I saw some discussion on this topic last night, and forgot to put in my .02:
Whomever said that memory and hard disk hardware should be the focal point in a new mySQL DB server, and not processors, I very much disagree with. While I agree that ample and fast memory, in addition to an efficient, reliable, and speedy storage system, is vital, neither of those mean squat if you don't have a high speed bus and powerful CPU to do the computations. You can have gigs and gigs of RAM and the fastest SCSI RAID array, for all I care, if it's still on a tiny 100MHZ FSB (like _original_ P3s), you still have a huge bottleneck looming on your horizon. I've been an AMD user for quite some time, and I really think AMD can kick some butt, but I think the statement that P4 FPU performance is poor is not entirely correct. the 2.53GHz P4 is right on par, if not better, than all but the highest (2600+) AMD XP chips. The 2.8 certainly edges them out, and the 3.06 GHz's performance is ASTONISHING. This is based on multiple benchmarks I've either seen or done, so I'm not just talking whitepapers (and keep in mind, I've been a big AMD fan for a couple years now). I refused to be impressed by the performance of Intel's processors, but this made my head spin. As far as cash goes, yes the 3.06 is VERY expensive (around $700 right now), but the other tiers below it are getting ever more reasonable. It comes down to cash flow, I think. P3's strong points is that they are tried and true, powerful, reliable, but inexpensive. P4's fast memory bandwidth, and the upper echelon of P4s are just impressive, but expensive. AMD's are cheap and pack a good punch. I won't go into Xeon, MP, and other multi-proc stuff, that's a slightly different ballgame. I very much agree with mixing and matching different types of boxes based on their strongpoints. Mike -----Original Message----- From: Robert Adkins [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 9:22 AM To: andy thomas; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Helmut Apfelholz Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Serwer Hardware p4 or pIII ? I am running a few AMD based servers in our offices here and have no issues with them. The big question is, What kind of operations are you most likely to see with your servers? If the servers will be doing some heavy floating point operations stay away from the Intel P4. (Unless recent versions have been fixed.) The Pentium 4 has a TERRIBLE FPU. If you need high FPU and MUST stick with Intel, then by all means look for Pentium III CPUs or look from some Pentium Xeon CPUs. If you aren't brand specific, take a look at AMD. They perform admirably for FPU options. For instance, there is one workstation application that we have for developing CNC Mill cutter path that simply tears things up when it is run on an AMD chip. Our old system would take nearly an hour to generate the same cutter path that is generated in less then 30 seconds on the AMD Chip. (Athlon 2000+ XP) In the tests performed by our vendor, a similar speed Pentium 4 takes quite a bit longer to generate the same cutter path. Something close to 5 minutes longer. Of course, that's all FPU doing the work there. The one thing that the P4 has over the AMD Athlon XP and P3 CPUs is raw memory bandwidth. It can easily outpace both of those other processors for VERY specific operations, like video editing and other HIGH Memory bandwidth hungry applications. Depending upon what you are building, you might want to utilize more then one CPU type across several boxes to be able to utilize the strengths of each processor design. Good luck! Regards, Robert Adkins II IT Manager/Buyer Impel Industries, Inc. Ph. 586-254-5800 Fx. 586-254-5804 -----Original Message----- From: andy thomas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 1:33 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Helmut Apfelholz; Robert Adkins Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Serwer Hardware p4 or pIII ? On Wed, 4 Dec 2002, Helmut Apfelholz wrote: > Hi, > I am assembling mysql only server. I am planning 2Gb > RAM, 4 x 15k SCSI disks. However I cannot decide if I > should get 2 p4 processors or 2 tuallatin pIII. > > I could not find any mysql specif?c benchmarks, that > would show which processors I should use. > I will be running linux on the server. > > Could anyone share his/hers experience with me ? I have often wondered about that myself so I would be interested in other people's views. I currently run a number of servers with dual 1GHz P3's. Andy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? 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