jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Sat Jan 5 14:35:01 CST 2008
I built a new system last night and this morning, installing Windows Server 2003 X64 and SQL Server 2005 X64. The system currently has a dual proc AMD code but once I get the chance to wring it out I will probably move my quad core in there. The system currently has 4 gigs ram but I have a matching 4 gigs in another system which I will pull out of that system and drop in this one so that I can test X64 with 8 gigs RAM. It will be interesting to see what effect this will have on my large databases. I have some queries that take awhile to run (5+ minutes) that I can run "side by side" on the x32 and x64 systems. Interestingly these same queries dropped from 20-30 minutes down to 5-6 minutes by using "cover queries" that included the PKID and a single field together in a single index, rather than my old method of just using that single field in the index (not including the PKID). The x32 system will have the same processor (different / older motherboard though) running Windows 2003 x32 and SQL Server 2005 x32 with only 4 gigs or ram. I think I will run the same 5 minute query on both systems with 4 gigs, then move the additional 4 gigs into the x64 system and run again, then move the quad core into the x64 system and run again. This will provide a fairly "apples to apples" test of x32 vs. x64, 4 gigs vs. 8 gigs, and dual cores vs. quad cores. Unfortunately the system is low level formatting a 400 gig partition right now which is taking FOREVER! Once I have that 400 gig partition to use to hold the database I will run these tests. John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com