Is this too many cores?

[yinan]

Does this server have too many cores?

:awe::twisted:

 

[jvroig]

I count 128 cores. What configuration is this? Couldn't be 12-core Magny Cour setup, nor could it be the new hex-core Xeons.

 

[yinan]

8 core setup

 

[Cogman]

Ah, the ridiculously threaded applications I could make for that. mmmm.

 

[Anubis]

no but the pic is too small

 

[Rubycon]

no but the pic is too small

Maybe the picture had to fit into one core.

 

[Voo]

Ah 100, 200 cores? Who cares, come back when you've got >1024, that's where it starts to become interesting.. though I don't think anyone runs such a server on Windows so no task manager screen
Though it'd be interesting to see how they display those in the taskmanager^^

 

[Scotteq]

Here's what 256 cores looks like in Server 2008: http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/01/05/what-does-256-cores-look-like/

 

[Voo]

Here's what 256 cores looks like in Server 2008: http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2009/01/05/what-does-256-cores-look-like/

Sure that they mean 256 processors and not 255? After all x86 has only 8bit wide APIC IDs with one reserved for broadcasting and I can't imagine that they created an extra code path for ia64 just for one CPU more (and they should at least mention the one missing CPU if using x86 CPUs if that was the case )

So I bet that's just 255 cores, anyone want to argue about that?


Other than that, out of curiosity: What's the operation purpose of those servers? I don't know of any HPC application that runs on Windows and for heavy virtualized servers I assume you just want a bare-metal hypervisor instead of a full OS, so just marketing?

 

[Scotteq]

???

I did say Cores to begin with. Not sure why that's being questioned.

And I believe it's an Itanium box, anyhow.

 

[aigomorla]

()

its a 8 socket beckton with HT On.

8 x 8c = 64c + 64t (hyper threading) = 128threads.

I count 128 cores. What configuration is this? Couldn't be 12-core Magny Cour setup, nor could it be the new hex-core Xeons.

Octocore Becktons.
http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/05/intel-unveils-more-details-of-beckton.html

On a quad platform.

Yes ive seen them, and yes they are soooo dayam nice..
No u cant not pop one in a LGA1366, they take a new socket.
But 1 cpu alone would cost you more then a high end i7 system.

 

[Maximilian]

()

its a 8 socket beckton with HT On.

8 x 8c = 64c + 64t (hyper threading) = 128threads.

Looks like its maxed out in that pic, probably struggling away with crysis or something

 

[Rubycon]

The storage system to keep that many processors busy with data will cost a million $!

Where there's a need cost is of little concern and you can take that to the bank!

()



its a 8 socket beckton with HT On.

8 x 8c = 64c + 64t (hyper threading) = 128threads.



Octocore Becktons.
http://www.siliconmadness.com/2009/05/intel-unveils-more-details-of-beckton.html

On a quad platform.

Yes ive seen them, and yes they are soooo dayam nice..
No u cant not pop one in a LGA1366, they take a new socket.
But 1 cpu alone would cost you more then a high end i7 system.

 

[aigomorla]

im chugging away happy with 16t as my max threaded machine.

I could get 24t, but i would need to replace my 2 gainestown with 2 gulftowns.
I was looking at that, if i had any distinct advantages.. but 16t server for just home use (torrenting, encoding, file sharing, ftp) is already in the prime catigory as overkill.

 

[Voo]

???

I did say Cores to begin with. Not sure why that's being questioned.

And I believe it's an Itanium box, anyhow.

Ahm ok I think you misunderstood me. A little bit more elaborate: Each logical processor in a MP system (x86 at least) gets a unique 8bit APIC id assigned at startup. 8 bit = 2^8 = 256 possible processors - 1 for broadcasting. Ergo it's more or less impossible to have more than 255 x86 processors (possible that Intel has already published an extension for that, but afaik there's nothing in the wild - ia on the other hand uses 32bit IDs or something afaik), which means it's vastly improbable that Win7/Server 2008 really supports 256 cores and not just 255.. Well I could be wrong and all in all it's nitpicking, but hey, that's the perfect topic for stuff like that


@aigomorla: Enlighten me , where do you use such a machine with Win Server 08? Heavy virtualization I assume, but why a real OS and not just a baremetal hypervisor?

 

[aigomorla]

@aigomorla: Enlighten me , where do you use such a machine with Win Server 08? Heavy virtualization I assume, but why a real OS and not just a baremetal hypervisor?

P0Rn takes up so much resorces after u downloaded all the spyware associated with them.

That unless u want to reformat every 3 months, you need virual threads to offset the spyware, so you dont lag while browsing p0rn!




On a serious note..
I love enterprise hardware almost on the same league as consumer hardware.
I was given that gainestown system @ an offer i couldn't really say no to, so i built it.

Also when do you get to see enterprise hardware bell'd up all pretty like this in the corporate world?

 

[Rubycon]

RE: HT.

Our vendors tell us to turn it OFF.

Why is that?

 

[Voo]

I love enterprise hardware almost on the same league as consumer hardware.
I was given that gainestown system @ an offer i couldn't really say no to, so i built it.

Ah ok I can understand you, who could ressist such an offer? And great pictures, aww want one too The biggest disadvantage of all those super computers is that they never ever let you "play" with them.. I think they'd kill me if I ever tried to do something near some blades


@Rubycon: Probably because depending on the application you either get some nice performance boosts or lose some while also consuming more power. I don't think there's one "right" answer to that question..

 

[Toadster]

I can slam all 128 of those CPU's no problem...

got BOINC?

 

[SHAQ]

How does it fold? And can it play Crysis? lol

 

[justinm]

Bad ass.

 

[Ben90]

RE: HT.

Our vendors tell us to turn it OFF.

Why is that?

For server loads, HT can often do more harm then good. It depends on the workload.

 

[Rubycon]

For server loads, HT can often do more harm then good. It depends on the workload.

Workstation - product in question is Siemens UGS NX7.

 

[jstern01]

Want real fun, run linux on a Sun 6950 with 32 quad cores or an Sun T5440 with 512 threads. We use them for database servers, stick about 512GB in them, and cache all the static tables, watch the customer front end apps fly.

 

[dualsmp]

That must be the new version of Adobe Flash maxing out all those processors. I think they might need to upgrade to 256 cores for Flash to run smoothly.