dual proc dual-core xeon2.8 or dual proc xeon 3.8? faster?

[yinako]

hi

I like to know which is faster for rendering in maya dual proc dual core xeon 2.8ghz or a dual processor setup with xeon 3.8? sorry no amd choices.

will i need a winxp64 to take advantage of a two dual core xeon 2.8? does it
, how well does it scal with ram is it better to get 4g or more like 8G ram to make better use of dual dual core machines?

basically I 'm looking at those dell perscion 670 machines.

please if some one have a similar setup or knowledge, let me know.

 

[K8MAN]

I would get dual 3.8's over dual DC2.8's any day.

 

[yinako]

is there any bechmark for a comparision? i try to find it, but no luck

 

[mesarectifier]

2 processors will be much faster, especially seeing as they're 1ghz faster.

You'll need XP64 in order to address more than 4gb RAM anyway, and I think those dual processors have their own sets of RAM, so 8gb will be 4gb per-CPU and 4gb will be 2gb per-CPU.

 

[linux_0]

hi

I like to know which is faster for rendering in maya dual proc dual core xeon 2.8ghz or a dual processor setup with xeon 3.8? sorry no amd choices.

will i need a winxp64 to take advantage of a two dual core xeon 2.8? does it
, how well does it scal with ram is it better to get 4g or more like 8G ram to make better use of dual dual core machines?

basically I 'm looking at those dell perscion 670 machines.

please if some one have a similar setup or knowledge, let me know.

Xeons do not scale at all.

In fact your memory bandwidth goes down the more Xeons you have or as you add CPU cores.

The Opteron architecture does not suffer from this limitation. In fact with Opterons your memory and IO bandwidth increases as you add physical CPUs to the system.

As you you can see above each Opteron CPU has it's own memory controller so your memory bandwidth is N x the number of CPUs in the system.

In Opteron64 systems:

With 2 CPUs and 4 memory sticks you have 2x the memory bandwidth ( 2x6.4GB/sec )

With 4 CPUs and 8 memory sticks you have 4x the memory bandwidth ( 4x6.4GB/sec )

With 8 CPUs and 16 memory sticks you have 8x the memory bandwidth ( 8x6.4GB/sec )

In Xeon systems:
with 2 CPUs your memory bandwidth is 1/2
with 4 CPUs your memory bandwidth is 1/4
with 8 CPUs your memory bandwidth is 1/8 ( theoretical )



Also many opteron boards integrate multiple north bridges and PCI-X bridges for increased IO bandwidth as well.

The Tyan S2895A2NRF has 2 nVidia North Bridges + 2 full X16 PCI-E slots running at full X16 speed for a total of 32 PCI-E lanes ( which doubles your PCI-E bandwidth ) + 2 independent PCI-X bridges for greatly increased PCI-X bandwidth.

The IWill and Supermicro boards have a similar architecture.

http://tyan.com/products/html/thunderk8we.html

http://www.iwill.net/product_2.asp?p_id=96&sp=Y

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=110289&Category_Code=OMB

 

[yinako]

yes i know opteron is the choice today, but i can't get them, because dell dont sell them and I can only get dell machines.

 

[linux_0]

yes i know opteron is the choice today, but i can't get them, because dell dont sell them and I can only get dell machines.

I'll be happy to newegg you some Opterons and put Dell logo's on them

or you can get some here:

http://www.penguincomputing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=172&Itemid=230


Does your company or organization have an exclusive Dell contract?


Have a look at this beauty here:

 

[yinako]

Do your company or organization have an exclusive Dell contract?

i think thats the reason

 

[linux_0]

Where is your organization located?

I could give you about 50 reasons to cancel that Dell contract.

 

[yinako]

some where in NY, but I dont know the details why they go with dell, if someone gives me a new machine I just chose, dont ask, it may be a hassel for them and I may miss my deal

 

[linux_0]

I do not want you to miss your deal but getting a Dell is almost criminal!

Perhaps you could nudge them in the right direction, there are many companies that would love to make them a deal.

 

[Ycon]

He didnt want you to tell him your boring stories, he wanted to know which of those setups is going to work better with his software.

 

[linux_0]

Penguin Computing produces better machines and Opterons are far superior to Xeons.

 

[rippleyaliens]

Well, personally, i would go with the dual 3.8's almost same price, as the 2x dual cores. 8gb ram, (if you get directly from dell, looks decent price wise.). probably will be 2x2gb, and 4x1gb sticks. I am like the penguin dude, i have a dell 670, and IT DOES ROCK. I know the amd is indeed faster, but when i got the machine,
1. Stability 2, service, and 3, seamless ability to work with my network, outshadowed price. and seamless = monitoring with the dell software, not the $5 nic card. to whoever asks...

just make sure you have high disk IO capabilities. IT is a shame that with all these high speed computers/workstations with 1000 video solutions, rely on a single hard drive, or even 2 harddrives, to provide their disk io...

The weak part about the dell-- PRICE, and as of TODAY 5-12-06. Dual xeons are just flat out inferior to the opteron counter parts. But within 60-90 days, the tide will change with intels new chips.. BUT i live today, and plan for tomorrow, not ttrying to live tomorrow, and hope it comes out right.

 

[chiselmonkey]

I would definitely go with the dual 3.8's. As said before the architecture limitations of the xeon's really start to hurt when you go beyond 2P. We run a few dual xeon workstations, Precision 450's, 470's and 670's and they perform well with low noise. I would prefer the opteron setup but am not willing to sacrifice service, same day replacement parts & dependability for that.

 

[yinako]

yes like you said about the drive speed, so the current one I was looking use 2 300gb EIDE drives? does it matter if I don't have scsi? is scsi still that much faster like in the 486 days? because I have a feeling people less depend on them and go with normal EIDE drives today....i'm not too sure so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[linux_0]

yes like you said about the drive speed, so the current one I was looking use 2 300gb EIDE drives? does it matter if I don't have scsi? is scsi still that much faster like in the 486 days? because I have a feeling people less depend on them and go with normal EIDE drives today....i'm not too sure so correct me if I'm wrong.

SATA IDE is much cheaper although SCSI is still better.

Do not purchase anything with PATA IDE / EIDE disks.

http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/bench_sort.php

Maxtor Atlas 15K II (147 GB Ultra320 SCSI) - 97.4 MB/sec
Fujitsu MAU (147 GB Ultra320 SCSI) - 93.8 MB/sec
.
.
.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 no NCQ (160 GB SATA) - 72.7MB/sec


I would cautiously recommend the Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 160GB drives or similar drives from Samsung, Hitachi, WD etc.

I do not recommend the Seagate 7200.8 series.


250GB drives have the lowest cost per GB

500GB drives have the highest cost per GB excluding Raptors and SCSI drives.