Possible to build 2 process i7? (8 physical cores)

[Ste]

theheresy: What about case, power supply, harddrives, optical drives, RAM? Other parts?

Do you already have these or do you need to increase budget to include them?

 

[theheresy]

Guys thanks for the help so far..in terms of computer building I'm a noob can you guys take this a bit further in explaining to me some of the following things:

1. what is the difference between i7, xenon, and nehalem, I thought that they were all basically the same thing?
2. what would be cheapest to build a dual CPU (i.e. 2quad core, 8core total), would it be two i7's or two xenons or what?

 

[theheresy]

theheresy: What about case, power supply, harddrives, optical drives, RAM? Other parts?

Do you already have these or do you need to increase budget to include them?

Yes, I need a case, power supply, dvd drive and ram so yes the budget will go up due to that, hard drive I possibly will have for it..it's just that those prices are somewhat negligible, everything you listed minus the ram I'm assuming can be 100-200$ total, then another few hundred for a lot of ram so I'm supposing 1500$ or so at the least total...what do you guys think?

 

[Ste]

Im not too good with server builds, but I can suggest some power supplies.

Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7 - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - SILVERSTONE ST56F 560W ATX 12V 2.01 & EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Power Supplies

Or refer to the power supply guide linked in my signature for more choices.

 

[Hefemeister]

1. what is the difference between i7, xenon, and nehalem, I thought that they were all basically the same thing?

Nehalem is the chip architecture.
Both i7 and the newer Xeon ie 3500 and 5500 series are based upon the Nehalem architecture.
The i7 is the Desktop version while the Xeon in the Server version (ecc ram compatible among other things)

Keep in mind for a dual cpu setup you would need an X version ie X5500 Xeon. They support two QPI links.

Here is a good read to get you a little acquainted with the technology involved.
iXBT Labs - Intel Xeon "Nehalem" - Page 1: Some history

Waiting for the server guys to give you some feedback on potential builds as I am more of a desktop and htpc guy.

I was just making sure you did not want a dual cpu for a killer gaming system which it would not be.

 

[kmote]

Keep in mind for a dual cpu setup you would need an X version ie X5500 Xeon. They support two QPI links.

Interestingly, it is actually the sequence number X5550 that indicates it supports dual processors, 3 being uni processor only and 7 being up to 8 processors.
AFAIK desktop processors have been incompatible with SMP since pentium 3 and that situation has not changed. (in response to an earlier question)