RE: Multithreading question

[Bill Northcott]

> My simulation works fine with a low agent count, but I get much more
> interesting results as my population densities rise, hence my desire to
> improve performance.  Even with more efficient code, once I hit the 
magic
> number of around 1200 agents, things really slow down.

That sounds awfully like running out of DRAM and going into paging.   How 
much DRAM have you got, and have you tried more?  If you can't avoid 
paging, you need a fast disk subsystem with plenty of cache.  Pentium 4 
PCs are rather ordinary in this area because they only have 32bit 33MHz 
PCI.

Have you thought about picking up a cheap 64bit machine from eBay?  There 
are plenty around since the dot.com bust.

Bill Northcott

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