XEON Server CPU's

[EzyStvy]

I looked around for a "lay persons" guide but didn't find one.... I'm going to be ordering a pair of servers from the data center we use.

One machine will be a terminal server (65 users) and host our large accounting package. The other server will run Sybase and hold the data.

Here are three of the many cpu's I can order. I first one is what I've order in the past. The 2nd 3rd are what our largest client uses. (they actually use two of the #2 machines as TS machines)

1) $179.00 - Single Processor Quad Core Xeon 3460 - 2.80GHz (Lynnfield) - 1 x 8MB cache w/HT 2) $259.00 - Single Processor Quad Core Xeon 5335 - 2.00GHz (Clovertown) - 1 x 8MB cache 3) $299.00 - Single Processor Quad Core Xeon 5410 - 2.33GHz (Harpertown) - 1 x 12MB cache

So, the six million dollar question is what is so special about a Harpertown CPU to command the extra $120 per month? (in english please)

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and suggestions.

[jdeb]

In my opinion, the "X" series is for performance optimization, hence the turbo boost etc. The "L" series is for power optimization. Power optimization is critical in many enterprise environments. 95W vs 50W

http://ark.intel.com/products/42931?wapkw=x3460

http://ark.intel.com/products/33090/...333-MHz-FSB%29

[Tin]

Get em on eBay, the LGA771 variants are literally 10% of what they cost retail. Granted, its dead-end technology, but you get a majority of the performance of a 1366 system for 25% the cost. I have a little over $200 into my new server hardware after shipping. $50 for 2x Xeon L5420 2.5GHz/12M/1333FSB/50W TDP, $20 for a pair of new retail LGA771 heatsinks and fans, $60 for 8GB 4x 2GB of Kingston FB DDR2 667, and $70 for a brand new Supermicro X7DWE. Retail, my board is $350 new at Amazon, memory is $200 at Newegg, and the CPUs are $350 each new retail at Amazon. Id say I made out pretty good .

EDIT: Sorry, I didnt read your post all the way through. Since this will be for a mission critical environment, go with the Harpertowns. In your environment, you need max IOPs, so the more true processing cores, memory, and faster hard drives you have, the better it will be. I apologize, I thought you were talking for home use.

[EzyStvy]

Thanks for the replies... It's the old "Best Bang for the Buck" issue... Sure - the better the equipment the happier everyone is... But there has to be a point where more power won't be noticed.

We currently use a cpu that is a little smaller then the #1 cpu - with a 32bit OS and 4 gigs of ram. The machines acts as both the TS and Data server and performance is fine for 20 to 35 users.

We'll probably get a SAS drive for the data server...

[glc]

The #1 CPU is essentially the same thing as an i7-860.

[EzyStvy]

Originally Posted by jdeb In my opinion, the "X" series is for performance optimization, hence the turbo boost etc. The "L" series is for power optimization. Power optimization is critical in many enterprise environments. 95W vs 50W Intel® Xeon® Processor X3460 (8M Cache, 2.80 GHz) Intel® Xeon® Processor L5410 (12M Cache, 2.33 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)

Oh my head hurts. I printed out both set up specs... Looks it could take months of research to learn what each thing means

Example:
# of Processing Die Transistors - 774 million on one machine vs. 820 million on the other...

A friend of a friend also mentioned that the 5410 was known to be well rounded cpu...