February 8, 2006 at 2:32 pm
I need to upgrade our db server and was wondering if anyone had any experience with opteron based processors.
I want to use HP ProLiant DL385 with 2 AMD Opteron 280 processors (Raid 5 and 8GB Ram)
I want to use 64bit version of windows and sql server 2005 64bit. (System price around $15,000)
How would this compare to comparable Xeon processor based configuration?
February 9, 2006 at 4:20 am
I'm told by a colleague who uses 64bit amd procs that his servers fly. I asked ms about 32 vs 64 bit and they said it's like comparing eggs and cheese !
If you're going the amd route I'd suggest you get the dual core procs.
[font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/
February 10, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I'm not sure about the AMD chips, but the Itanium 2 chips are a world apart from their Xeon siblings.
We moved our mission critical databases from a 4 way 2.8GHz Xeon box with 8GB of RAM to a 4 way Itanium 2 1.5GHz box with 16 GB of RAM and saw performance go from being barely tolerable, to outstanding. We estimate that our total throughput capacity of the 64bit box is at least twice what the 32bit box was.
Of course your mileage may vary depending on the types of applications your SQL Server supports and the exact configuration.
/*****************
If most people are not willing to see the difficulty, this is mainly because, consciously or unconsciously, they assume that it will be they who will settle these questions for the others, and because they are convinced of their own capacity to do this. -Friedrich August von Hayek
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January 17, 2007 at 4:40 am
DCPeterson, the Itanium 2 are Single or Dual Core?
We've got the similar configuration SQL32 on 8x Xeon 2.8GHz and 16GB RAM.
January 17, 2007 at 8:18 am
Obviously, that was some time ago (an eternity in hardware years) but they were single core Itanium processors and of course the Xeons were x86 type architecture.
Since then the x64 extensions have been added to the Xeons and the performance gap has narrowed.
/*****************
If most people are not willing to see the difficulty, this is mainly because, consciously or unconsciously, they assume that it will be they who will settle these questions for the others, and because they are convinced of their own capacity to do this. -Friedrich August von Hayek
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January 17, 2007 at 8:57 am
generally I belive the dual core amd's outperform intel up to 4 sockets, after that it's a little more blurred. Some intel dual core's also support HT so you get 4 threads per socket, however this could counterproductive in certain circumstances.
The itanium boxes start at about twice the price of zeons and amd. I have both intel and amd dual core boxes and to be honest they both seem to perform well - I don't have the ability to do side by side testing so it's whatever is best price at the time.
Lots of factors influence performance, not just processors, raid 5 is usually pretty bad news for instance, but it all depends on your databases.
I believe 64bit o/s and sql perform much better, certainly the flat memory will be a serious boost - I don't have 64bit versions running so can't make observations on that, sorry.
Note that processor cache usually has a greater infuence on performance than clock speed.
[font="Comic Sans MS"]The GrumpyOldDBA[/font]
www.grumpyolddba.co.uk
http://sqlblogcasts.com/blogs/grumpyolddba/
January 19, 2007 at 7:12 am
DCPeterson and Colin,
thank you for your replies!
We have other concern regarding the MS SQL 2000 Server 64-bit (SQL2000-64) backward compatibility.
We are using the backward compatibility for 6.5 and 7 databases on the SQL2000-32 on the Xeon.
Do know if the SQL2000-64 will provide the same functionality? At the end of the day it will be running on IA and the Windows OS for IA is different than for x86.
January 19, 2007 at 7:56 am
The short answer is yes, SQL Server on the IA64 does have the same kind of backward compatibility that the x86 flavor does.
Longer answer: I've never been a big fan of using the backward compatibility, and certainly not for the long term. If you are still using 6.5 and 7.0 compatibility you should seriously consider making an effort to get your stored procs, views, etc... up to date.
/*****************
If most people are not willing to see the difficulty, this is mainly because, consciously or unconsciously, they assume that it will be they who will settle these questions for the others, and because they are convinced of their own capacity to do this. -Friedrich August von Hayek
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