confused, what's the difference between these 2 Opterons??

[Maverick2002]

$990 - 2435 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103689
$2650 - 8435 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103691

Both are 6 core Socket F. Everything looks the same. What's the difference that I'm missing?

 

[deimos3428]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...pteron_microprocessors

Opteron 2300-series "Shanghai" (C2, 45 nm, high-efficiency)

* All models support up to two-processor configurations

Opteron 8300-series "Barcelona" (BA & B3, 65 nm)

* All models support up to eight-processor configurations

 

[Ben90]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...core_Server_processors

All models support up to two-socket configurations

vs

All models support up to eight-processor configurations

 

[Maverick2002]

Ah, 2 socket vs 8 socket, thanks

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Ah, 2 socket vs 8 socket, thanks

2 vs 2, 4 or 8

 

[Ben90]

I wonder if the 2435s are electrically compatible with 8 socket configs; they just arnt "certified"; i bet those two processors are identicals, one just does extra on paper

 

[schenley101]

the big difference is that the 2xxx only has 1 HT link and the 8xxx has at least 3 links

 

[Maverick2002]

What's the advantage of 1 vs 3 HT links? I'm asking about these processors within the scope of using 4 of them on a single board, all linked together via HT for a total of 24 physical cores.

 

[Ben90]

HT is how these processors communicate to other processors, using 4 2xxx series Opterons wouldn't work because they don't have enough communication pathways

 

[GlacierFreeze]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
What's the advantage of 1 vs 3 HT links? I'm asking about these processors within the scope of using 4 of them on a single board, all linked together via HT for a total of 24 physical cores.

1 link connects to only 1 other processor.

3 links can connect to 3 other processors.

 

[Maverick2002]

Gotcha, thanks! Does anyone know if you could chain a couple of these boards together via Infiniband cards for a total of 48 physical cores?

EDIT: I read that HT3.0 supports up to 8 processors. Does that mean that there's some sort of add-on card or something that lets you connect two boards together for a total of 8 processors?

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Ben90
I wonder if the 2435s are electrically compatible with 8 socket configs; they just arnt "certified"; i bet those two processors are identicals, one just does extra on paper

I believe it works the other way though, doesn't it? You can put a 8xxx series in a 2xxx board. I could be wrong though.

 

[schenley101]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Gotcha, thanks! Does anyone know if you could chain a couple of these boards together via Infiniband cards for a total of 48 physical cores?

EDIT: I read that HT3.0 supports up to 8 processors. Does that mean that there's some sort of add-on card or something that lets you connect two boards together for a total of 8 processors?

usually for 8 socket systems you have the motherboard with 4 processors and a cpu daughterboard with the other four.

 

[Maverick2002]

Can you link an example or that?

 

[gbeirn]

This is a Tyan board: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=271
Along with this daughter-board: http://www.tyan.com/product_ac...ories_spec.aspx?pid=49

That would let you have 8 physical sockets.

 

[Maverick2002]

Thanks, but it looks like the board & card you listed don't support Istanbul (8xxx) series processors, according to this: http://www.tyan.com/support_do..._cpu2.aspx?socketid=16

It's also at end of life.

There also doesn't appear to be a daughter card for the 4 socket board which supports the 8xxx series processors. This is the board I would need: http://www.tyan.com/product_board_detail.aspx?pid=638

Interestingly that same graphic only says "8 series dual and quad core" processors, even though the compatibility sheet lists 6-core processors. I'm just trying to come up with the cheapest, most effective way of getting 8 of these 6-core processors together.

 

[gbeirn]

You might want to look into a pre-assembled server from Tyan or Supermicro. Something where you can buy the barebones and install your own RAM and CPUs. It's not going to be cheap any way but at least with the barebones you don't have to worry about chassis mounting and power supplies, which will both be a concern with something like this.

 

[Maverick2002]

bump ... for my question above