Man this is a complicated topic... I keep going back & forth in my choices like a pendulum...

Right now, I am contemplating more or less these setups (mobo & CPU only for now since everything else is common to all setups)

Setup 1 (Dual CPU):

2X AMD Opteron 4334 3.1 GHz 6-Core OS4334WLU6KHK Socket C32 2X $190
SUPERMICRO MBD-H8DCL-IF-O ATX Server Motherboard Dual 1207-pin Socket C32 AMD SR5690 DDR3 1600/1333/1066 $329
(alternatively ASUS KCMA-D8 ATX Dual Socket C32 AMD SR5670 DDR3 1333/1066/800) $299

Price around $710 (Supermicro mobo) or $679 (ASUS mobo)

Setup 2 (Single CPU):
AMD Opteron 6344 2.6 GHz 12-Core OS6344WKTCGHK Socket G34 $430
Supermicro H8SGL-F Opteron 6000 G34 SP5100 $259

Price around $689

Clearly the prices are virtually the same, the real question is: Multi CPU or Single CPU?

The first setup provides a total of 12 cores running at 3.1GHz while the second setup provides 12 cores running at 2.6GHz
Other than that, all Supermicro mobos support DDR3 1600 and 64GB RAM.

Its really the classic question of a single chip with 12 cores or 2 chips with 6 cores each??

Speed alike, I'd be tempted to go with the single chip because of the simpler setup and no overhead sharing processing between 2 physical chips. But because of the significant speed difference, I am leaning toward the dual cpu setup.

Thats why I am leaning toward 64GB. Perhaps I will buy 32 to start with, and in the future I will add more if required.. A mobo with 8 DIMM slots is nice for future expansion.

These are the main processes I run:

MySQL (which has multicore support)
PHP (which I believe is still single threaded)
Python (which I also believe is still single threaded)
httpd (I believe a module can be loaded to use multi cores)
Compression/decompression gunzip, gzip, unrar, rar, etc...
par2cmdline (heavily uses multicore)
ffmpeg (also uses multicore)
lame
A lot of php/perl/ruby scripts all over the system
Finally several (20+) bash scripts running all kind of unix commands

The peak behavior I believe is caused by the intermittent nature of the configuration. I have so far setup a lot of services and processes to execute mass actions at a certain time so the machine wouldnt be slowing down during peak periods (morning/evening). I realize that I have not mentioned this server acts also as a centralized repository for documents, my machines are auto backed up using rsnapshot to this server, and most importantly, the server stores all my media files for playback and streaming on my htpc. Theres nothing more annoying that when you watch a movie and all of a sudden the playback is choppy because mysql is doing some maintenance work, or because ffmped was called to encore something.

Other than that, if I end up getting a significant setup, I may transfer my folding stuff from my HTPC & main computer onto the new server. That I believe, would greatly benefit from multicore setup wouldn't it?

Point taken very seriously. This server runs 24/7, and is connected to a good UPS so it can continue running during a power outage (or at least has time to shutdown cleanly). My current components are clearly not meant to run 24/7, as it was demonstrated during the last year with the continuous crashes and hard drives failing on me. Heat is probably an issue, but some of the HDD's where the DB's are located are running full capacity almost 24 hours a day. I imagine with more memory this would be significantly reduced and HDD"s life would be better.

I cannot emphasize enough how much I want to build this machine, let it run 24/7 for at least 5 to 8 years, perhaps more.. My current machine has already ran for 5 years. I imagine it wouldnt be impossible to reach 10 years with server grade components?

Dont reuse your PSU!

A 5 year old PSU is already getting on in years. If its in a system that is having serious problems I'd suspect the PSU is at least part of the problem, and could be the only major issue you have (though excessive loading isnt healthy for systems either).

I've seen similar isues (constant crashes, HDDs deciding they are dead, etc.) from dodgy/old/tired power supplies plently of time.

I doubt the problem is that your system isnt 'desgined to run 24/7', more likely its the PSU. I'd also have a good look at whatever expansion cards you are using for the HDDs- some of them are dodgy, have nasty drivers and can cause issues as well.

Might as well buy a new case. They arent that much, the newer cases are more likely to have 120mm fans (not the 80mm/92mm that used to be standard).

Some of the server level motherboardxs are EATX (extended ATX) or other odd format sizes as well, which probably wont fit into your old case.

I wouldnt get a 2 year warranty seagate if you want to have the system last as long as possible. I'd be going for a WD Black, or WD REs (both 5 year warranty) if you are thinking about RAID. I wouldnt buy a single disc here and there for RAID, I'd buy as many discs as are needed/wanted for the RAID array in a single purchase. Makes it more likely you'll get exactly the same version, no different firmware versions, etc..

You mean 'spend more money of the server at the expense of your desktop and HTPC?'

Your desktop might be faster run from the server...it might not be as well. Depend on your server and desktop loads, and the specs of the desktop + server compared to 'single server'.

HTPC, no. I run an ancient single core machien with hardware video decoding. It plays every video I thorw at it, its simple and very cheap.

No, its not impossible.

The 'ancient single core' I was refering to above is a 2004 system IIRC. Whats even better, I got given it 'becuse its dead'. No, the system was fine, just the crappy nVdiai onboard video had died. I added a video card, swapped out the dodgy 'yum-cha' PSU and its solid as a rock.

Pretty much anything with a PCIe x16 slot can be upgraded with a video card that support hardware video decoding.

The 9XX chipsets should support 64GB in the future. Piledriver supports 64GB, but it can only use 'normal' RAM and can only use 4 RAM modules. If (OK, when) the 16GB SD-RAM DDR3 sticks come out it should work fine. That is why asrock has this littel warning on its 9XX AM3+ boards-

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20P...Specifications

Asus says a similar thing on its A85X (FM2) motherboard specs.

'Turbocore' used to be iX only, but its on many of the Xeon CPUs now, with the same turbo levels as iX-

http://ark.intel.com/products/64621
http://ark.intel.com/products/63698

SRT max cache size is 64GB. I wouldnt plan on SRT working at all.

If it was me I'd go for a RAID5/6 over RAID1+0.

Will it hurt? No. Will it make everything faster? Maybe, maybe not.

Is it really expensive? Yep!

I havent cheked the other AMDs, as far as I know the AMD SR5670 chipset only supports 32GB 'normal' SD-RAM.

If you are going to get server level stuff, dotn stuff around with normal RAM, get 4 x 16GB EEC (for those boards anyway)

Thats funny,

I went to look around on the internet when I found sabrepc... They appeared to carry the processors and the motherboard I was looking for when suddenly after looking for reviews I find a site (http://www.resellerratings.com/store/SabrePC) where they have excellent reviews. Then keeping looking on google, I find so many forums where people are reporting them as scam

http://www.overclock.net/t/683272/sa...w-fermi-prices
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2286037
http://www.scamadviser.com/is-sabrep...fake-site.html
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=266430&mpage=1

Has anyone purchased from these guys before??

I've never heard of them, but that doesnt mean much.

Its not uncommon for some (dodgy) sales sites to list parts they dont have. Its also not uncommon for some of those same sites to sell/'give' your contact information to 3rd parties, be hard/impssoible to get hold of, and make claims that are untrue. If you are in any way worried about those sort of things happening, dont dodeal with sites you feel might be dodgy.

What CPU/motherboard did you decide you want?

BTW, I should really clear somethign up...sure, the problems with your system might be made better by 'chucking' lots of RAM at it. Or it might not. If you dont have enough RAM to cache all your databases, loading up databases #5-#8 could well mean that databases #1-#4 are dropped from the cache.

In that situation, RAM isnt going to help much, ou'll still need to reread the data from the drives if you want to access databases #1-#4.

I'd also be wary of throwing lots of cores at it...more cores can help, but there is normally a point after which more cores do nothing.

I just wonder if 64GB/6 core xeon/lots of opteron cores is going to run much if any better than 32GB and a FX8XXX or Intel i5. Or even better than 2 x 32GB/FX-8XXX or i5 systems..since you'll end up paying more for the 'big' systems than you would for 2 systems with less cores (you would actually get more CPU power from 2 smaller systems)

I feel they may be dodgy. I will not risk my financial info on that for sure, even if that means paying 20% to get the parts from a reputable source....

I decided to go for the dual socket Supermicro motherboard and Dual Opterons 4334 as indicated in post #16 (Setup 1 (Dual CPU))

The problem now is to find a place where I wont get ripped off and that carries the CPU's and mobo... I cannot find such reputable source

My options are:

Newegg.ca
No longer carries Opterons CPU's (they completely abandonned the line!!, why, I am clueless. I guess its based on sales and low/extra low demand)
RAM is awfully expensive (8GB sticks of ECC registered at $100+ ea. and they dont have a lot of choice
However, motherboard is stock but a bit overpriced
I guess newegg specializes in consumer/gamer components mostly and not so much in serious computing

NCIX.ca
Their site plain sucks! Their search feature is very unefficient, and they dont really have a feature based search like newegg does (the left menus allowing you to select desired features and eliminate some products out of the selection).
Their prices are HORRIBLE! 431$ for the mobo I am looking into, while its 329 on newegg
Most stuff is backorder or no longer available
RAM selection is abysmal.

Tigerdirect
Where to start.... Their prices are historically "out to lunch" I wonder why they're still in business
They dont really carry anything server grade...

There are no local stores carrying the opteron CPUs, the ECC registered RAM or the mobo. If there were, it would probably be twice as expensive as online..

Right now my only decent option is to order the CPU's from NCIX hoping they ship within the next month(s), order the RAM and mobo from newegg and get ripped a little bit for the RAM..

I didnt realize the computer business was in such a serious miserable state of affairs in Canada...

Thats why I will move ALL db's to the SSD, and then configure mysql to use as much RAM/cores as possible. That way, even if DB's 1-4 like you said dont fit in RAM, at least they will cache from the SSD which will be orders of magniture faster than my current "tired-SATA1-western-digital-green-caviar-connected-to-a-bottleneck-PCI-card"

Agreed. But at $190 per CPU, I dont really care much, as long as it doesnt impede the performance... If the excess cores are not used, fine, but maybe down the road the linux kernel will be better at segregating cores for a specific process?

I didnt really seriously look into building 2 systems, while it may provide more processing power than a single system, Im looking at reducing the number of physical machines in my house.

I wouldnt. Less CPU power than the core count might make you believe...

FX-8350- 8cores/4 modules @ 4GHz. Cores x GHz = 32.
Opteron 4334 6 cores/3 modules @ 3.1GHz. Cores x GHz = 18.6.

2 x Opteron 4334s is only going to be 15-20% faster than FX-8350, assuming that the task is totally CPU bound and can use 12 or more cores. Single threaded tasks will be slower, Opteron 4334 is 3.5GHz max turbo, FX-8350 is 4.2GHz.

The memory is also going to be running a lot slower than DDR3-1600 (FX-8350 x 4 memory sticks).

http://www.supermicro.com/Aplus/Memo...port_C2DPC.cfm

And that motherboard is SATAII, not SATAIII...

$420 board + 2 x $225 CPUs (BTW, either you got $190 wrong or they have bumped the price, it was $226.86 when I just checked) to get very little more than you would get from a $120 board + a $210 FX-8350 (or z77/i5) doesnt seem like that great an idea....

*edit- Opteron 4334 comes without a heatsink as well, so you'll also need 2 x heatsinks. C32 heatsinks arent common, a search at newegg.us showed me only 3. Dynatron T319 $29 (no fan, made for passive sue, not something I'd trust with a $200 CPU). Noctua NH-U9DO A3s which are the cheaper model with a fan are $60. Noctua NH-U12DO A3 is $70+...

The only advantage of the opteron setup is the max RAM, and I dont think its worth paying $450+ more for just the board + CPUs to get the popssibility of 32GB more RAM.

The kernel is already very good at dealing with multipule cores.

@cascade9 & lpallard
I really find this thread quite interesting & educational. It's not a flame war or a debate at all. It's just a matter of how would 1 build a pc that fits one's needs.

Cascade9 you really are quite knowledgeable about hardware. In fact I wish you were there to give advice on my building my pc. I, however, do not regret the 1 that I chose, as it's performance for my needs are great, but it would've been more comfortable with someone as knowledgeable as yourself assisting.

lpallard
When I first saw this thread I thought this was based on saving money & having basically a reasonable home-server, but going from 16gig ram upgrade to 64 gigs has to be quite a jump, also expendature, as your other server which was less than the 16gigs obviously & performing all the tasks. Also adding the change in cpu's & cores.
How many machines are using this server is it just for home or enterprise.