Running SQL Server 2005 on 4 Dual-Core CPUs 64 bit

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Running SQL Server 2005 on 4 Dual-Core CPUs 64 bit

imarchenko-236376

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December 9, 2005 at 5:43 pm

#111418

Hello!

We are planning following setup for our production SQL Server:

OS - Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition
SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition
16 GB RAM
4 Dual-Core CPUs 64 bit

I was wondering if anybody is running SQL Server 2005 on Dual-Core 64 bit CPUs. Are there any know issues with this? Would it be better to with Intel or AMD?

Thank you in advance,
Igor

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)

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david russell-253790 SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4042 More actions · Answer 1

That's pretty new stuff! We're looking forward to what YOU have to say. This is a database server, right? I didn't even realize that 2003 was available yet in 64 bit. I know that XP came out about a month ago; but there are few drivers, and no applications, so as well as it worked by itself, everything else was running in a compatibility mode and it wasn't worth using. My son kept it configured for about two hours and reverted to the 32 bit OS. He was using an AMD 3400+, I think. It will be interesting to know if dual core and SQL is a plus. Hyperthreading is not. Don't forget to turn on AWE (Advanced Windowing Extensions) to use all of that memory

Cheers,

david russell

Derrick Leggett SSCrazy Points: 2778 More actions · Answer 2

David, he won't need AWE if he has 64-bit Windows and SQL Server. All the memory will be directly addressable. That's one of the biggest features of 64-bit computing. The dual core processors are true processors as opposed to they HTT virtual processor model, so there is a substantial increase in performance. You don't get the entire L2 cache per processor so far, because they haven't scaled them that far yet, but it's considerable faster than a single core. Since MS is sticking to licensing by socket, you basically get the other processor for free.

From everything I have heard, the AMD chips are faster with SQL Server than the Intel. I am speaking off the top of my head though, when I should be looking at benchmarks.

We're looking at this same purchase to replace our production pair and a data warehouseing pair for 2006. Post the results of how everything goes. We would appreciate it.

Derrick Leggett
Mean Old DBA
When life gives you a lemon, fire the DBA.

imarchenko-236376 SSCommitted Points: 1734 More actions · Answer 3

I will certainly keep you posted if we decide to go this route. At this moment, I would be very curious to learn if someone has real experience implementing similar solution.

Igor

david russell-253790 SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4042 More actions · Answer 4

Derrick, good point... of course that was a brain-dead comment.

Is the OS available? I did not receive it to the best of my knowledge.

Cheers,

david russell

Chris Hedgate One Orange Chip Points: 25041 More actions · Answer 5

David, both XP x64 and Server 2003 x64 where released back in April.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/64bit/default.mspx

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Chris Hedgate http://www.hedgate.net/
Contributor to the Best of SQL Server Central volumes
Articles: http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/chedgate/

wildh SSCarpal Tunnel Points: 4370 More actions · Answer 6

imarchenko,

I'd be very interested in your findings as I've just specked the very sames set up, although we're restricted to Intel.

HWUK

imarchenko-236376 SSCommitted Points: 1734 More actions · Answer 7

We will be upgrading our server early February. Stay tuned.

Steven. SSCrazy Eights Points: 9806 More actions · Answer 8

I was just checking the config for the x64 sql server 2005 server install , and see that is say you need windows 2003 sp1. I can't find any reference to the x64 sp1 version on the microsoft site, only the 32bit and Intel ones.

Any idea's

Steven

Steven. SSCrazy Eights Points: 9806 More actions · Answer 9

Question Answered - The base cd's for the x64 os already has sp1 applied.

Steven

Keith Edwards Default port Points: 1446 More actions · Answer 10

We are running a very similar setup.

OS - Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition 64 bit

SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition 64 bit

32 GB RAM

4 Intel Xeon Dual-Core 3.4 Ghz CPUs

Currently we have HT turned on, but I am in discussions with our Sys Admins about maybe turning that off.

Have any of you run into any "Gotcha" issues with similar setups that I nned to be aware of?

Thanks,

Keith