If I was to buy a dual cpu PowerEdge 1550. Is the extra $500 bucks worth it? Is there a huge performance speed difference? I heard the P3T is a allot cooler and has larger cache. I can load it with 4 gigs of ram from Crucial for $849.56. These will be a webservers for a freehost.

I will try and tweak it so it can server as many files and webpages and it can without slowing down. Hope freebsd works well on Dell servers.

I don't know for sure if the second processor will be beneficial in your situation, but I do know that a second processor is incredibly easy to pop in to those 1550s. You may want to just get a single processor system, then plug one in later if you feel you need it.

I recently assembled a 1U server with the 1.13 GHz/512k Intel processor (Taulatin (sp?)). This processor seemed faster to me. Kernel and program compiles were quite fast. They redesigned the contact point between the processor and heat sink, larger contact area for better cooling. Also, it runs at a lower core voltage, so less heat. It does in fact run significantly cooler. For this fact alone I would recommend using this processor, as cooling is of paramount concern in a 1U server.

Originally posted by Intelligent Hosting
I don't know for sure if the second processor will be beneficial in your situation, but I do know that a second processor is incredibly easy to pop in to those 1550s. You may want to just get a single processor system, then plug one in later if you feel you need it.

Quote from Rackmy.com

"Do yourself a favor and get the processor from Dell. They glue on this special added heat sink because of the form factor which if you install a regular processor, it will run too hot and set off the heat sensors. Just a tip!

Everything else you can get from a 3rd party."


Hmm, now I don't know who to believe. Hehe Maybe you can buy this type of conductive glue online.

Dual cpu is useless for servers that just server files and webpages? What if its super high traffic?

I don't think Intelligent Hosting was telling you to get it elsewhere, just to try it with only one processor first.

When you get your processor you will see what I mean. It's not a glue, but a glued on heat sink riser actually on the CPU. I think the 1550 is the only server that Dell does this on.

Hope that helps!