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windows 7 or 8 does not support quad socket mother boards. by quad socket i mean that there are 4 processors. each can have a bunch of cores. so if it's 16-core amd processor, it would be 4*16 = 64 cores.

windows server however supports quad socket motherboards.

and a lot of people start with windows server, add some software/libs and are capable of playing games.

so by installing win server on quad socket then adding needed software, is it possible to play games? like battle field or gta or need for speed?

if yes, can you say a bit how would you go about what software to put on it.

will there be any limitation to running software?

Update (1)

these posts are similar:

Is it possible to use a server to play games?

How many physical processors does Windows 8 Support?

but the question still remains because i'm not sure if the libraries and os are compatible with games.

Community
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kirill_igum
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2 Answers2

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None of the games that you mention are CPU bound (very few are). You're going to hit GPU/Disk/RAM limitations far before you can take advantage of a quad socket box. There's not really a point to cramming 4 CPUs into a gaming box right now when a single high-end i7 can pretty much handle anything out right now at a fraction of the price.

Also, are you really going to spend $10,000 USD or more on Xeons that are capable of a quad socket configuration? You can't just cram 4 i7s in a motherboard and call it a day.

To top it all off, if you want more than 32GB RAM (I mean, you have 4 CPUs - are you really only going to have 32GB RAM?), you'll need to spring for Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise edition, which has a nice $3,000 USD price tag on it.

That said, Windows Server 2008 R2 has the same kernel as Windows 7. As long as the application itself isn't checking OS version, it should run fine.

MDMarra
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Your other consideration is that the software has to be written to make use of the additional CPUs. Just because they are there, doesn't mean they will be utilized.

In order for a system to be optimized, you must have the following working together: 1. BIOS has to be able support multiple CPUs 2. The OS must be able to support multiple CPUs 3. The application has to be able to support multiple CPUs.

If any of these are not enabled or present, you will be only using 1 CPU.

SChetools
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