How do I set up a network so that the computer I'm on would combine its usage with the other for better prefor

An example:





I could network 2 or computers both with dual cores for a quad core experience. Other components can work together too, such as, the motherboads and their chipsets, the GPUs, and memory. The Computers might even be a Mac and the others be PCs
How do I set up a network so that the computer I'm on would combine its usage with the other for better prefor
What you're looking for is 'clustering' or 'distributed computing'.





You're going to have to be running specific apps written for distributed computing though (which arent that many).





Go to apple's site and look for "xgrid". they actually can do this right out of the box.





Although its possible in some instances, its not like you can just chain together a bunch of computers and just run regular apps faster. They have to be very specific.





The program visualhub on the mac is a good example of a program that takes advantage of this. you can use all the networked macs around to help you convert videos.
How do I set up a network so that the computer I'm on would combine its usage with the other for better prefor
No network connection can make your computers pool their CPU resources. You need a cluster operating system, like Beowulf.
Reply:While this is possible I don't think it'll do what you hope it will.





You cannot hook 4 pentium 2s together and use them to play Portal.





What can be done is distributed processing, a process commonly used for such applications as molecular simulation, weather forecasting and computer gnerated imagery (movie effects).





The details of such techniques are rather excessive, so I'd suggest you do a search for "Beowulf cluster" for a decent introduction to the concepts.
Reply:The answer to this question depends on the sort of "Better Performance" or "multi-core experience" your are hoping to achieve. Sadly, for the sort of applications that most people have experience with, networking multiple computers together will NOT improve the perceived performance or provide a "better experience" than you already get on your best performing machine.





BUT... If you are interested learning about how networks of computers can solve some classes of very hard problems as well or better than all but a few of the very fastest computers on the planet then you are in luck.





Just a few day ago a new performance record was set. The new fastest machine on the planet can perform 1000 trillion Flops (Floating Point Operations) per second. The last time I remember a new record been set it was not by a huge IBM supercomputer but a volunteer nework of Playstation3 owners who ran some special software and left their PS3s on and connected to the Internet (when they weren't Playing :) ).





So here is my answer. Unless you are interested in getting involved in the exciting world of volunteer grid computing, forget about trying to get better "performance" by networking a few computers together.





BTW: that new PetaFlop IBM machine is reported to have over 12,000 cell processors very similar to the those in the PS3.





Note that I wrote this all off the top of my head without rechecking sources. I've added some links to the "Know You're source" area. Check those out.





- Fight_IM_Spam





Update: I'm glad others have mentioned Beowolf clustering. That can be particularly fun if you can get a big bunch of machines reasonably close together for awhile either by getting a bunch of friends interested in a clustering party and/or getting permission to use a big computer lab over a long holiday weekend. You can get a real taste of _power_ that way. But you need need to find something to do with it.





Contributing to Virtual Supercomputer grids on the Internet is a different sort of experience. The projects are pretty well defined. Just pick one that interests you and join. The Wikipedia article below says "Folding@Home - 1,949 teraflops, as of June 10, 2008" is still way ahead of the fastest real Supercomputer. Protein Folding is a pretty important problem to solve. The new IBM machine is sort of like a cluster on fiberoptic steroids. It's "problem" will be simulating nuclear weapons.
Reply:There is a Great article here called 'Determining Your Network Requirements'





http://san-diego-cabling.com/determining...





Good luck!