From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 31 12:22:25 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DC8F316A607 for ; Wed, 31 May 2006 12:22:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wojtek@tensor.3miasto.net) Received: from chylonia.3miasto.net (chylonia.3miasto.net [213.192.74.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5994543D5C for ; Wed, 31 May 2006 12:22:23 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wojtek@tensor.3miasto.net) Received: from chylonia.3miasto.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by chylonia.3miasto.net (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k4VCMEPi092303; Wed, 31 May 2006 14:22:14 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from wojtek@tensor.3miasto.net) Received: from localhost (wojtek@localhost) by chylonia.3miasto.net (8.13.4/8.13.4/Submit) with ESMTP id k4VCMDpT092300; Wed, 31 May 2006 14:22:13 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from wojtek@tensor.3miasto.net) X-Authentication-Warning: chylonia.3miasto.net: wojtek owned process doing -bs Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 14:22:13 +0200 (CEST) From: Wojciech Puchar X-X-Sender: wojtek@chylonia.3miasto.net To: Ewald Jenisch In-Reply-To: <20060531093224.GA2508@aurora.oekb.co.at> Message-ID: <20060531141838.T91987@chylonia.3miasto.net> References: <20060531093224.GA2508@aurora.oekb.co.at> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Selecting CPU/architecture for new system? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 12:22:33 -0000 > > I'm currently in the process of selecting hardware for a FreeBSD > system having the main task of collecting network statistics via MRTG > or RRDtool. In addition the machine in question should be used to > collect netflow statistics plus providing a web-interface for > displaying them. > > To give you an impression about the workload to be expected: Currently > the system is a dual Xeon machine with 3GHz-CPUs reaching work loads > (top) of 7 to 9. Disk-IO btw is not the problem. > > > For the new system I thought about a 4-CPU machine, 4GB RAM - with > either 32- or 64-bit architecture. definitely Opteron based. this are really FAST, including really fast memory bandwidth, not only CPU. at least - lowest end Athlon64 machines are comparable in speed with high end P4 :) FreeBSD works fine on Athlon64/Opteron machines. not tested (by me) on multiprocessor ones, but it should be not a problem. > o) Should I stick with a 32-bit architecture (i386) or go for any of > the 64-architectures? go to Opteron 64-bit architecture. > o) Is FreeBSD 6.1 considered equally stable under the i386 > architecture as under any of the 64bit architectures? > not tested by me. but simply test it before buying. > o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPUs supported in i386? > yes. > o) Are SMP-systems with 4 CPU supported in any of the 64-bit > architectures? yes. > > o) Anything else to consider in this context? try to optimize software you use first :) only if it's impossible buy new machine.