Expensive Quad Sockets vs. Ubiquitous Dual Sockets
by Johan De Gelas on October 6, 2009 1:00 AM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
Decision Support Benchmark: Nieuws.be
| Decision Support benchmark Nieuws.be | |
| Operating System | Windows 2008 Enterprise RTM (64 bit) |
| Software | SQL Server 2008 Enterprise x64 (64 bit) |
| Benchmark software | vApus + real-world "Nieuws.be" Database |
| Database Size | > 100GB |
| Typical error margin | 1-2% |
The Nieuws.be site is sitting on top of a pretty large database - more than 100GB and growing. This database consists of a few hundred separate tables, which have been carefully optimized by our lab (the Sizing Servers Lab). We have described our testing methods previously in more detail. As some of readers suggested we upgraded from SQL Server 2005 SP3 to SQL Server 2008.
In our "hex-core Opteron" review, we noticed excellent scaling from the quad-core Opteron "Shanghai" to a hex-core Opteron "Istanbul". 50% more cores resulted in a 40% performance increase. Even with 24 cores, the scaling remains outstanding: as we add another 12 "Istanbul" cores (a 100% increase), we get 65% more queries per second at a response time of 1000 ms. The Quad Xeon X7460 has a small but noticeable lead over the powerful dual Xeon X5570. The Quad Opteron 8435 outperforms the latter by 42%, which is quite impressive. The Microsoft SQL server team also deserves a pat on the back: few "native" applications - even databases - scale well to 24 cores.
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rbbot - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
Surely the high price of 8GB Dimms isn't going to last very long, especially with Samsung about to launch 16GB parts soon.Calin - Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - link
8GB DIMMs have two markets: one would be upgrade from 4GB or 2GB parts in older servers, the other would be more memory in cheaper servers. As the demand can be high, it all depends on the supply - and if the supply is low, prices are high.So, don't count on the price of 8GB DIMMs to decrease soon
Candide08 - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
One performance factor that has not improved much over the years is the decrease in percentage of performance gains for additional cores.A second core adds about 60% performance to the system.
Third, fourth, fifth and sixth cores all add lower (decreasing) percentages of real performance gains - due to multi-core overhead.
A dual socket dual core system (4 processors) seems like the sweet spot to our organization.
Calin - Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - link
If your load is enough to fit into four processors, then this is great. However, for some, this level of performance is not enough, and more performance is needed - even if paying four times as much for twice as much performancehifiaudio2 - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
FYI the R710 can have up to 192gb of ram...12x16GB
not cheap :) but possible
JohanAnandtech - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
at $300 per GB, or the price of 2 times 4 GB DIMMs, I don't think 16 GB DIMMs are going to be a big success right now. :-)wifiwolf - Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - link
for at least 5 years you meanmamisano - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
Great article, just have a question about the power supplies. Why do the quad-core servers need a 1200W PSU if the highest measured load was 512W? I know you would like to have some head-room but it looks to me that a more efficient 750 - 900W PSU may have provided better power consumption results... or am I totally wrong? :)JarredWalton - Tuesday, October 6, 2009 - link
Maximum efficiency for most PSUs is obtains at a load of around 40-60% (give or take), so if you have a server running mostly under load you would want a PSU rated at roughly twice the load power. (Plus a bit of headroom, of course.)JohanAnandtech - Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - link
Actually, the best server PSUs are now at maximum efficiency (+/- 3%) between 30 and 95% load.For example:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/powersupply/80P...">http://www.supermicro.com/products/powersupply/80P...
And the reason why our quads are using 1000W PSUs (not 1200) is indeed that you need some headroom. We do not test the server with all DIMM slots filled and you also need to take in account that you need a lot more power when starting up.