Need comparison info on two Xeon processors - will pay $$

[CobraJack]

$5 through PayPal to the first person that intelligently responds to the post below with links and data to back it up.



I'm looking at two servers. the primary difference between them is the CPU.

One has Dual (2x) Intel Xeon 2.8GHz Processors SL6M7 - 400MHz/512KB

The other has Dual (2x) Intel Xeon 2.4GHz Processors - 533MHz (not much else info on other than they show up as 4 processors in device manager with the following label: X86 Family 15 Model 2)



any one have data on these?

I'm trying to figure out which is the better server all else being equal.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Mondoman]

If you run CPU-Z, you'll be able to pin down exactly what version the 2.4GHz CPUs are. There are a number of very similar processors w/2.4GHz & 533MHz; most have 512K cache like the 2.8GHz CPUs, but some have 1M cache. Your can find the list of CPUs here:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=528&sSpec=&OrdCode=
and then filter for CPU Speed of 2.4GHz and bus speed of 533MHz.

Here's the info on the 2.8GHz CPU:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/Details.aspx?sSpec=SL6M7

I think you'll find the faster core speed (2.8GHz) leads to faster results in general. On this generation of Intel CPUs, the rate-limiting step is usually the CPU's internal processing speed, rather than memory access via the FSB. The relatively large full-speed L2 cache substantially reduces the effect of the difference in FSB speeds, except in cases of applications where large amounts of data are being transferred to and from main memory (not the network or hard drive) with relatively little processing per byte.

 

[pjumpleby]

servers typically are used to process large amounts of data so the amount of cache on the CPU usually helps processing alot. as theses processors (thanks to mondoman's links) appear to have the same amount of cache it will be the 2.8 which is better as it has the extra GHZ to back it up.

 

[WR2]

Xeon 2.8GHz SL6M7 - 400MHz/512KB suggests it is a socket 603 Pentium 4 "Prestonia" using a E7500 chipset "Plumas" motherboard. From around 2002-3 and it was smiliar to the Pentium 4 Northwood desktop CPUs.

Xeon 2.4GHz Processors - 533MHz "they show up as 4 processors in device manager". That suggests the CPU has "Hyper-Threading" which can report 2 processors. But the Intel site shows all 2.4Ghz/533FSB Xeons built on .13 micron silicon. Something isnt tracking quite right. Can you ID the motherboard of the type or RAM installed here?
Also mfgr, make and model number of the servers would help if you have them.

I guess it goes without saying that you're dealing with systems that are probably 3-4 years old?

 

[CobraJack]

Thank you guys for being so helpful.

I ran the CPU-Z program on the 2.4GHz machine here are the results:

Number of cores 1
Number of threads 2 (max 2)
Name Intel Xeon
Codename Prestonia
Specification Intel(R) Xeon(TM) CPU 2.40GHz
Package Socket 604 mPGA (platform ID = 1h)
CPUID F.2.9
Extended CPUID F.2
Brand ID 11
Core Stepping D1
Technology 0.13 um
Core Speed 2392.3 MHz (18.0 x 132.9 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 531.6 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 Data cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64-byte line size
Trace cache 12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 cache 512 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control no




I don't have access to the dual 2.7 machine yet.

and yes both these servers are 3-4 years old.

The one with dual 2.8GHz Xeons is a Dell PowerEdge 2650 and the dual 2.4's is a Dell PowerEdge 1600SC


One of them will be a mail server, while the other a Web/MySQL server
I'd like the slowest one to handle the email.

 

[WR2]

That clears the air a bit;
2003 review of the Dell PowerEdge 1600SC It gives some system specs.
2002 review of the Dell PowerEdge 2650

The Prestonia is better known by its desktop version Northwood.
Both systems have the same family of CPU and chances are the 2.8Ghz system will outperform the 2.4Ghz model.
But if the 2.4Ghz has a high performance SCSI drive array and the 2.8Ghz has just ordinary IDE drives the slower system might actually perform better as a Web/MySQL server.

You can figure out which system is better suited to your tasks by running a benchmark test yourself.
Something along the lines of DIAG (freeware) should lay it out for you.