Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 15:45:40 -0700 From: "Coleman Kane" <zombyfork@gmail.com> To: "Ken Gunderson" <kgunders@teamcool.net> Cc: amd64@freebsd.org Subject: Re: >32GB memory with Xeon ? Message-ID: <346a80220701041445m26df386p84778e9ce574f02b@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <20061226153416.a2aacc13.kgunders@teamcool.net> References: <sa6lkku21j5.wl%tamaru@myn.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp> <20061226104440.5d52417b.kgunders@teamcool.net> <sa6psa6v2rf.wl%tamaru@myn.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp> <20061226153416.a2aacc13.kgunders@teamcool.net>
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On 12/26/06, Ken Gunderson <kgunders@teamcool.net> wrote: > > On Wed, 27 Dec 2006 05:08:36 +0900 > Hiroharu Tamaru <tamaru@myn.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp> wrote: > > > At Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:44:40 -0700, Ken Gunderson wrote: > > > > > > On Tue, 26 Dec 2006 23:07:58 +0900 > > > Hiroharu Tamaru <tamaru@myn.rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp> wrote: > > > > > > > Hello list, > > > > > > > > Is there any limit on the amount of memory that can be used > > > > with FreeBSD 6.x/amd64 ? I found that FreeBSD/ia64 > > > > currently has 2GB limit. I was wondering how amd64 is like. > > > > > > > > Specifically, I am thinking of a Dual-core x Dual-processor > > > > Xeon 5160, with 5000P chipset and something like 40GB of > > > > RAM. > > > > > > Any particular reason you've ruled out AMD platform? I know some > folks > > > who've done some big enterprise class SAP machines based on AMD and > > > Linux. Not 100% sure but I think I recall AMD8111 and AMD8131 chipsets > > > and boards fully loaded with 32GB. > > > > No, I haven't ruled it out yet. In fact, I've just started > > looking around. > > My usage is computation, and previous experiences showed > > that for our workload, the main memory bandwidth gave the > > largest influence on speed (it has a very low data > > locality). We have IA64 system running Linux as well (it's > > running Linux b/c we have large memory there too), but > > hearing that recent Woodcrest Xeons can have upto 21+GB/s > > bandwidth to the RAM, I got interested and started seeking > > around hardwarewise and softwarewise for possible options. > > Do you have any advice/comments in this regard for AMD > > platform too? > > I personally don't have any recent experience with anything that large > and when I did it was on "big iron". I've been sold on the AMD > platform for the past couple years, especially for server usage. AMD's > approach to integrating the memory controller w/the cpu has been a big > win for them as they've been kicking Intel's butt as of late. But > perhaps the Woodcrest will be Intel's savior. But then again as soon > as Intel seems to do a bit of "catching up", AMD releases their latest > and greatest. Check the "Roadmap" at amd.com. Quad cores are due > to be out 2nd quarter of 2007 and many current am2 generation boards > will supposedly be able to support them after a BIOS flash. I say > supposedly because such was also "supposed" to be the case with the > single to dual core. In some cases it worked and others not. I think > mainly a matter of mainboard vendor. > > Issues you can run into with AMD platform often have to do with > particular chipset used. The 8111 and 8131 are old but well supported. > I think they max at 32GB though and only DDR1, not DDR2. Research > anything using nVidia* carefully. Fwiw, I've never been favorably > impressed w/Serverworks based board, even on i386. > > Others here will be able to provide more, but I suspect you'll get more > response after the holidays. > > > -- > > Best regards, > > Ken Gunderson > > "The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty > decreases." (Thomas Jefferson) Hey all, When I first looked into the amd64 platform I did research and made sure to stay far from the nForce offerings that were around. I found a laptop with a VIA chipset that has been pretty good to me, and was pretty decently supported back in the early days of amd64 support in FreeBSD. >From what I can tell, the nForce offerings are still troublesome but there are many patches to work-around their problems. The VIA offerings seem to be much more compatible. -- Coleman Kane
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