8 core

[mavericke]

Hello,

Does anyone know if I will be able to get 8 cores by having 2 pcs of Quad core CPUs running on the same motherboard?

I need to have 8 cores and set the affinity for each of the 8 cores to run different applications.

Thanks.

 

[jsc]

Why?

 

[mavericke]

The application runs on single core only. So if I have multiple sessions of it running off a terminal server, it will all run on core 0 by default. If someone is running a CPU intensive process, it will slow down all the other users. So I need to set affinity for it to run on different cores for different users. Currently I have a quad core processor and it works fine when I distribute the users evenly over the 4 cores. I am thinking that if I can have 8 cores, then I can spread out the users more evenly.

So simple question is : If 2 pcs of quad core CPUs will give me 8 cores to work with. Anyone knows? Thanks.

 

[steddy]

A computer with 2 quad core processors on one motherboard will have eight cores. You will need a dual-socket motherboard and a special CPU for it, though.

 

[enzo matrix]

Wow. Everyone is being so vague.

Yes you can do this. This is what server CPUs are for. The intel Xeons and the AMD Opterons (socket F or G34). However, they are much more expensive and the motherboards are also much more expensive. Not to mention that the clockspeeds are typically lower than the desktop counterparts. AMD even has a single 12 core CPU for server socket G34 but the fastest operates at 2.4GHz. You will also need server memory. This memory has ECC (error correction).
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=727&name=Processors-Servers
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=302&name=Server-Motherboards


You cannot use regular desktop CPUs for this purpose, even if you get a server motherboard with compatible sockets. Desktop CPUs do not have that extra bit that allows for communication between two or more CPUs.

I personally recommend you keep what you have now if you are not experiencing any problems. There is no point in wasting money. Besides, both AMD an Intel will have desktop processors with 8 cores by the end of 2011

 

[MU_Engineer]

Wow. Everyone is being so vague.

Yes you can do this. This is what server CPUs are for. The intel Xeons and the AMD Opterons (socket F or G34). However, they are much more expensive and the motherboards are also much more expensive. Not to mention that the clockspeeds are typically lower than the desktop counterparts. AMD even has a single 12 core CPU for server socket G34 but the fastest operates at 2.4GHz. You will also need server memory. This memory has ECC (error correction).
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=727&name=Processors-Servers
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=302&name=Server-Motherboards


You cannot use regular desktop CPUs for this purpose, even if you get a server motherboard with compatible sockets. Desktop CPUs do not have that extra bit that allows for communication between two or more CPUs.

I personally recommend you keep what you have now if you are not experiencing any problems. There is no point in wasting money. Besides, both AMD an Intel will have desktop processors with 8 cores by the end of 2011

I'll add a bit here:

1. AMD's Socket F is essentially obsolete with the introduction of Socket G34, so Socket F-based units aren't really recommended anymore.

2. Clock speeds for quad-core server CPUs are very similar to quad-core desktop CPUs, except they typically cost quite a bit more. The only server CPUs with a much lower clock speed than desktop CPUs are AMD's 8- and 12-core Opteron 6100s, which have more cores than any desktop CPU out there.

3. You cannot put two desktop CPUs on a server motherboard as they will not work. You can physically fit two Core i7 9xx CPUs on a dual LGA1366 server board but they will not function since Intel disabled that functionality in those CPUs. You cannot physically fit AMD desktop CPUs into any dual-socket motherboard as the sockets are considerably different both electrically and mechanically.

4. Current server boards that use DDR3 memory can use standard unbuffered, non-ECC desktop memory as well as server ECC unbuffered and ECC registered memory. The only caveat is that modules that require more than the standard 1.50 volts will not work.

5. The fastest 12-core G34 CPU is the 6176SE, which runs at 2.3 GHz. The 8-core 6136 runs at 2.4 GHz.

To the OP: I'd suggest you get a Supermicro H8SGL (~$250), an Opteron 6128 (~$280) and four sticks of DDR3-1333 RAM for your unit. That gives you 8 2.0 GHz cores in a moderately-priced, ATX-sized unit.

 

[ambam]

Both AMD and Intel are releasing 8-core CPU's in 2011. The "Bulldozer" and "Sandy Bridge". Both entirely new micro-architectures.

Sandy Bridge will include hyper-threading, which is best used for HD video encoding. There aren't many details available on these chips yet, I wonder how much faster they will be in gaming as compared to the current Phenom II X6 1090T and the Core i7 980X flagship processors from AMD/Intel.

Allegedly both platforms will support quad-channel DDR4 memory.

 

[MU_Engineer]

Both AMD and Intel are releasing 8-core CPU's in 2011. The "Bulldozer" and "Sandy Bridge". Both entirely new micro-architectures.

Sandy Bridge will include hyper-threading, which is best used for HD video encoding. There aren't many details available on these chips yet, I wonder how much faster they will be in gaming as compared to the current Phenom II X6 1090T and the Core i7 980X flagship processors from AMD/Intel.

There's a thread on SemiAccurate's forums that shows somebody supposedly benching a quad-core Sandy Bridge engineering sample. The results they posted were that it has much better memory bandwidth than the current LGA1156 chips but only ended up being something like 10% faster clock for clock. Take it with a grain of salt since very early CPU benches frequently tend to be fakes, but sometimes they're not. I've seen nothing on Bulldozer yet, but that's also not surprising as AMD keeps ESes very well-guarded compared to Intel, who seemingly hands them out like candy.

Allegedly both platforms will support quad-channel DDR4 memory.

These chips will use DDR3. Nobody officially uses the full JEDEC DDR3 speed of 1600 MHz yet, it's far too early to be going to DDR4! The Sandy Bridge benchmarked on that site was an LGA1155 model with supposedly dual-channel DDR3-1600. There may be a quad-channel variant for the server and performance desktop market to take the place of LGA1366 (called LGA2011 or something like that?), but I've seen nothing about it. Desktop Bulldozer will be dual-channel DDR3-1600+ as it uses Socket AM3, perhaps called AM3+, according to AMD themselves. The quad-channel Bulldozer variants are Socket G34 Opteron 6200 series server CPUs, which will replace the existing quad-channel Magny-Cours Opteron 6100s.

 

[ambam]

Most multi-threaded applications, especially video games, barely even use Two CPU cores. The most CPU intensive application is HD video encoding, which requires as many physical and logical cores as possible.

 

[enzo matrix]

Most multi-threaded applications, especially video games, barely even use Two CPU cores. The most CPU intensive application is HD video encoding, which requires as many physical and logical cores as possible.

LOL That comment is sooo 2008 . Most games can utilize 3 cores now. Even MW2 uses 3 cores (but only up to 3).

 

[someguy7]

What OS is the server running where it can't figure out on its own not to let all instances of the app run on the same core without manually setting affinity? I am not familiar with servers for the most part but even so this seems kinda of strange to me.

 

[Shin-san]

This sounds strange. If they are single-threaded applications set by thread affinity hosting terminal servers, you might as well run two boxes. It won't be an 8-core system, but you have 8 instances of the application running at the same time.

However, what do you mean by terminal server? Are you meaning an RS232 to ethernet connection, or do you mean something you can telnet into. If it's running a telnet host, I'm kinda surprised that it's not already using multithreading to handle multiple requests, where the thread load would be distributed automatically by Windows.

 

[mavericke]

Thanks guys for all the comments and suggestions. Much appreciated.

To make things clearer, I will be using 2 pcs of Intel Xeon E5520 Quad core processors. Therefore I will be having 8 cores at my disposal. That's great!

Shin-san; someguy7. I cannot run 2 boxes as it is one application and databases are involved. It will be running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition and terminal server will be installed on it. Since it is a single threaded app, Windows by default will run it on one core only, ie. core 0.

 

[Scotteq]

What OS is the server running where it can't figure out on its own not to let all instances of the app run on the same core without manually setting affinity? I am not familiar with servers for the most part but even so this seems kinda of strange to me.

I was thinking the exact same thing. "Even" desktop Windows is perfectly capable of managing that.

 

[Scotteq]

It will be running Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition and terminal server will be installed on it. Since it is a single threaded app, Windows by default will run it on one core only, ie. core 0.

I assure you, sir, that Server 2008 is perfectly capable of distributing and managing your proposed workload all by itself. No human intervention is required.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Hello,

Does anyone know if I will be able to get 8 cores by having 2 pcs of Quad core CPUs running on the same motherboard?

I need to have 8 cores and set the affinity for each of the 8 cores to run different applications.

Thanks.

Intel is already selling an 8-Core xeon CPU. You can have 2 quads but you need a specific CPU type and motherboard type.

 

[ambam]

Intel is already selling an 8-Core xeon CPU. You can have 2 quads but you need a specific CPU type and motherboard type.

Will dual socket LGA1366 motherboards ever be compatible with Core i7 processors?

 

[blackhawk1928]

I don't know. There are dual socket LGA1366 motherboards compatible with xeon processors...i think its the W55xx series which are 1366 but I really don't know about the i7. I think it won't becuase Intel thinks nobody will really buy them so they won't bother doing anything about it.

 

[MU_Engineer]

I don't know. There are dual socket LGA1366 motherboards compatible with xeon processors...i think its the W55xx series which are 1366 but I really don't know about the i7. I think it won't becuase Intel thinks nobody will really buy them so they won't bother doing anything about it.

Technically an LGA1366 Core i7 or single-socket Xeon 35xx/36xx should work in a dual LGA1366 board if only the first socket is populated with a CPU and only unbuffered memory is used. However, it would depend on the motherboard vendor supporting a CPU without the second QPI link and no ability to run registered memory. Personally, I wouldn't try it as there's no upside to running a Core i7 in a dual LGA1366 board since you only get to run one CPU, can't run registered memory, and dual LGA1366 boards are more expensive than all but the most expensive single LGA1366 boards.