Is it possible to run two computers in parallel?

I have an old computer that I don't use any more, but I don't want to get rid of it. So, I was wondering if anyone knows if it is possible to run two separate computers in parallel and how to do it. I figured, if you can do it with CPUs, RAM and video cards, why not with whole computers?

 

What you're talking about doing is not possible. The simplest reason not to is because of communication time between the computers, even running Gigabit LAN between the two of them you would not be able to get the same speeds as even hard drive read time.

If you don't want to get rid of the old computer, there are still plenty of things you can do with it. You can set it up as a Firewall/Router (try http://www.smoothwall.org/), a file server (try http://www.freenas.org), or you could just set it up to do folding (http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24).

 

Of course it is possible. It is done all the time. A simple 5 second search with Google will show that. But, it is typically done under the control of another complex computer system (and expensive software) whose job it is to divvy out and keep track of the tasks to each node. Not something you would see in a home setup. It is NOT generally faster, if that is your goal, because in a true parallel setup, memory must be shared, which requires complex communications as skolor correctly indicates.