that I can hopefully multi boot with more than one O/S. I would be grateful if someone could tell me if Windows 2000 is able to cope with Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, Director, etc ...... (the usual multimedia applications). Finally, can Windows 2000 O/S play avi, mpeg, mov, & asf files ??? Can it handle codecs and divX etc. (I hope to specialise in Director over the next few years so video capability is a must for me !! ). Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me. Regards, Rohan.

Well your correct on all counts. You should have matching CPUs - speed and stepping - Get the largest CPUs your motherbaord can handle right from the start. Get as much Ram as you can afford. Win2K will eat it up 128 min. Win2K works fine with all the software you mentioned. Check out www.pricewatch.com for the best prices anywhere - except the trunk of a car - One more thing DON"T expect more than a 1/8 increase in speed over a single CPU unit. I know it sucks, but that's about the boostin speed you get from 2 CPUs.

FJ, Thanks so much for your help. I spent a lot of time reading various web pages to get to my statements above. Glad to see my brain can still interpret a limited amount of info !!! One last question, I have an M1 digital motherboard. What is the best way to find out the highest speed processors that it can handle ??? Cheers, Rohan

To find out the top CPU speed of the motherboard, you either need the motherboard manual or to find the manufacturers site which should hold information regarding processors. One other way is to find somebody online with the same machine and see if they can run a higher speed cpu (you might find these in sale ads). As for software under Win2k. the stuff you mention works fine, but the problem with dual cpu systems is that you only get the benefit the software itself is optimised for dual cpu as well as the OS. For example, if you ran a standard graphics package on the dual cpu machine, it probably wouldn't run any faster than on a single cpu machine. But running something like Photoshop on a dual CPU will use the second cpu, thus you'll get the speed increase. With normal windows apps you won't see much of a speed increase. You'll have to check the makers websites for information about dual cpu (SMP) support. I believe most Adobe and Macromedia stuff supports dual cpu, but I'm not sure. Stuff like Lightwave and 3D Studio Max has dual cpu support for sure. HTH A

I have a Digital Celebris GL2 machine. (One of the best machines I ever had). I know for sure that it can handle 400mhz cpus. On the inside cover it gives you clock settings and, if I remember right, multipliers for 400MHZ. At the time of manufacturing, these speeds were unheard of but Digital still out in the support for a future upgrade. Andrew