2002 does support more than one processor, but the performance increase is marginal, mostly faster zooms, and pans. I believe the 2nd CPU mostly handles the display part of the applicationl.
Well... most programs fail to take advange of Dual processors... In the case of AutoCAD, you'd only notice it if you had other programs running at the same time that could take advantage of the extra processor... An example would be working in both Excel and AutoCAD at the same time... But again... it's not all that noticable...
It would be considerably more noticable if you had two different CAD systems running though!... AutoCAD on one, and Pro/ENGINEER on the other!... Daniel Pro/E Specialist
Hi,
Just a final bit on the subject. The application must be written to take advantage of dual cpu's. AutoCAD began to program this into 14 but the only real gain was in LISP and some VBA processing. 2000 is a little faster but like the others said, it is somewhat marginal. Other programs like Unigraphics are beginning to be more and more optimized for dual cpu's and take some good advantage of it. FYI
You should also have an operating system that will support the use of multiple processors such as NT or Win2000, although according to Autodesk, R2002 is 30 percent faster on a computer with dual processors than its predecessor R14 or R2000. ref.
If you use NT or Win2000, the operating will help balance the processor load and make even R14 and 2000 perform better. According to Microsoft, to use a dual processor on a Win9x or WinME system requires that the software be specifically written to address the additional processor usage, while with NT and Win2000 it does not. This would conceivably make R2002 run even better on an NT or Win2000 computer.
