kewltoyz :
Hey folks,
I'm trying to get a fair lamen's assessment of Xeon server processors for comparison in future upgrades.
While I would be looking at twice as many cores and better power/heat utilization looking through specs. I was concerned about clock speeds and how they would affect performance in terms of heavier loads like SQL and Terminal Server. There are faster memory paths as well. But, There has to be some trade off's? Like say a 2nd Gen 2.4 GHz vs a 4th Gen 2.0 GHz. What should I expect to lose in performance for less clock cycles?
In another track, looking at them as a VM instead of straight hardware implementations, going from SAS RAID10 to SSD RAID10 would boost performance. But as a VM the utlility in maintenance would still have losses being virtual with regard to processing performance from most of what I read.
I'm curious what thoughts the people at Tom's had to say?
Thanks!
kewltoyz,
Server CPU's are a complicated equation of high clock speeds vs, core count. There can be processes in a single system that need both speed and threads so the answer in my view is to have both. To accomplish this at reasonable cost I believe is best done by stepping back one generation and there are three really excellent choices:
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2637 v2 (4-core @ 3.5 / 3.8 GHz, 15M Cache
http://ark.intel.com/products/75792/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2637-v2-15M-Cache-3_50-GHz
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2643 v2 (6-Core @ 3.5 / 3.8 GHz, 25M Cache)
http://ark.intel.com/products/75268/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2643-v2-25M-Cache-3_50-GHz
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2687W v2 (8-core @ 3.4 / 4.0 Ghz, 25M Cache)
http://ark.intel.com/products/76161/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E5-2687W-v2-25M-Cache-3_40-GHz?q=e5-2687w%20v2
In workstation use with VM's, the priority is really the turbo clock speed as so many processes will not be fully multi-threaded. As Xeon 2600 -series may be used in pairs, the decision between these three depends on the thread count and budget. Of course, the E5-2687w v2 has both 16 threads and the first two cores running at 4Ghz so that's ideal, but these are so sought after, the cost used is nearly the price new- over $2,000 each (6.15). The E5-2643 v2 can be costly used as well =$1200-1400, but I've seen pairs sold in the $2,000 range and sometimes a Dell Poweredge T620 can be had for $1500-1700 with one 2643 v2. The E5-2637 v2 can be in the $500 range, so the equation with the clock speeds being similar is something like:
8 cores /16 threads = $1000 -1100
12 cores / 24 threads = $2000-2800
16 cores / 32 Threads = $3,700- 4,000
In the list above, the standout cost /performance choice would be to find a pair of E5-2643 v2's for $2,000. ($3,100 new)
It's difficult to make overall generalizations about the performance between Xeon v2 and v3 systems with DDR3 1866 and DDR4 2133 as the memory bandwidth of Xeon v3 is larger- 68 to 56.2, but certainly one can expect that the same core count and clock speed will result in a higher calculation density using Xeon v3. So, the key to the decision returns to your original question of striking the clock speed / core count within the budget and in that context the v2 being purchased used with a tilt towards a clock speed priority will in my view offer a noticeably better cost /performance ratio.
If you are building a server, I think a good way to do it is to use a Superpmicro "Superserver" as a basis- the case, boord, PSU, HS bays, and everything is all set up and you can just plug in the components:
http://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/system/tower/index.cfm#dpXeon_E5-2600
If you don't need an extraordinary number of drives- no more than 8 hot swap- you could consider one of these as basis:
Supermicro SuperWorkstation 7047AX-TRF
http://www.supermicro.com.tw/products/system/4U/7047/SYS-7047AX-TRF.cfm
> and these are quiet enough to have in the office where you're working. Just add the CPU, RAM, RAID controller, and drives.
Cheers,
BambiBoom
HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 /4.0GHz > 16GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K2200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 4918 > CPU= 13941 / 2D= 823 / 3D=3464 / Mem= 2669 / Disk= 4764]
Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)
Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro 4000 (2GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3339 / CPU = 9347 / 2D= 684 / 3D= 2030 / Mem= 1871 / Disk= 2234]
Pending upgrade: PERC H310 PCIe SAS /SATA RAID controller, 2X WD Black 1TB (RAID 1)(Converts disk system from 3GB/s to 6GB/s)
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