WHS 2011 supports 6-core?

[smitbret]

I'm setting up a FlexRAID box and I'd like to just use WHS 2011 as the OS. It will be used as the media server and will need to perform transcoding duties so a good CPU is a necessity. Everything I read says that WHS 2011 will support 4-core, but will it also support 6-core CPUs? I never read about any limitations, just never saw anything that said it would in fact work.

 

[imagoon]

Is it safe to say you are using a flexraid server to manage the disks and then a second server to front end as an OS?

Also I am pretty sure it was 1 CPU socket / 4 cores /8GB RAM as limits unless they changed them in a windows update.

 

[smitbret]

FlexRAID sits as a driver for storage pooling on top of an existing OS, in this case I want to use WHS 2011 so that I can install my DLNA server software there. That way the transcoding and serving is specific to one box that really doesn't do anything else.

I've read the same limitations, but wasn't sure if the documentation was written before 6 and 8 core CPUs were common and just never updated. Just wondered if anyone had any luck in getting 6 core CPUs working correctly with WHS 2011.

 

[cbrunny]

I've got a 6-core in my WHS2011 rig. Works just fine. I've had zero issues - actually I didn't even know it *might* be an issue when I set it up originally.

 

[imagoon]

Do you actually see all 6 cores? MS says they limited it to 4 physical cores / 4 HT cores. Do you see 4/8 or 6/12 graphs in task manager?

 

[cbrunny]

Yep, task manager shows all 6 cores. I have the AMD Phenom X6 1055T, which only has six threads so I can't help you on the hyper threading question. But I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I run PS3 MS and it utilizes all six cores.

 

[cbrunny]

 

[smitbret]

EXCELLENT! Just what I was hoping to see. Got some new options.

 

[Nothinman]

I thought SQL Server was the only thing MS limited it's licensing by core and everything else was by physical socket.

Personally, I wouldn't waste the money on any Windows licenses and would go the Linux route. Depending on your requirements, PS3 Media Server is a decent DLNA server that supports transcoding via multiple methods and is Java so can run on any OS.

 

[smitbret]

I had originally thought about going with Linux based FreeNAS or UnRAID, but my choice of streaming software, Mezzmo, is Windows only. I've tried PS3 Media Server, TVersity, Plex, Twonky and Nero Home and just prefer Mezzmo enough that I will pay a ittle extra to keep using it.