Computer question

[jsmith86]

Anyone know if I would get better performance from a 6-core Xeon X5680 or 2 quad core Xeon 5630s? I'm using it for computational fluid dynamics research and everything else in the computer will be fast enough that the difference in processor speed makes a real difference. My boss wants me to figure this out before we have 'the talk' with our IT people where we tell them what to buy.

 

[CycloneErik]

I don't know, but I salute your victory in the hardware wars. Please don't tell my computer, because it will feel vastly inferior compared to that beast.

 

[jsmith86]

I don't know, but I salute your victory in the hardware wars. Please don't tell my computer, because it will feel vastly inferior compared to that beast.

Not much of a victory, due to the fact that if I were to install games on that computer, my boss would probably kill me.

 

[brianhos]

Is the program you are going to run multi threaded?

 

[jsmith86]

Is the program you are going to run multi threaded?

It can be. I can set it up to run on as many cores as are available.

 

[cytech]

The extra 12 mb of cache could come in real hand with the dual core setup. But honestly I doubt there would be a really big difference either way. I would go for the most bang for my buck.

 

[cycoticfan]

It can be. I can set it up to run on as many cores as are available.

Just get 2 6 core processors and sleep better.

 

[jsmith86]

Just get 2 6 core processors and sleep better.

Unfortunately that is out of the budget right now. We're getting a cluster once the next round of money comes in next July, but for right now all we can afford is either 2 quad cores or a single six core. The quad cores are each at 2.53 GHz while the six core is at 3.33 GHz.

 

[Wesley]

Call up Intel.

 

[jsmith86]

Call up Intel.

That is starting to look like an option, unlike calling dell. I called dell earlier today and was told, 'we don't provide benchmarks'. Almost made me want to say 'and we're not going to be buying our cluster from you next year'.

 

[cycoticfan]

Unfortunately that is out of the budget right now. We're getting a cluster once the next round of money comes in next July, but for right now all we can afford is either 2 quad cores or a single six core. The quad cores are each at 2.53 GHz while the six core is at 3.33 GHz.

I just finished setting up a hyper-v cluster with dual quads, running 30 virtual servers and it doesn't even break a sweat. If your testing can take advantage of 2 processors I would say that is the way to go.

 

[brianhos]

I just finished setting up a hyper-v cluster with dual quads, running 30 virtual servers and it doesn't even break a sweat. If your testing can take advantage of 2 processors I would say that is the way to go.

Wow, so you are that guy running hyper-v? I thought it was just an urban legend.

 

[pulse]

Without looking at any benchmarks, I would say the dual quad would be the way to go over the sex.

 

[iahawkhunter]

It can be. I can set it up to run on as many cores as are available.

Unfortunately that is out of the budget right now. We're getting a cluster once the next round of money comes in next July, but for right now all we can afford is either 2 quad cores or a single six core. The quad cores are each at 2.53 GHz while the six core is at 3.33 GHz.

This is probably bad math, but 8*2.53 is almost equal to 6*3.33. This is just trying to look at the potential "total power" for each setup. With that in mind I think I'd be more likely to go with the 8-core setup. When you use multiple cores they won't always be running at 100%, and I'd personally prefer to have 8 cores running at whatever capacity as opposed to 6 cores running at the same capacity. I'm also assuming that your program would work just as well on 8 cores as it would on 6 cores.

 

[Cyclonepride]

Anyone know if I would get better performance from a 6-core Xeon X5680 or 2 quad core Xeon 5630s? I'm using it for computational fluid dynamics research and everything else in the computer will be fast enough that the difference in processor speed makes a real difference. My boss wants me to figure this out before we have 'the talk' with our IT people where we tell them what to buy.

I'm going to make a prediction- whatever you choose, your IT people will think it wasn't the way to go.

 

[Cyclone42]

Anyone know if I would get better performance from a 6-core Xeon X5680 or 2 quad core Xeon 5630s? I'm using it for computational fluid dynamics research and everything else in the computer will be fast enough that the difference in processor speed makes a real difference. My boss wants me to figure this out before we have 'the talk' with our IT people where we tell them what to buy.

Can your application take advantage of a GPU (graphics processor)? Many math-intensive applications are going that route, because GPUs can be dozens of times faster than even a really fast multi-core CPU. Check out folding@home, for example. I've racked up a lot of work units using my $50 nvidia card, more than could be processed using a $3000 CPU-based system. Imagine what you could do with an nvidia Tesla card if your application could use it. Likely, it would blow even a 12-core Xeon system out of the water.

 

[3TrueFans]

But will it play Crysis?

 

[jsmith86]

Can your application take advantage of a GPU (graphics processor)? Many math-intensive applications are going that route, because GPUs can be dozens of times faster than even a really fast multi-core CPU. Check out folding@home, for example. I've racked up a lot of work units using my $50 nvidia card, more than could be processed using a $3000 CPU-based system. Imagine what you could do with an nvidia Tesla card if your application could use it. Likely, it would blow even a 12-core Xeon system out of the water.

I'm actually waiting for an email from the software support guys on the tesla. If it'll work, I might actually just double the ram in my machine and buy a couple Teslas instead of a whole new machine. 2x 488 CUDA cores would have the disadvantage of me having a puddle of drool outside my office door once word gets out.

 

[jsmith86]

But will it play Crysis?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say yes. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that if my professor caught me playing Crysis instead of running sims, I would probably have a crysis of my own.