Speccing a high memory server

07 Dec 2012

Want to get a 512Gb server that doesn’t break the bank, with decent single processor performance addressing all available RAM.

Josh Quick has been looking into it, here’s what he has found so far:

Problems are that:

Only 2GB dies available no 4GB for a few years - means to need 4 ranks for 32GB, 2/4 ranks for 16GB

4 ranked RDIMMs poor performance as memory speed reduced

LRDIMMs 1066 MHz with 4 ranks but $$

RDIMMs 16GB 2 ranks, performance price sweet spot

Therefore need 16 slots addressing single CPU to get 256GB

Therefore need Intel 7510/600 series chipsets

Dell R810 cheapest system with 7510 chipset

Takes E7 series plus 6500/7500 series chips

http://www.kingston.com/us/business/server_solutions/best_practices/maximizing_memory.aspx http://www.kingston.com/us/business/server_solutions/32gb_memory_modules (table) http://www.anandtech.com/show/3648/xeon-7500-dell-r810/5

I think the best deal for a 256GB server, running the memory at a decent speed would be:

Minimum spec Dell R810 (11th gen) £5,350 (E7 2830) + 16 x 16GB dual rank RDIMM 1600 MHz £1680 - 2 DPC (533MHz effective as chipset only supports 1066 MHz?)

http://www.zdnet.com/dell-poweredge-r810-3040089356/ http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/poweredge-server-11gen-whitepaper-en.pdf

Or for more money the 12th gen R820 might be a better shot for backwards compatibility with the newer C600 chipset (I think if we got this one the memory would run at 1600 MHz).

We’re a bit stuck on the original spec, any clues?