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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    46

    Dual Core Dual Opteron -- 1u or 2u?

    Hey guys,

    Just curious on what you guys think should be the recommended requirements for fitting a rackmount server with two dual core opteron 265 chips and two fast hard drives (10k rpm SATA or 15k rpm SCSI). What do you guys think... 1u or 2u, and what size power supply? Penguin computing offers a 1u unit with dual core opteron 265 chips with a 1u rackmount and a 450 watt power supply... however with the fast hard drives, the dual core dual chips... I'm worried about 1) heat issues and 2) power issues.

    Also -- what's up with the Intel Woodcrest chips. Are they better than the dual core opteron's for game servers?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2003
    Location
    UK
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    6,616
    I recently got some quote from my hardware supplier for similar specked system and they are quite happy to qualify a 1U solution for those, those admitally I wasn't so sure. To be safe I might say 2U with plenty of ventilation, though if Penguin are supplying them I'm sure they have been fully tested for heat

    Rus
    Russ Foster - Industry Curmudgeon
    Freelance Sysadmin for Hire - email vaserv@gmail.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    46
    Well -- even the best companies will supply you what you want -- not necessarily what you need.

    Also -- do you know where to get just the 1u rackmount case -- or is it best just to get the barebones or a complete machine?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Australia
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    Had a bad run with 1U Dual XEONs, about 4 yrs back, so I will only buy 2U servers, even if you can't fit as many per cabinet. That's just my preference, and I love the extra ventilation in the 2U case.

    Surely you can get the numbers to crunch with 18 x 2U servers per cab, over 1U servers. Leasing rackspace is not that pricey. I'll only buy servers with dual 550w power supplies.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Posts
    47
    hello guarnibl,

    We use some dual opterons 265 in 1u case, 400 watt , 2 HD SATA without any issues so far.


    Hope it helps.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    New York, NY
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    4,618
    Assuming you're using a server-class motherboard (generally they're laid out in a way that makes passive cooling possible), and a good case, there should not be a problem. We use Supermicro cases for our high-end servers, which are designed with good cooling in mind, and they run very cool.
    Scott Burns, President
    BQ Internet Corporation
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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    Bluesquare dc, Uk
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    1,591
    Quote Originally Posted by Aussie Bob
    Had a bad run with 1U Dual XEONs, about 4 yrs back, so I will only buy 2U servers, even if you can't fit as many per cabinet. That's just my preference, and I love the extra ventilation in the 2U case.

    Surely you can get the numbers to crunch with 18 x 2U servers per cab, over 1U servers. Leasing rackspace is not that pricey. I'll only buy servers with dual 550w power supplies.
    Particularly not with a market such as web hosting, which yields such a large turnover / box.

    What probs did you have with your 1u xeons Bob?
    Olly | INX-Gaming
    Call of Duty 4 hosting

  8. #8
    Same here. We use Supermicro cases and motherboards for the Opterons and haven't had any problems with heat in a 1U. In fact, the temperature coming out of an identical Dell is 15 degrees higher. I've seen that the IBM and Dell 1U servers generate a significantly more amount of heat than Supermicro does.
    Matt Kelly
    WCiT.net
    Managed and Unmanaged
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  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Montreal, PQ
    Posts
    355
    I have 2x 246 Opterons and 4x SATA drives in a 1U with a 400W power supply and it's running fine (Tyan barebones).

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    North Yorkshire, UK
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    4,164
    I'm running the exact same setup for Virtuozzo nodes (2x Oppy 265's and 4 hotswap 10k SCSI's), all in 1U cases without issues at all.

    Granted these things throw out tons of heat in the office, but in a well ventilated DC they do just fine.

    Dan
    █ Dan Kitchen | Technical Director | Razorblue
    █ ddi: (+44) (0)1748 900 680 | e: dkitchen@razorblue.com
    █ UK Intensive Managed Hosting, Clusters and Colocation.
    █ HP Servers, Cisco/Juniper Powered BGP Network (AS15692).

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    NC
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    3,093
    Supermicro makes some very nice cases which if you want to look at 1u are definatly worth taking a look at.

    Another important thing is look at the DC you are going to be putting them in - can you get enough power per rack to fill it with 1us? If so they probably have adequate cooling for them if not you may want to look more at the 2u servers.
    John W, CISSP, C|EH
    MS Information Security and Assurance
    ITEagleEye.com - Server Administration and Security
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  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    46
    We were actually thinking of building them ourselves with Tyan barebones 1u. I.e., Dual Opteron 265 Dual Cores, 1 x 36GB 15k RPM HD, 1 x 73 GB 15k RPM HD, 4 GB of DDR ECC 3200 RAM (Kingston), etc. However, we'd need some sort of remote access capability, and Penguin Computing's systems come pre-built with the serial access card. Considering that's about $500 alone... it's actually around the same price to get it from Penguincomputing.

    Servers are being placed in Equinix and Infomart.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2002
    Location
    Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by [inx]Olly
    . . . What probs did you have with your 1u xeons Bob?
    Heat related issues. Fans blowing all the time. Was a real pain.
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  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    North Yorkshire, UK
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    4,164
    Quote Originally Posted by guarnibl
    We were actually thinking of building them ourselves with Tyan barebones 1u. I.e., Dual Opteron 265 Dual Cores, 1 x 36GB 15k RPM HD, 1 x 73 GB 15k RPM HD, 4 GB of DDR ECC 3200 RAM (Kingston), etc. However, we'd need some sort of remote access capability, and Penguin Computing's systems come pre-built with the serial access card. Considering that's about $500 alone... it's actually around the same price to get it from Penguincomputing.

    Servers are being placed in Equinix and Infomart.
    Tyan barebones are what we're using too, really good boxes, the only disadvantage being some raid cards don't fit (they're shorter than other boxes).

    Dan
    █ Dan Kitchen | Technical Director | Razorblue
    █ ddi: (+44) (0)1748 900 680 | e: dkitchen@razorblue.com
    █ UK Intensive Managed Hosting, Clusters and Colocation.
    █ HP Servers, Cisco/Juniper Powered BGP Network (AS15692).

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
    Posts
    46
    Will they shutoff if the reach a certain temp? I know how bad it can be for an engine to overheat... can only imagine for CPU's.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    The Mighty Jungle
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    258
    Usually motherboards have a feature in the BIOS that will let you shut off the CPU at a certain temp.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Montreal, PQ
    Posts
    355
    You can buy a seperate IPMI optional card for your Tyan.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Sheffield, South Yorks
    Posts
    3,627
    Yep, Tyan refer to them as SMDC if you're looking for them, cheap as well - If you can get hold of them (Like most things Tyan, or anything decent, it's a pain to get them in here in the UK).
    Karl Austin :: KDAWS.com
    The Agency Hosting Specialist :: 0800 5429 764
    Partner with us and free-up more time for income generating tasks

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    135
    Buttload of Tyan barebones w/ Dual Dualcores here...1+ years in operation, some have uptimes of over 365 days. Can you say stable?
    Joseph Laws
    President - Hi-Definition Gaming LLC

    (http://www.hd-gaming.com)
    Professional Gaming Services For The Professional Gamer

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