jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Fri Oct 15 21:35:33 CDT 2010
For anyone in the market today, Newegg has a bundle with $80 off the motherboard and processor I bought. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductCombos.aspx?Item=N82E16813131643&SubCategory=302&SortField=0&PageSize=10&page=1 2nd item down. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com On 10/15/2010 10:19 PM, jwcolby wrote: > Robert, > > > To get more detail, can you give us the details on where you got the case, motherboard, memory, > and cpu? > > Certainly. I buy from NewEgg.com. > > Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131643 > CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819105266 > CPU HS/Fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114113 > Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139140 > > Case: > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811219021&cm_re=4u_rackmount_case-_-11-219-021-_-Product > PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010 > Cable splitter: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198019 > > SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227551 > > These are the actual components that I purchased. > > The splitter cable is required for most consumer grade power supplies as the motherboard requires > two of these connectors and apparently won't boot without both in place. If you go with a server > grade ps it might have two of these connectors. > > The case is definitely cheap consumer grade, but it works, especially in the latest iteration where > they have fixed the early problems. > > The memory can be bought less expensively if you can go with 4 gig dimms: > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134977 > > I was not paying for the system and decided to spend the extra to get the larger (8 gig) dimms so > that I could get 128G in the board if I needed to. > > This motherboard will accept 1, 2, 4, or 8 DIMMs / CPU socket. Understand that the CPU / socket has > 4 memory channels so populating 4 DIMM sockets at a time will give you the best bandwidth. I only > have 2 at the moment, for 2 channels / 16 gigs of memory (and one CPU). I will likely populate up > to 64 gigs (8 DIMMS) with the one CPU and only populate the other socket if I see my system maxing > out the cores assigned to SQL Server. If I do drop in the other CPU I would then just redistribute > 1/2 the memory to the other socket (32 gigs / socket). > > I keep two cores for the OS. These two cores rarely work hard, though I have seen both cores at > about 50% when doing heavy writes to system files when SQL Server is working hard. Normally though > they just idle along. > > At this point SQL Server is occasionally using all 6 cores assigned to it and even then only to > about 60% capacity (the maximum average I have ever seen), so I still have ~40% of 6 cores left (in > terms of available processing power). With my old quad core I would max out the two cores assigned > to SQL Server - 100% used - and that in many scenarios. > > I bought the low end CPU because I couldn't justify the extra expense of the 12 core. $750 for 12 > core vs $275 for 8 core was a deal breaker for me. It certainly appears that 8 cores is plenty for > my immediate needs, though I do think I could use more memory for the size of my database tables and > the stuff I do. > > If you need the 12 core CPU though: > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819105267 > > Supposedly the AMD Bulldozer will be a drop in replacement for these CPUs when it is released next year. > > I am also using the 16 channel Areca raid controller with 2 gigs ECC disk cache. Highly recommended > if you have that kind of need. I have about 12 terabyte drives: > > http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 > > I have been using these for a couple of years and I just had my first failure of these drives. The > nice thing about a dedicated raid controller is that you can just have hot spares in place and it > will notify you of the failure and automatically rebuild (using the hot spare) in the event of a > failure. And you can walk in to Best Buy and buy a replacement. > > John W. Colby > www.ColbyConsulting.com > > On 10/15/2010 5:14 PM, Robert wrote: >> John, >> >> To get more detail, can you give us the details on where you got the >> case, motherboard, memory, and cpu? >> >> By the end of the year, I need to build out a similar machine. >> >> >> Robert >> >> At 08:44 AM 10/15/2010, you wrote: >>> Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 09:44:35 -0400 >>> From: jwcolby<jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com> >>> Subject: [dba-SQLServer] Powerful servers are not rocket science and >>> pretty darned cheap >>> To: Discussion concerning MS SQL Server >>> <dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com> >>> Message-ID:<4CB85AC3.9080804 at colbyconsulting.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed >>> >>> ROTFL. >>> >>> When I started this client / business (Aug 2004 according to my >>> billing records) I built two >>> servers. At that time the Athlon was king and what I could afford >>> was the 3.8 GHz. >>> >>> So they were single core machines, 4 gigs ram, running Windows 2003 >>> X32 and SQL Server X32. >>> >>> You may believe me when I say I wasn't processing *anything* very quickly. >>> >>> I paid (borrowed) about $5000 out of my own pocket to build these >>> two machines in order to get the >>> business. >>> >>> Over the years I just upgraded those servers, dual cores, new >>> motherboard, 8 gigs ram, then 16 gigs >>> ram, then quad core etc. >>> >>> I am now building a brand new server, pretty much from the ground >>> up. This time the client is >>> paying for the upgrade. >>> >>> The only thing I am bringing over from the last server is my Areca >>> 16 port raid controller and the >>> terabyte drives that hold all of the databases and business files. >>> >>> The new server is a dual socket board for the new AMD Opteron 6000 >>> series processor. I selected the >>> 8 core chips because the 2 GHz version is dirt cheap (275 each >>> ATM). I would LOVE to have the 12 >>> core version of the chip but the price for the entry level 12 core >>> is $750 each and I just couldn't >>> justify it (to myself). >>> >>> The point really is that this is not rocket science and it is pretty >>> darned cheap. >>> >>> 450 Motherboard >>> 275 CPU x 1 >>> 250 8 gig DIMM x 1 >>> >>> So $1000 for an 8 core machine with 8 gigs of memory. The >>> motherboard has two CPU sockets so you >>> can drop in another CPU. And it has SIXTEEN DIMM sockets so you can >>> drop in up to 128 GIGS of >>> memory if you can afford it. >>> >>> 450 Motherboard >>> 550 CPU X 2 >>> 2000 8 gig DIMM X 8 >>> >>> So right around $3K for a 16 core machine with 64 GIGS of >>> memory. This is the configuration I am >>> aiming for. You have to admit that is a pretty reasonable price for >>> the foundation, and the nice >>> part is that you can get in cheap and add more memory and another >>> core as you get the money. >>> >>> The biggest problem I had was finding a reasonably priced chassis >>> for the motherboard. These >>> motherboards are a "server size" and won't physically fit in the >>> average tower. >>> >>> What I am hoping is that the AMD Bulldozer, which is due out in >>> 2011, will allow me to do a cheap >>> processor upgrade down the road. Rumor has it that they will build >>> chips with 16 cores, so in a few >>> years (after the dust settles and prices drop) I could double my >>> core count again if I need to. >>> >>> I have to tell you, just moving from a quad core to an 8 core makes >>> a world of difference. SQL >>> Server expects to "own" the machine but if you are a poor hillbilly >>> in North Carolina your server >>> has to do more. With the quad core I assigned 2 cores to SQL Server >>> and two to the OS. SQL Server >>> would max out the two cores it was assigned, which indicates it >>> needs more horsepower. >>> >>> With 8 cores, SQL Server gets 6 cores now, and there are times when >>> it uses all 6 cores, though I >>> have never seen it max all 6 out. This is a strong indicator that >>> with my current config, six cores >>> is enough. However I will be dropping in more memory, which may >>> remove a bottleneck and allow SQL >>> Server to use the processors more efficiently, potentially maxing them out. >>> >>> If and when I drop in the other CPU, SQL Server could get as many as >>> 14 cores. I am really >>> beginning to doubt that my jobs require that but for an additional >>> $275 for the CPU, it is nice to >>> know I can go there if I need to. >>> >>> John W. Colby >>> www.ColbyConsulting.com >> _______________________________________________ >> dba-SQLServer mailing list >> dba-SQLServer at databaseadvisors.com >> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-sqlserver >> http://www.databaseadvisors.com >> >> > _______________________________________________ > dba-SQLServer mailing list > dba-SQLServer at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-sqlserver > http://www.databaseadvisors.com > >