What would be the best CPU for a database intensive website, think about thousands of queries every hour. At the same time, the server has to serve HTTP pages for the visitors (5000+ a day and increasing).

Other specs are defined as: 3GB RAM (I have this now, and it’s DDR400, thus not DDR2, changing to DDR2 is possible if necessary), SCSI HD 10000RPM for the OS and the DB,, S-ATA HD 7200RPM for DB backups, Linux OS (currently Debian), Apache, MySQL, PHP4, Perl.

As the CPU used now is not up to the task (overheating, too slow) I’m looking for a new one, including matching mainboard.

Any CPU may be advised, but founded with good arguments.

Other system improvements for speed may also be advised.

I would suggest dual or dual-core opterons (or both).

The integrated memory controller per core means better memory access times with less contention between the different CPUs (cores). The motherboard will determine what kind of memory you need I am afaid most opteron boards will want ECC ram though. You will want an amount of memory that is evenly divisable by the number of cores. ie. One stick per core, two sticks per core.

PS. This is second hand wisdom. I have never actually built a system of this class before.

So would I. From what I have learned, AMD Opterons and Intel Xeons, are designed with database handling in mind. Contrary to more common CPU's by both companies, which are more 'multimedia' oriented. The problem is, we will have to do some more clicking on your ads, because these goodies are not cheap.
Good mainboards for these CPUs are made by comapny called Tyan (these are not cheap either).



Neither did I, but I've seen one at work.

The main difference between the Opteron and the Athlon64 is a) 1 pin more on the socket, multi-CPU support, and support for ECC-reg DIMM (all three features of the Opteron).
There is no architectural improvement when using just one of these baby's compared to a Athlon64, so they should be equaly fast, the Athlon may be even faster (again: when using a single CPU system) because ECC-reg is slower then normal DIMM's.

The main improvement of the XEON is more cache then a PIV, but this is mainly to compensate for the slow FSB when using more then one XEON on a mainboard.

But, to simplify things, lets assume that I can bring up the money for a single-CPU-system upgrade (so for the time being no move to a two-CPU system)

Definately go for dual-core then.

Whoops maybe not. I have been mostly pricing the pentium D. They tend to be about 1.5 times as much as an equivilent P4. The AMD X2 is about 2 times as much and the dual core opteron's nearly 3 times as much as equivilent single core versions. I wonder if this pricing structure will help intel. Of course the reviews I have seen of the dual core xeons have been really disappointing so it will probably even out.

Even with the pricing problems I just found, I would still think a low end dual core opteron would work better in this application than an equivilently priced single core.

Another thing to consider is getting a 2 cpu board even if you only get one cpu now. This will make a very easy upgrade later, assuming you have to upgrade again before the first CPU is no longer available. A good fraction of the boards will allow one CPU and one empty socket. Almost all require identical CPUs in both sockets though.

Indeed. It seems that Athlon 64 has almost same capabilities as Opterons. Almost. Opeterons can support up to 8GB of RAM while athlon will only support 4. Plus, Opterons can work in multi CPU systems. source



...Ok...forget about that last one diffirence...for now


I think am gonna buy myself a new Athlon... my Burton seems so... old...

Willy,
I have also been reseraching possible server platforms. I have found a VERY reasonabley priced duel socket quad core board in ATX form here for only $239 on newegg.com
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131191

Also the e5345 Xeon Quad core processors are only $485 on the same site:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117118

1GB 667 ECC FB-DIMMS are $80/stick here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145166

This would get you an amazing and scalable server platform for $972 for a single quad-core configuration, or $1700 for a dual quad-core setup (8 logical) with 6GB of memory. The board supports 64-bit cards and has SCSI-320 and SATA RAID onboard.

Cheers,
Rob.

Heh, this is a two year old thread

Right now BOINCstats has a very well performing dual-CPU dual core XEON server with 16GB of RAM. This was (in the beginning of this year) the best server platform.

Two years ago I chose the Athlon X2 4800+ with 4GB as server, which also performed well, but with the increasing number of users it fell a bit short after a while.

Right now we don't need an upgrade.