Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Dedicated Server : Single core dual Opterons or Dual Xeons?

[peconi]

Hi guys,

I am looking for another dedicated server and I am thinking which one should I get, Dual Xeon 2.8 GHz w/ 1MB cache + HT, or a AMD Dual Opteron 244 (1.8GHz) with 1 MB cache?

The configuration of the Dual opteron is actually 2 AMD CPU's with a single core, and I do not know about Dual Xeons if they are 2 Dual CPU's or 2 singe core CPU's? I would guess 2 Single Core CPU's so you may base your thoughts on that.

All the graphs and comparisons I found showed how AMD outperforms the Xeons, BUT all of the graphs were actually comapring DUAL CORE AMD, with a Xeon, therefore I am confused.

Can someone help me out. I am not tryint to make this an Intel vs. AMD thread, but if you have a good piece of advice, and especially if you use server like this in shared hosting environment, please post your findings.

In either case, it will be a 1 gig configuration with dual 120GB SATA drives.

Also -- HOW MANY users can one host on a server such as this? NORMAL users, that we all hope to get, not some super heavy sites.

THANK YOU!

[peconi]

Ok, you gotta be kidding me that NOONE knows anything about these two???

[mythologen]

it'd be hard to answer your question without turning this into an AMD vs Intel thread.

There isn't a big difference between the two.

[peconi]

Heck, let's turn it into an AMD vs Intel, if that's what's gonna bring me some answers

Your comment does shine some light, since I really thought the same. I just hoped that someone runs a dedicated server who is willing to share thoughts on their experience.

[KNL-BSW]

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/sho...spx?i=1816&p=4

I think that is what you wanted to see. A direct comparison in benchmarks (forum website benchmarks) between the Opteron 244 and Xeon 2.8.

[dazmanultra]

Worst case, the opterons perform the same as the Xeons at ~3ghz, best case (in certain SQL functions) the Opterons can be about 20% faster.

[Aussie Bob]

Originally Posted by peconi

. . . The configuration of the Dual opteron is actually 2 AMD CPU's with a single core, and I do not know about Dual Xeons if they are 2 Dual CPU's or 2 singe core CPU's?

I'd say the Dual XEONs would not be Dual Core procs. They cost a lot more and it would be mentioned on the spec page if they were dual core procs.

I would be curious to know if anyone's using Dual core Dual XEON servers, and what kind of performance lift they get. Would be nice with a big chunk of DDR2 RAM too. Yummy.

[RonyZ]

personally prefer dual Xeons.

give me a sense of stability.

[Xandrios]

I would go for the opterons. The more core's, the better the load will be shared, which is safer. (A process gone crazy will only be using 25% of your total CPU power).

And I think the Opterons will be faster too, 4*1.8Ghz is 7.2Ghz. The Xeons will be at 2*2.8 = 5.6Ghz. That doesnt say extremely much...but it's a rough indication

[Nizumzen]

The Opterons he is talking about are single core though.

[Jim_UK]

Go with the dual opterons, you won't regret it.

Up until a few months ago (when Supermicro started rolling out Opteron solutions) we were an Intel only shop and were happy with dual xeon servers for our regular machines. Since getting hold of a dual opteron test system this has all changed and we now roll our dual opteron 246's (previously 244's) instead of dual xeon 2.8/3.0's and we haven't looked back. Even though the clock speed is lower (which is becomming less of an issue anyway nowadays) the performance of the opteron's is noticably better.

We've recently put our first dual, dual-core opteron online aswell and they are out of this world

[XF-Chan]

There are TONS of threads comparing Opterons vs Xeons, and also many reviews on the web. Your best tool is the "search" or "google"...

Per my experience, my previous dedicated box were DUAL XEON 2.4's HT with 512kb cache and 2gb memory and 3x73gb 10k SCSI's RAID-5. My current hosting box is a co-located box I recently built, and it has DUAL OPTERON 246's (2ghz) and 2gb memory, and 2x 80gb SATA NCQ RAID-1.

From experience with the two, I can say that the Opteron box is faster, but not significantly... but it is faster and the sites I host seems to run much smoother. I can also add that sometimes during peak times the Xeon box (which is a DELL by the way) will spike - meaning sometimes it's fast, and sometimes it's staggering slow. I don't get these issues on my Opteron box (Tyan barebones S2881).

[peconi]

Thank you guys! Really nice replies. I guess people just do not go to the threads which have 0 replies and 50 views, therefore once this thread started, others joined.

From what I see, and especially from the last post (XF-Chan), and some other recommendations, it seems Opteron does run smoother even with a slower clock.

I think the odds are now towards the AMD... Thank you!

[easyplank]

AMD - your crazy!! Suppose you could always use it to cook food on..

[peconi]

They do use less power than Xeon so I do not understand your comment. Even if they do heat up, they are in a data center, it's like a heaven for processors