Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-27 Thread Vivek Khera
On Apr 25, 2006, at 5:09 PM, Ron Peacetree wrote: ...and even if you do buy Intel, =DONT= buy Dell unless you like causing trouble for yourself. Bad experiences with Dell in general and their poor PERC RAID controllers in specific are all over this and other DB forums. I don't think that

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread mark
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 11:07:17PM -0400, Ron Peacetree wrote: THROUGHPUT is better with DDR2 if and only if there is enough data to be fetched in a serial fashion from memory. LATENCY however is dependent on the base clock rate of the RAM involved. So PC3200, 200MHz x2, is going to actually

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Ron Peacetree
I'm posting this to the entire performance list in the hopes that it will be generally useful. =r -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Apr 26, 2006 3:25 AM To: Ron Peacetree [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs Hi Ron: As a result

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread David Boreham
The reason AMD is has held off from supporting DDR2 until now are: 1. DDR is EOL. JEDEC is not ratifying any DDR faster than 200x2 while DDR2 standards as fast as 333x4 are likely to be ratified (note that Intel pretty much avoided DDR, leaving it to AMD, while DDR2 is Intel's main RAM

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread William Yu
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have an Intel Pentium D 920, and an AMD X2 3800+. These are very close in performance. The retail price difference is: Intel Pentium D 920 is selling for $310 CDN AMD X2 3800+is selling for $347 CDN Anybody who claims that Intel is 2X more

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread David Boreham
While in general there may not be that much of a % difference between the 2 chips, there's a huge gap in Postgres. For whatever reason, Postgres likes Opterons. Way more than Intel P4-architecture chips. It isn't only Postgres. I work on a number of other server applications that also run

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Ron Peacetree
they actually are. Again, my apologies. Ron -Original Message- From: Ron Peacetree [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Apr 26, 2006 8:40 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], pgsql-performance@postgresql.org Subject: Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs I'm posting this to the entire performance list

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread PFC
Have a look at this Wikipedia page which outlines some differences between the AMD and Intel versions of 64-bit : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EM64T It isn't only Postgres. I work on a number of other server applications that also run much faster on Opterons than the published

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Scott Marlowe
On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 18:55, Jim C. Nasby wrote: On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:33:38PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:14, Bill Moran wrote: I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread William Yu
David Boreham wrote: It isn't only Postgres. I work on a number of other server applications that also run much faster on Opterons than the published benchmark figures would suggest they should. They're all compiled with gcc4, so possibly there's a compiler issue. I don't run Windows on any of

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Scott Marlowe
On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 20:17, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 08:54:40PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I made the choice I describe based on a lot of research. I was going to go both Intel, until I noticed that the Intel prices were dropping fast. 30% price cut in 2

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Jim C. Nasby
On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 10:27:18AM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: If you haven't actually run a heavy benchmark of postgresql on the two architectures, please don't make your decision based on other benchmarks. Since you've got both a D920 and an X2 3800, that'd be a great place to start. Mock

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Jim C. Nasby
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 11:07:17PM -0400, Ron Peacetree wrote: A minor point to be noted in addition here is that most DB servers under load are limited by their physical IO subsystem, their HDs, and not the speed of their RAM. I think if that were the only consideration we wouldn't be

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Bruce Momjian
Jim C. Nasby wrote: On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 10:27:18AM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: If you haven't actually run a heavy benchmark of postgresql on the two architectures, please don't make your decision based on other benchmarks. Since you've got both a D920 and an X2 3800, that'd be a

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread Jim C. Nasby
On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 06:16:46PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote: Jim C. Nasby wrote: On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 10:27:18AM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: If you haven't actually run a heavy benchmark of postgresql on the two architectures, please don't make your decision based on other

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-26 Thread mark
On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 05:37:31PM -0500, Jim C. Nasby wrote: On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 06:16:46PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote: AMD transfers the dirty cache line directly from cpu to cpu. I can imaging that helping our test-and-set shared memory usage quite a bit. Wasn't the whole point of

[PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Bill Moran
I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be purchased will be running FreeBSD PostgreSQL. Where I'm stuck is in deciding whether we want to go with dual-core pentiums with 2M cache, or with HT pentiums with 8M

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Scott Marlowe
On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:14, Bill Moran wrote: I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be purchased will be running FreeBSD PostgreSQL. Where I'm stuck is in deciding whether we want to go with dual-core

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Gavin Hamill
On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 14:14:35 -0400 Bill Moran [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Does anyone in the PostgreSQL community have any experience with large caches or dual-core pentiums that could make any recommendations? Heh :) You're in the position I was in about a year ago - we naturally replaced our

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Scott Marlowe
On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:14, Bill Moran wrote: I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be purchased will be running FreeBSD PostgreSQL. Where I'm stuck is in deciding whether we want to go with dual-core

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread mark
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:33:38PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: Sad, cause the AMD is, on a price / performance scale, twice the processor for the same money as the Intel. Maybe a year or two ago. Prices are all coming down. Intel more than AMD. AMD still seems better - but not X2, and it

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Scott Marlowe
On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:38, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:33:38PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: Sad, cause the AMD is, on a price / performance scale, twice the processor for the same money as the Intel. Maybe a year or two ago. Prices are all coming down. Intel more

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Joshua D. Drake
Bill Moran wrote: I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be purchased will be running FreeBSD PostgreSQL. Where I'm stuck is in deciding whether we want to go with dual-core pentiums with 2M cache, or with HT

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Joshua D. Drake
But don't believe me or the other people who've seen the difference. Go buy the Intel box. No skin off my back. To be more detailed... AMD Opteron has some specific technical advantages to their design over Intel when it comes to peforming for a database. Specifically no front side bus :)

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread David Boreham
Actually, that was from an article from this last month that compared the dual core intel to the amd. for every dollar spent on the intel, you got about half the performance of the amd. Not bigotry. fact. But don't believe me or the other people who've seen the difference. Go buy the

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Joshua D. Drake
David Boreham wrote: Actually, that was from an article from this last month that compared the dual core intel to the amd. for every dollar spent on the intel, you got about half the performance of the amd. Not bigotry. fact. But don't believe me or the other people who've seen the

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Bruce Momjian
Joshua D. Drake wrote: David Boreham wrote: Actually, that was from an article from this last month that compared the dual core intel to the amd. for every dollar spent on the intel, you got about half the performance of the amd. Not bigotry. fact. But don't believe me or the

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Ron Peacetree
experiences with Dell in general and their poor PERC RAID controllers in specific are all over this and other DB forums. Ron -Original Message- From: Bill Moran [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Apr 25, 2006 2:14 PM To: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org Subject: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread David Boreham
My personal favorite pg platform at this time is one based on a 2 socket, dual core ready mainboard with 16 DIMM slots combined with dual core AMD Kx's. Right. We've been buying Tyan bare-bones boxes like this. It's better to go with bare-bones than building boxes from bare metal because

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Ron Peacetree
... ...if the present reliability problems I'm seeing go away. Ron -Original Message- From: David Boreham [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Apr 25, 2006 5:15 PM To: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org Subject: Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs My personal favorite pg platform at this time is one

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Joshua D. Drake
Ron Peacetree wrote: As others have noted, the current price/performance sweet spot for DB servers is 2S 2C AMD CPUs. These CPUs are also the highest performing x86 compatible solution for pg. If you must go Intel for some reason, then wait until the new NGMA CPU's (Conroe, Merom,

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Jim C. Nasby
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:33:38PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:14, Bill Moran wrote: I've been given the task of making some hardware recommendations for the next round of server purchases. The machines to be purchased will be running FreeBSD PostgreSQL.

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread mark
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:42:31PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 13:38, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 01:33:38PM -0500, Scott Marlowe wrote: Sad, cause the AMD is, on a price / performance scale, twice the processor for the same money as the Intel.

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread mark
On Tue, Apr 25, 2006 at 08:54:40PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I made the choice I describe based on a lot of research. I was going to go both Intel, until I noticed that the Intel prices were dropping fast. 30% price cut in 2 months. AMD didn't drop at all during the same time. Errr..

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Leigh Dyer
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another benefit of Pentium D over AMD X2, at least until AMD chooses to switch, is that Pentium D supports DDR2, whereas AMD only supports DDR. There are a lot of technical pros and cons to each - with claims from AMD that DDR2 can be slower than DDR - but one claim that

Re: [PERFORM] Large (8M) cache vs. dual-core CPUs

2006-04-25 Thread Ron Peacetree
Another benefit of Pentium D over AMD X2, at least until AMD chooses to switch, is that Pentium D supports DDR2, whereas AMD only supports DDR. There are a lot of technical pros and cons to each - with claims from AMD that DDR2 can be slower than DDR - but one claim that isn't often made, but that