Hardware Question

[lhatwwp]

Hello,

I'm going out for quotes on a new server. Given the choice would I be better off with two 2.0GHZ quad core processors or a single 2.8GHz quad core processor? This is the only server in a small office environment. I will be running AD, DNS, IIS, MSDE, PHP, print services, etc.

Thanks,
Lou

 

[mrdenny]

Generally more cores is better as you can do more things at once that way. Based on what you've described I'd get the the dual quad core machine.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)
MCTS (SQL 2005 / Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Configuration / Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Configuration)
MCITP Database Administrator (SQL 2005) / Database Developer (SQL 2005)

My Blog

 

[lhatwwp]

Hi Denny,

Thanks for the reply. I just had a thought... what about the limitations of the OS? I plan to install Win2003 SP2 STD. I looked on Microsofts web site and I see that SP2 STD supports 4-way symmetric multiprocessing. I recall that Windows2000 was licensed by the number of processors. Would Win2003 SP2 STD support two quad core processors? I'm not really sure how quad core processors effect the 4-way symmetric multiprocessing limit.

Thanks,
Lou

 

[58sniper]

4-way processing is for 4 processors (IIRC). Processor cores are different.

2003 should support dual quad core without a problem. Are you going to use R2?

Pat Richard
Microsoft Exchange MVP