[ale] New Hardware

[Jeff Layton]

That's really interesting. With our CFD codes, we beat the 2.4 GHz
P4's with 1.6 GHz Opterons by about 100%. This was over plain
GigE. Our codes are MPI based though so we can run on
clusters.

We haven't done too much testing on I2s. The limited testing
we have done showed that they were about the same speed
as the Opterons (can't remember the clock speed of the I2
boxes). However, the price pretty much killed the I2 for us.

What OS are you running on the e325s? Running a kernel
with the NUMA patche can make a huge impact (like 30%
or more). Also, adjusting the BIOS can make a big impact
(be sure to use memory interleaving). Also, watch your
memory layout. I've heard of some very serious potential
problems with the e325s because of their memory layout.

Enjoy!

Jeff

>The Itanium2s are 1.4GHz, and are in an IBM x450 4-way machine, w/14GB of
>RAM.  The Opterons are 1.4GHz (running a 32-bit OS right now), in IBM e325
>2-way machines, each with 1GB of RAM.  Currently we have 4 of the e325s
>working in a Rocks cluster.  We have a sales rep coming by tomorrow to
>demo their software, which turns the cluster into a single virtual SMP
>machine.
>
>We're running Fidap, from Fluent.com, for CFD research.  Once we scale the
>x450 to 4 processors, they outperform the Opterons...for obvious reasons. 
>One of the downfalls of this particular CFD package is it is NOT
>network/cluster aware...thus the need for that software demo tomorrow.
>
>Dow, if you want to attend, they'll be presenting tomorrow at 1:00 in the
>IBB seminar room.  Feel free to call, or check out web site for
>directions.  At the very least, you could make some contacts w/IBM and
>this other company (vagueness due to sudden memory loss).
>
>Thanks
>
>Jonathan Glass
>
>  
>
>>Jonathon,
>>Would you be more specific?  Are these Itanium2 chips versus Opterons of
>>what
>>speeds?  What code are you running?  Are they single, dual or clustered?
>>Thanks since we are in the running to purchase something along these
>>lines,
>>Dow
>>
>>
>>Jonathan Glass (IBB) wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>I'm liking the performance I see out of my Opteron boxes.  They're
>>>holding their own with my Itanium boxes, but they're much more
>>>affordable.  :)  Of course, your budget may vary!
>>>
>>>Jonathan
>>>
>>>On Mon, 2004-03-29 at 10:45, Robert L. Harris wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>> Next month (late april probably) I'm looking to get a new
>>>>Desktop/Workstation for home.  I've been pointed at a P4 with HT, SATA
>>>>drives by a co-worker.  Anyone else have any suggestions?  Right now I'm
>>>>looking at a Dell due to cost but I wouldn't mind paying a bit more to
>>>>support someone local.  Of course it'll be a Linux/Win dual-boot.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>:wq!
>>>>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>Robert L. Harris                     | GPG Key ID: E344DA3B
>>>>                                        @ x-hkp://pgp.mit.edu
>>>>DISCLAIMER:
>>>>     These are MY OPINIONS ALONE.  I speak for no-one else.
>>>>
>>>>With Dreams To Be A King First One Should Be A Man
>>>>					- Manowar
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>


-- 
Dr. Jeff Layton
Aerodynamics and CFD
Lockheed-Martin Aeronautical Company - Marietta