Server Processors

[ben604]

We're about to buy a testbed server for Hyper-V and have been getting quotes left right and centre, we know what we want/need for most aspects of the machine, but the variety of processors have left us baffled..

 

We've been offered Dual E5310s, Dual E5130s, Single E5310s and a couple of others, all for similar prices...We're running Dual 5420s in our two DCs at the moment, and comparing them to the quoted CPUs on a benchmark site, they appear to be at least twice as fast!

 

What are the most intensive CPU tasks?

 

Which of the above seem like the most suitable CPU?

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Guest Guest]

You dont want any of them, they are up to 56## now so they are several generations out of date.

 

If you want single CPU servers you want 36##

Dual CPU you want 56##

 

 

When you add servers to a pool they need to be of the same series of CPU; 5410 wont work with a 5510, but a 5410 will work with a 5440. Therefore you want the latest generation stuff as if you need to expand your pool next year you will find it a hell of alot easier to find a CPU which is the current gen or the last gen, then you will finding one which they don't manufacture anymore.

 

Im not sure about the letter preceeding the CPUs, ie I dont know if a E5640 will work with a L5640. I would have thought so as they are just "Low voltage" but I couldnt say for certain.

Edited February 1, 2011 by Guest

[ben604]

Thanks for that, we're probably not going to add these to our virtualisation pool and keep it standalone for testing anyway. We'll be buying another new, full spec server when we do virtualise.

 

We've only got £500 to spend on this test bed, you think this would be ok at that price?

 

It's mainly for "learning" hyper-v running a mixture of Server 2008r2, Win 7 and Linux instances!

[Guest Guest]

Well if you only have £500 I dont know why they are quoting you for dual CPU servers. £500 isnt going to go far tbf. Why not build your own then? Intel i5 with motherboard, 8gb+ ram, 2x hard drives in raid 0.

 

You could get a Dell T110 and buy some ram and HDs seperate. That should come in under budget. Just make sure the CPU supports vitualisation instructions. Personally id go for the cheapest Xeon.

[ben604]

Well here are two example quotes:

 

 

Dell Poweredge 1950 Server - 2X XEON L5310 1.6GHZ QUAD CORE 8MB L2 CACHE 1066MHZ FSB / 8GB RAM / NO HDD (Up to 4X 2.5” SAS/SATA Drives) / PERC 6I RAID CONTROLLER / DVD-CD/RW / DUAL PSU / 12 MONTHS WARRANTY FROM PRODEC NETWORKS - £450 +VAT

 

Dell Poweredge 2950 Server - 2X XEON 5130 2GHZ DUAL CORE 4MB L2 CACHE 1333MHZ FSB / 8GB RAM / NO HDD (Up to 6X 3.5” SAS/SATA Drives) / PERC 5I RAID CONTROLLER / DVD-CD/RW / DUAL PSU / 12 MONTHS WARRANTY FROM PRODEC NETWORKS - £450 +VAT

 

Surely they'd be a better option than the workstation i5 route?

[jamesfed]

We have been using the AMD Opteron 6100 series processors in our virtual servers - 8 core HE for server OSes and 12 core for virtual desktops.

Core count is always one of the key things when virtulising and AMD have the king pin on it at the moment.

 

The two servers you should look out for are the HP DL165 G7 and the DL 385 G7.

 

Also....don't underesitmate your needs for fast hard drives - if you have the ablity to keep user data on some kind of NAS/SAN then invest in low capacity high speed drives (e.g. 72Gb 15,000rpm).

[chazzy2501]

It's all a waste of time... I'm looking at my 4 x E5520 at 2.27Ghz each (36GHz according to Vcentre) the load on 11 virtual servers is less that 3% during the day. (I could have saved money on licensing and hardware if i'd halved my CPUs) Spend your money on better SANS/Switching.

 

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/921/87821602.png

 

p.s. Ignore host 3 I don't use him at all!

Edited February 2, 2011 by chazzy2501

[john]

I must admit I have 6x 2.66 Quad Core Xenons in my XenServer Pool and the CPU is minimally used, its the ram that you want lots of, my hosts have 24GB at present but I think I will try and budget to get them up to 32GB each next year.