Intel Dunnington Xeon 7400 6 core

[Mike.]

Hi

i'm in the choice phase of my 'building a killer renderfarm' mission.

anyone tried thos new hexacore procs ?

Would this be a good solution for render blades in your opinion ?

 

 

Thanks

 

 

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/xeon7000/index.htm

 

'Designed and optimized for IT, these 6-core processors provide industry-leading multi-core processing and greater computing performance without increasing footprint and power demands.

Intel® 64 architecture Enables extended memory addressability for server applications'

Edited December 13, 2008 by Mike.

[Macer]

They sound pretty good, but I think they are based on current xeon technology (penryn), not the upcoming nehalem. Apparently there will be 2, 4, and 8 core versions!

 

i7 (desktop varient of nehalem) is already out and early tests show a 30% increase over penryn, clock for clock, in 3ds Max. The xeon version is due Q1 2009.

 

If given the choice, I'd hang out for those!

[Mike.]

They sound pretty good, but I think they are based on current xeon technology (penryn), not the upcoming nehalem. Apparently there will be 2, 4, and 8 core versions!

 

i7 (desktop varient of nehalem) is already out and early tests show a 30% increase over penryn, clock for clock, in 3ds Max. The xeon version is due Q1 2009.

 

If given the choice, I'd hang out for those!

 

Thanks for the advice.

In facct i will certainly have to buy this before mid january . i don't think this new nehalem technology will be available since there. i'll ask.

i don't know if these Dunington are based on the old or oon the new technology. i'll search.

if you have any other advices, they"re welcome.

[Mike.]

but this nehalem whith 8 cores, quickpath, and memory controller seems a killer proc. i wish they were already available. or i have to deal an 'upgrade' option with my reseller.

i dunno if this is possible.

[Lester_Masterson]

I agree with Macer. The i7's look pretty sweet, and the cost is actually cheaper than a similar QuadCore system from earlier in the year.

 

Yeah, they may be hyperthreaded, but 8 buckets sure do smoke through renders.

[ihabkal]

I don't think they are selling 6 core cpus yet, but one thing is sure, 16GB of ram minimum and 8 cores at least for any future system I want to buy...

[Mike.]

I don't think they are selling 6 core cpus yet, but one thing is sure, 16GB of ram minimum and 8 cores at least for any future system I want to buy...

thanks

They are seeling them.

when i am speaking of 6 cores, i am speaking about 2x6 cores in each 1 u blade. (12 cores per blade)

i will tell you more because i have a 'rendez-vous' with an expert tomorrow.

[BOXXLABS]

Dunnington is definitely a new chip using the "old" intel microarchitecture.

 

If you MUST buy rendernodes today, I would suggest standard Xeon 54xx or even perhaps the new singe socket i7's (which are slightly faster for raytracing than dual Xeon 5420s).

 

The dunnington chips have comparatively low clock speeds and front side bus performance -and are optimized for business applications - NOT RENDERING.

 

I study and "tinker" with this stuff on a daily basis I can tell you that i strongly believe that you'll get more rendered frames-per-dollar (and overall better performance) with dual Xeon 54xx nodes.

[AJLynn]

You're surely correct, but if somebody needs the most total CPU they can get in one box and can't wait for the next generation, wouldn't a dual Dunnington box be the answer?

[BOXXLABS]

Well perhaps, but usually when buying rendernodes, people are most concerned with overall cost effectiveness.

 

The Dunnington 6-core nodes may well produce farily strong rendering performance, but you should expect them to cost well over $2000 per CPU.

AT that price, the Dunnington CPUs would need to provide triple the performance of current Xeon 54xx. BUt the truth is, they won't even provide double the performance.

 

There is NO WAY that you can make a price-performance arguement for Dunnington in the context of building a renderfarm.

 

[AJLynn]

$2000?! Okay, forget that.

[Devin Johnston]

So would a 4 core i7 be equally fast as a 6 core Dunnington?

[BOXXLABS]

So would a 4 core i7 be equally fast as a 6 core Dunnington?

 

Hard to tell... Probably.

 

The thing is, though, that 7400 is meant to be used on 4-socket motherboards. You can expect the cost of a single Xeon 7400-based machine with 4 CPUs and a good bit of RAM to be over $11,000.

 

But if you are looking for maximum rendering performance for the lowest investment, then i7 is definitely a MUCH better choice than the upcoming Xeon 7400.

 

You could buy 8 or 10 i7-based rendernodes (or maybe 4 dual-quad Xeon rendernodes) for that price and come out with alot more frames rendered in the same amount of time.

[Mike.]

Thank for the insight guys.

 

U're right. it seems bi xeon blades are fare better in termes of cost/performance.

The only thing left to choose is my os.

i can take server blades or rackable workstation blades. the server blades can bring in ssome slightly more powerful processors, and are known to be more stable. But their OS is Windows Server 2003 x64. rackable workstations can have xp 64. i'm asking myself about compatibility. Will 3ds max 64 and all its usefull x64 dlm and dlo will work as fine with server2003 as they do with xp 64 ?

i'm looking for this for the moment.

But if you already know about this, i'll be glad you tell me.

 

Thanks again

 

See you.

[BOXXLABS]

If you have less than 10 computers on the network, the a "server" OS is not necessary

 

With over 10 machines on the network, as long as you already have a Windows 2003 Server (or Linux server) machine somewhere on the network, you should use XP64 or Vista64 for all you rendernodes.

 

If you can't buy XP64 or VIsta64 for you rendernode systems, you might consider checking out hardware vendors that specialize in rendernode configurations -or at least a systems provider who will let you buy you hardware with standard desktop (non-server) Windows installed.

[Mike.]

thanks

yes i hear what you say.

but this vendor proposes me great financial conditions, that no other can propose me, you can trust me in this.

this is dell (i hope this is not against forum policy to quote a vendor). they propose me the poweredge2950 server solution.

i can xhoose between rackable precision workastations, or rackable server blades. the server blades is on warranty only if i choose the server2003 os.(but has better procs and better stability (they say))

perhaps it's good perhaps not.

i'm still hesitating between the two solutions

[BOXXLABS]

They have no idea what you do. They have no idea what is "best" for rendering, etc.

 

You will be charged $800 (USD) extra for Windows Server 2003 instead of XP or Vista with no performance improvement. There is no difference in stability either.

 

That's seems pretty silly to me to be paying more to buy the wrong OS but, I guess it's up to you...

 

[AJLynn]

How much better are the "server" CPUs and what's the cost difference? I don't put that much stock in the "more stable" argument... maybe they know something I don't but it sounds a bit ridiculous for them to be saying "here's our workstation product, it's kickass, but don't buy it - it's not stable." Tell him if it breaks, that's fine, you'll make Dell fix it.

[Mike.]

yes i spent a lot of time explaining what i was doing ( a 4 consultants conference of 4 hours !). i think they get it know lol

so you think server2003 is the wrong os don't you ?

i agree it's silly they propose the wanted hardware under warranty only if i install server 2003 on it. but i cannot make many things about it.

exept redundant power, i don't even get the difference between the two solutions.

i have to choose between the two tomorrow.

 

here are the two quotes:

 

rackable workstation version

6 Precision R5400 Rack WS : Two Intel Quad Core Xeon E5450

(3.00GHz,1333MHz,2x6MB)

Remote Access Host Card for FX100 Remote Access Device for Dell Precision R5400 1

Riser Card : Riser with 2 Slots PCIe x16 Wired as x8 (1)PCI-X (1) 1

Documentation : French Shipping Docs 1

Resource DVD : Rack Workstation R5400 Diagnostics and Drivers 1

Memory : 8GB (4x2048) 667MHz DDR2 Quad Channel 1

Hard Drive : 80GB Serial ATA II (7200 RPM) Hard Drive 1

C1 All SATA Hard Drives ,Non- RAID for 1 Hard Drive 1

No Google Search Assistant Required 1

Optical Drive : PowerDVD 8.1 Software and Media included 1

Optical Drive : 8X DVD+/-RW Drive no software 1

Roxio Creator 9.0 with Media 1

Graphics : 256MB DDR2 NVIDIA Quadro NVS 290 (full height, DVI/VGA output, Dual

Display) (ULGA8)

1

Option sans souris 1

Option sans clavier 1

Operating System : English Windows Vista Business SP1 64Bit to Windows XP

Professional X64Bit Downgrade with XP 64Bit bit Media

1

OS Windows Media : ENG, FR, DE, SP Windows Vista Business x64 SP1 Back Up Media 1

Racks : Rapid/Versa Rails 1

Commande Precision- France

 

server version

 

6 PE2950 III Quad-Core Xeon X5450 3.0GHz/2x6MB 1333FSB

Riser with PCI Express Support (2x PCIe x8 slots; 1x PCIe x4 slot) 1

PE2950 French rack power cord 1

PE2950 Bezel Assembly 1

8GB 667MHz FBD (8x1GB dual rank DIMMs) 1

PE2950 III Additional Quad-Core Xeon X5450 3.0GHz/2x6MB 1333FSB 1

No Floppy for x6 Backplane 1

80GB Serial ATA2 7.2k 3.5" HD Hot Plug 1

PE2950 III - SAS 6/iR, Integrated Controller Card x6 backplane for C1 1

PE2950 III - Chassis 3.5HDD x6 Backplane 1

DVD-ROM Drive SATA with SATA Cable 1

PE2950 III - Redundant PSU No Power Cord 1

Cable d'alimentation, PDU (Rack) 1

TCP/IP Offload Engine 2P 1

French Windows 2003 R2 SP2 x64 Std Svr 5 CAL + CD & Docs 1

PE2950 Open Manage CD + Drivers 1

You have chosen not to take the Dell PowerEdge installation service 1

PE2950 Rapid/Versa Rack Rails 1

PE2950 III - C1,MSS, ADD IN SAS 5i or SAS6i/R, min1/m 1

PowerEdge Order - France 1

1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day - Minimum Warranty 1 S

Base Warranty 1

3Yr ProSupport for End Users and 4hr Mission Critical

[AJLynn]

What are the prices and why do nodes need Quadro NVS cards?

[BOXXLABS]

Based on my experience and the requests of our customers, the following features are typically unnecessary for dedicated rendernodes and simply add unwanted cost:

 

1. redundant power supplies and operating systems

2. graphics cards

3. server OS's

 

Of course, one can draw their own conclusions about the suitability of any rendering solution under consideration...

[Mike.]

the nodes have quadro cards only if i take the rackable workstation version.

it's useless. i will remove them. (it's the first quote the vendor send me so it's not optimal yet).

i didn't put the total price of the project not to scary ppl. (this can happen lol)

for the renderfarm part, the public price per 'blade' is 3000 euros for the rackable worksattion version. 3500 for the server version. i get slightly better prices for some reasons..... but this is the base.

[Mike.]

Based on my experience and the requests of our customers, the following features are typically unnecessary for dedicated rendernodes and simply add unwanted cost:

 

1. redundant power supplies and operating systems

2. graphics cards

3. server OS's

 

Of course, one can draw their own conclusions about the suitability of any rendering solution under consideration...

 

ahhh. that's what i wanted to hear.

thanks

[Mike.]

thanks all speciallyAJLYnn and BOXXLABS

the doubts have been quite dissipated.

i think i knwo better what to choose.

[Mike.]

What difference between xeons E, L, X ?

is one of them better suited for 3d graphic computation ?