On Mon, 24 Apr 2006 18:31:46 -0500
Derek Ragona <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> You can get better information directly from intel's website on 
> motherboards and CPU performance.  Dual core is faster than hyperthreaded 
> CPU's usually about 20% if you use the larger CPU cache models.

I don't follow you here.  Are you saying that dual core is about
20% faster than hyperthreaded with larger cache?

> However with a RDBMS as the primary usage, I would look for more ways to 
> optimize the system.  I would look to use a RAID array with an add-on card 
> (or zero-chanel add-on) as this will provide better performance (with a 
> raid 0) or better performance with redundancy (raid 10, or RAID 0+1.)  A 
> RAID adapter will offload the DISK I/O providing substantially better 
> performance.

We are using Dell PERC controllers with SCSI 320 disks in a RAID-10
configuration, and battery-backed cache.  As a result, disk IO is _not_
a bottleneck.  All of our tests up till now have demonstrated that
memory and disk usage are minimal, and that CPU usage is the current
bottleneck.

> At 02:46 PM 4/24/2006, you wrote:
> 
> >I've been asked to make some hardware recommendations, I'm hoping some
> >folks on the list can make some suggestions.
> >
> >We're looking hard at getting either Intel dual-core procs, or getting
> >hyperthreaded procs with huge (8M) caches.
> >
> >We currently have a few dual proc Intel HT machines that we can test
> >out our workload on, and I'm trying to get a feel for how to determine
> >if a larger cache size will generate better performance than replacing
> >HT procs with full-blown dual-core procs.  We're looking at the 6850
> >from Dell, which supports both processor families:
> >http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_6850?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz
> >
> >The goal for these machines is to serve out PosgreSQL databases to as
> >many Apache+php front ends as we can hang off each one.  So we're trying
> >to purchase hardware that will create a DB server that can handle a lot
> >of web server front ends.
> >
> >I have a Dell 2850 (dual HT procs) here that I can use for testing.
> >I'm a little fuzzy on determining how well the cache is working, so I'm
> >stuck on whether or not the 8M cache that's available on the HT units
> >is worth the money or not.  Can anyone suggest a testing methodology
> >that will isolate this particular aspect?
> >
> >--
> >Bill Moran
> >Collaborative Fusion Inc.
> >_______________________________________________
> >freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list
> >http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions
> >To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
> >
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-- 
Bill Moran
Collaborative Fusion Inc.

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