Hey, this might be a bit of a long shot question...

[zocki5]

...but could one potentially run two identical systems off of one storage drive so as to achieve a satisfactory aesthetic for their build while maintaining all the benefits of having one system? No joke. Planning a loop and for lack of symmetry when using only one decided to go with two motherboards. As I said, it's complicated. But is it possible? Let me know!

Appreciate it.

[Danioki]

i think its possible with a nas. maybe..

[WereCatf]

2 minutes ago, Danioki said:

i think its possible with a nas. maybe..

That would no longer be "one system" as the OP requested, though.

[Danioki]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

That would no longer be "one system" as the OP requested, though.

yep, the thing is you can't connect a single local drive in two motherboards.it has to be outside the two systems.

 

if it is for aesthetics maybe you can use two nvme m.2 drives, they are very insconspicuous.

 

 

[zocki5]

4 hours ago, Danioki said:

yep, the thing is you can't connect a single local drive in two motherboards.it has to be outside the two systems.

 

if it is for aesthetics maybe you can use two nvme m.2 drives, they are very insconspicuous.

 

 

Ok, thank you for the insight. I will go so far as to say that pulling some kind of RAID move which merges two physical mainboards into one digital unit is, well... Quite hard to pull off, I would imagine.

Would be awesome, though, especially with Windows 10 Pro already supporting two physical CPU's.

It really was about having the two systems behave like one, without a dual screen setup or anything like that. (Aesthetics are based solely on the mainboards facing away from each other by the way.)

My thought was if they ran on the same OS on the same drive I could have one pushing pixels in games while the other does, well... Stuff. Mostly look good, but maybe some rendering on the side. 

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, zocki5 said:

Ok, thank you for the insight. I will go so far as to say that pulling some kind of RAID move which merges two physical mainboards into one digital unit is, well... Quite hard to pull off, I would imagine.

Would be awesome, though, especially with Windows 10 Pro already supporting two physical CPU's.

It really was about having the two systems behave like one, without a dual screen setup or anything like that. (Aesthetics are based solely on the mainboards facing away from each other by the way.)

My thought was if they ran on the same OS on the same drive I could have one pushing pixels in games while the other does, well... Stuff. Mostly look good, but maybe some rendering on the side. 

Why would you need them to have the same harddrive for that? Just have 2 seperate systems and you can already do that. I mean streamers use two computers at once all the time. 

[zocki5]

12 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

Why would you need them to have the same harddrive for that? Just have 2 seperate systems and you can already do that. I mean streamers use two computers at once all the time. 

TL;DR

I want the aesthetic benefit of having two independent systems with them behaving like one. One screen. One keyboard. One mouse. One OS.

[akio123008]

1 hour ago, zocki5 said:

TL;DR

I want the aesthetic benefit of having two independent systems with them behaving like one. One screen. One keyboard. One mouse. One OS.

You want a compute cluster, but that's not going to work for desktop use. You can use clusters like this for rendering stuff in bulk, performing science related computation etc. (primarily on obscure Linux distro's with a steep learning curve) but running a desktop OS on two or more machines at the same time isn't a working config.

 

Edit: btw did you really just double the cost of your rig for "aesthetical reasons"? Like, "oh I like the look of two mobo's in one case, so let's get another one"? Does it also have a cpu, ram and a gpu installed in it for symmetry?

[akio123008]

1 hour ago, zocki5 said:

TL;DR

I want the aesthetic benefit of having two independent systems with them behaving like one. One screen. One keyboard. One mouse. One OS.

That would actually just mean to have only one mobo powered on and the other one just being one really expensive dummy.

[Brooksie359]

1 hour ago, zocki5 said:

TL;DR

I want the aesthetic benefit of having two independent systems with them behaving like one. One screen. One keyboard. One mouse. One OS.

There are software's that allow for the use of one mouse and keyboard pretty easily but the other two is where you idea starts to become pretty impossible.

[Danioki]

11 hours ago, akio123008 said:

That would actually just mean to have only one mobo powered on and the other one just being one really expensive dummy.

I think this is the way. there is no reason for having the two systems working.

[zocki5]

22 hours ago, akio123008 said:

You want a compute cluster, but that's not going to work for desktop use. You can use clusters like this for rendering stuff in bulk, performing science related computation etc. (primarily on obscure Linux distro's with a steep learning curve) but running a desktop OS on two or more machines at the same time isn't a working config.

 

Edit: btw did you really just double the cost of your rig for "aesthetical reasons"? Like, "oh I like the look of two mobo's in one case, so let's get another one"? Does it also have a cpu, ram and a gpu installed in it for symmetry?

Yes, yes and yes. 

It wasn't clear in my OP, but this build is still in an early planning phase. No components have been bought yet, though the two systems part is definitely set. I'll have a custom distribution plate/reservoir machined by a local shop for those A E S T H E T I C S.

22 hours ago, akio123008 said:

That would actually just mean to have only one mobo powered on and the other one just being one really expensive dummy.

If all else fails, I guess I'll have to live with that.

22 hours ago, Brooksie359 said:

There are software's that allow for the use of one mouse and keyboard pretty easily but the other two is where you idea starts to become pretty impossible.

Any recommendations on that front? Am I likely to look at subscription services or one time purchases? Freeware even?

11 hours ago, Danioki said:

I think this is the way. there is no reason for having the two systems working.

Is there potentially a more refined way of switching inputs on the display without going into its settings menu? Like an Alt+Tab only for switching from GPU1 to GPU2 signal?

I'd be fine with that, as both systems could be used without adding another display.

 

Thanks for the many replies by the way! 

[Brooksie359]

2 hours ago, zocki5 said:

Yes, yes and yes. 

It wasn't clear in my OP, but this build is still in an early planning phase. No components have been bought yet, though the two systems part is definitely set. I'll have a custom distribution plate/reservoir machined by a local shop for those A E S T H E T I C S.

If all else fails, I guess I'll have to live with that.

Any recommendations on that front? Am I likely to look at subscription services or one time purchases? Freeware even?

Is there potentially a more refined way of switching inputs on the display without going into its settings menu? Like an Alt+Tab only for switching from GPU1 to GPU2 signal?

I'd be fine with that, as both systems could be used without adding another display.

 

Thanks for the many replies by the way! 

I haven't personally use any myself so I couldn't really tell you much about them. I know linus has done sponsor spots for synergy if I remember correctly so that would be the first one I would look into. 

[Danioki]

14 hours ago, zocki5 said:

Yes, yes and yes. 

It wasn't clear in my OP, but this build is still in an early planning phase. No components have been bought yet, though the two systems part is definitely set. I'll have a custom distribution plate/reservoir machined by a local shop for those A E S T H E T I C S.

If all else fails, I guess I'll have to live with that.

Any recommendations on that front? Am I likely to look at subscription services or one time purchases? Freeware even?

Is there potentially a more refined way of switching inputs on the display without going into its settings menu? Like an Alt+Tab only for switching from GPU1 to GPU2 signal?

I'd be fine with that, as both systems could be used without adding another display.

 

Thanks for the many replies by the way! 

well, you can use a KVM to plug the two systems to the peripherals and switch between them wiht a key combination.