I am torn right now between these two systems to replace my aging DB server:
4 x 2.2 GHz Opteron 8GB RAM Ultra320 15kRPM RAID5 with 128MB cache
and
2-way 1.2GHz POWER4+ IBM pSeries 615 8GB RAM Ultra320 15kRPM RAID5 with 64MB cache
I don't know anything about the pSeries, but have a look in the archives, there was recently a rather long thread about Xeon vs. Opteron. The Opteron was the clear winner.
Personally I think that you can't be wrong with the 4-way Opteron. It scales very well and if you don't need the fault tolerance of the pSeries platform, then you should be able to save one or two bucks with opteron way.
Btw: If you want to save a few more bucks, then drop the 15k and take 10k drives. They are of almost same speed.
Regards, Bjoern
---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
